The Rise of a Warrior: Fairy Tail
by The Legendary Dragon Reaper
Summary: Luke Drako, S-class wizard of the Fairy Tail guild, the true Lightning Dragon Slayer, student and son of the Lightning dragon Kaminari. This is his story. The story of a Dragon Slayer trying to find his place in the world, and make one hell of a strong team along the way. And with any luck, he just might win the heart of a certain brunette card mage. OC x Cana. Read and review.
1. The Fairy Tail

(Normal speech)

_(Thought/ Narrator/ Writing)_

**(Techniques/ Dragon speech/ Celestial King Speech)**

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"_In a land far far away lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small and peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most people, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards and mages, and banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune." _XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Hey guys,_

_I didn't want to bother anyone so I just left this note knowing that Natsu, if no one else, would break into my room to try and drag me out and get me to stop feeling sorry for myself._

_You keep saying that what happened wasn't my fault, you've told me that at least a dozen times over the past few days, but I disagree._

_She's gone now, and it's because I wasn't strong enough to protect all of them. I know the Master said that it was an accident, and I know that it was._

_But as brutal as this may sound, this was a wakeup call that I obviously needed. I'm not cut out for this kind of thing, at least not as I am right now._

_You once said that part of being an S-Class mage is making mistakes, so that you can learn from them and then move on, and become stronger both in body and in mind._

_But face it, there's no moving on from something like this. Sure Natsu and Gray and the others have made a lot of mistakes, but their mistakes never hurt anyone. She's dead because I couldn't save her, and her brother and sister have to live with that for the rest of their lives._

_Tell the others, especially Cana, that I'm sorry but they deserve a better friend and comrade than what I could possibly be._

_I'm not gonna put any of you, especially not her or Natsu, in danger like that ever again, at least not if I can help it._

_As for my S-class rank, take it and give it to someone more deserving. If I had to choose then I would give it to Cana, she's the most deserving of it._

_I know that if I tried to say this to your faces then you wouldn't let me, but the fact here is that it's not your choice to make. It's my choice, and I've made it._

_I need to leave the guild for awhile, I don't know where I'm going or when I'm coming back or if I'm coming back at all._

_All I know is that I have to get a lot stronger than I am right now._

_My teacher, my father Kaminari, taught me that no matter what happens I have to keep pushing forward through every obstacle in my path, to look in my heart and show just how brightly that fire in my soul burns, and to roar like a true dragon and speak of the future._

_Because that is where the power of life truly lies._

_I'm really sorry you guys, but I have to get way stronger before I can show my face to any of you again._

_So that I know that I can protect all of you._

_So until that day comes, no matter where I may be, no matter what I'm doing, know that I will always be thinking about all of you…_

_My family._

_Spread your wings Fairy Tail, spread your wings._

_Until we meet again,_

_Luke Drako_

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**(Year 782)**

The rain poured down endlessly over the skies of Magnolia.

A young man with short brown hair, teal colored eyes, a pair of glasses and a sword strapped to his side glanced over at the large guild building in the distance, then looked down at the grave in front of him with the word STRAUSS carved into the tombstone in big letters, and he let out a sigh "I doubt there's really anything I can say to make things any less somber, but at least let me say this. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to protect you. But I promise on the sacrifice you made today that I won't let anything like this happen ever again."

A small, yellow, cat like creature looked up at him "Hey Luke are you sure that this is how you wanna do it? Just leave a note like that?"

"You know that I've never been good at goodbyes Bolt, I think this is for the best. Besides, knowing what they're like they'd probably try to stop me." Luke turned around and prepared to walk away, only to stop when he noticed her standing there "And this right here just further proves my point, what are you doing here Cana?"

Sure enough, before him stood Cana Alberona, looking increasingly pissed off and holding up a note "Were you really just gonna leave without saying anything, just leaving behind some crappy note?"

"I've never been good at goodbyes Cana, you know that. My place isn't with the guild, not right now at least. I have a lot of growth lying ahead of me and I can't do any of it here."

"Don't give me that. Look Luke I get it, you're upset about what happened on that job, we all are, but you don't realize that you're not the only one kicking yourself over it. Besides get it through your head, what happened was just an accident."

"I know that, I really do, but that doesn't change the facts. I'm not cut out to be an S-class mage, not at my current level."

"Well even though I know that part of being an S-class mage, or even a mage at all, means that you have to make mistakes and learn from them and then move on, not just bail at the first mistake you make. I've made mistakes too you idiot!"

"Oh believe me I know, but you know the difference? Your mistakes never hurt anyone, at least not in a way that wasn't kind of funny. She's dead because I wasn't strong enough to protect any of them, and her brother and sister have to live with that for the rest of their lives."

"So that's it then, you're just gonna give up and leave without saying anything to anyone? What about us? I thought we were a team!"

"Cana you deserve a better team, or at least you deserve a better team member. I'm not gonna put you or anyone else in the guild in danger ever again. Tell the Master to take my S-class status and give it to someone who deserves it more." he knelt down, picked up Bolt and placed him on his shoulder "Come on little buddy, it's time we get going." he started to walk away.

Cana grabbed him by the arm and forced him to stop "There is no way in hell I'm just gonna let you bail on us like that."

"See this is exactly why I didn't wanna say anything in person, what nobody in the guild will get is that it's not their choice. It's mine, and I've already made it."

Instead of replying to that right away, Cana slowly released her grip on his arm "So when are you coming back?"

"I don't know."

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know."

"Do you even have a plan?"

"Not really no. All I know is that I have to get a lot stronger than I am right now, or I won't be able to face any of them again." he looked back at the grave for emphasis, then pulled Cana into a tight hug "I'll be thinking of you the most while I'm gone, and tell everyone else in the guild that I'm sorry for letting them down." and with that, he departed, disappearing from the cemetery, then from her sight, and then from Magnolia entirely.

Cana said nothing, she just watched him go in silence with tears streaming down her face, before she departed from the cemetery in silence.

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**(18 months later, year 784)**

Now we truly begin our story in the port town of Hargeon, as a certain train pulled into the station.

Luke, now a few inches taller with a 5 o'clock shadow, pulled himself out of the door of the train practically gasping for air, and he gave a weak thumbs up once he made it onto the platform "Yay, we made it…" and his head hit the pavement with a loud thud.

Bolt kicked him in the side just to be safe "Hey Luke you're not dead right?"

"Haha very funny, you know you don't have to do that every time I go on a train."

"You don't have to act like this every time you go on a train either, now look where we are big guy."

"Hey I can't help it, motion sickness is part of being a Dragon Slayer." he hurled into a nearby bush for emphasis "So what's the ETA on the info we got?"

"Well in our source is reliable then we should be able to find that Thunderclap somewhere in this town."

"That narrows down the search a crap load." he hurled into the bush again "Just… Just give me a few minutes."

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Meanwhile…

"Say what now?" a young blonde girl by the name of Lucy shot the shopkeeper an incredulous look of disbelief "You mean to tell me there's only one magic shop in this entire town?"

"Yeah I'm afraid so." the shopkeeper gave a shrug "The people around these parts are more fishing folk than they are magic folk. I reckon that most people in this town don't even know how to use magic, I built this shop to sell to the wizards who happen to be passing through on other business."

"Oh man I came all this way for nothing."

"Now now there's no need to say that young lady, I happen to have all of the latest goods. Let me show you a few of them." he pulled out a magic card for example "This color magic happens to be quite popular, all of the young girls really seem to like it. It lets you change the color of your clothes anytime you want." he changed his shirt from green to purple to demonstrate "Like what you see?"

"I already have one of those, what I really want are some powerful gate keys."

"Gate keys huh, you know not many people request something like that." he pulled out a silver colored key.

"Oh wow it's a little doggy!"

"Yes but that one isn't very powerful you know."

"I know but I really really want it, so how much?"

"A solid 20,000 Jewels."

"...I'm sorry but how much was that?"

"I said a solid 20,000 Jewels."

"Oh come on now." she started posing in what she thought was a seductive fashion "So how much is it really worth? Surely you and I can work out some kind of deal." and she winked for good measure.

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7 minutes later…

Now thoroughly pissed off, Lucy stormed her way through the streets of Hargeon "I can't believe that stubborn old geezer only knocked off 1,000 Jewels, he would have to be blind to my inner and outer beauty! That trick usually works, so much for using my feminine wiles." she glanced down and noticed a large crowd of women gathering on the street "What the heck?"

"Are you serious?!" a bunch of girls bolted past her "It's Thunderclap, he's really here?!"

"Thunderclap?" Lucy lit up at the name "As in _the _Thunderclap, the wizard who uses insanely powerful Lightning magic that you can't even buy in stores?! Wait why would he be in this dead end town?"

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Luke and Bolt continued wandering their way through Hargeon "I can't believe I spent I spent two hours hunched over a bush like that."

"Better a bush than a toilet." Bolt pointed out "But either way you've gotta get over my motion sickness."

"Tell me about it, now I'm starving to the point where I could even eat you." he paused and glanced over at Bolt, only to earn a kick to the shin "Okay I deserve that."

"We've been over this, think about eating me and I piss in your mouth. But speaking of food do we even have any money left after our last job?"

"Unfortunately no, we used the last of it for breakfast this morning but we can deal with that problem later. In the meantime this Thunderclap we're looking for, it has to be Kaminari don't you think?"

"Well it has to be Kaminari, he's the only Lightning dragon that I've ever heard of. Either him or some jackass trying to make himself look good to the chicks."

"I don't need any leeway with chicks, I have you to do that for me."

"Thunderclap!" girls started screaming in the distance "You're so dreamy, you're so hot, I want you inside me, I want to have your babies!"

"Army of delusional and potentially homicidal fangirls, mention of Thunderclap, probably leaning towards the second one but I'm not taking any chances. Kaminari always did fancy himself to be a ladies dragon."

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Thunderclap, really just some sleazy asshole trying to make himself look good, was in the process of wooing a crowd of gullible fangirls "Now now my dears, I have enough room in my heart for all of you." this left all of them swooning.

Lucy actually wasn't that far off herself '_Why is my heart beating so fast? What's gotten into me all of a sudden.'_

"You ladies are all so sweet." he glanced over at Lucy, nearly causing her to squeal.

'_He looked at me! Is it because he's a famous wizard? Is that why I can feel my heart throbbing out of control?' _and cue the hearts in her eyes '_Or is it that he's the one, that I'm actually really in love?'_

"Kaminari is that you-" Luke shoved his way through the crowd and paused when he actually laid eyes on Thunderclap, which also caused Lucy to snap out of it "Okay I was picturing something entirely different, also who the hell are you?"

"Who am I you ask?" Thunderclap started posing "I am Thunderclap, I'm sure that you've heard of me before-" he paused when he noticed Luke and Bolt just walking away "Hey wait a minute, where are you going?"

"Don't know who you are, don't care who you are-"

"YOU'RE SO RUDE!" the fangirls started beating the ever loving shit out of Luke in a comical fashion "THUNDERCLAP HAPPENS TO BE A GREAT WIZARD FROM ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS GUILDS, YOU'D BETTER APOLOGIZE TO HIM OR WE'RE GONNA RIP YOU TO SHREDS!" and then they pinned him to the ground.

"What the hell do you mean gonna?"

"Now now that's enough my lovelies let him go." Thunderclap called them off "I'm sure this poor deluded young man didn't mean anything malicious by it." he was met with swooning from the girls, unaware of the stink eye that Lucy was now giving him, and he signed a posted and held it out to Luke "Here's my autograph young man, now you can brag about it to all of your friends."

"Thanks but no thanks."

3 minutes later…

Luke was now lodged head first through a nearby wall, his voice extremely muffled "Add this to the list of reasons why fangirls are both an unnatural force of nature and a disastrous catastrophe of epic proportions."

"And I guess that wasn't him after all." Bolt noted.

"Definitely not, even he wouldn't be able to tame an army of fangirls."

"Well I'm afraid I must be going ladies, I have business to attend to." Thunderclap got their attention, causing them all to swoon "Now then, I believe time for the grand finale of my appearance here. But before then you should know that I'm having a soiree on my yacht tonight and you're all invited!" he snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash of lightning.

Luke pulled himself out of the wall and scowled looked at the spot where Thunderclap once stood "Who the hell was that guy?"

"I don't know but he was a real creep." Lucy made his way over to him "Oh and I wanted to say thanks for your help."

"Uh… sure I guess, also what the hell did I do?"

"Well we could talk over lunch, my way of saying thanks."

Luke shared a look with Bolt and gave a shrug "Sure why not, why bother to turn down free food right?"

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So with that in mind, Lucy led Luke and Bolt to a nearby restaurant "My name is Lucy by the way, it's nice to meet both of you." she sweatdropped when she saw exactly how much they were eating "So your names are Luke and Bolt right? Yeah you know you can slow down, it's not like we're in any kind of hurry. Besides food is kind of flying everywhere. And there goes any of the money that I saved at the old geezer's shop. Anyway that Thunderclap guy was using a magic charm spell in order to hypnotize all of the girls in town into thinking they were in love with that creep."

"Probably the only way a guy like that could get a girl." Luke didn't even bother looking up from his food "Charm spells have the ability to attract someone against their will."

"Yeah but they've been banned for years, no one even sells them anymore."

"And probably for a good reason."

"Which means that he must have gone through a lot of trouble to get his hands on one of those things."

"Probably illegal stuff too."

"Wouldn't be surprised, anyway I totally fell victim to his spell too but I snapped out of it thanks to you guys barging in when you did so I really can't thank you guys enough."

"You bought us food, that's enough for us." he dealt Bolt a fist bump.

"You know I might not look like it but I happen to be a wizard too."

"Is that right?"

"Well it's not like I've joined a guild or anything, oh that reminds me I should probably explain right? You see guilds are these organizations where wizards come together to share information and find work and things of that variety, but unfortunately you can't be considered a full fledged wizard until you actually officially join a guild, but there are tons of them all over the world and I heard that it's really tough to get into the more popular ones and the one that I want to join is the most popular one of all. Oh yeah they're the greatest and they're always featured in Sorcerer Weekly magazine, oh my god if I could actually convince to let me in then I think I'd just about lose it!" she had steam coming out of her nose.

"What the hell do you mean just about?" that snapped her out of it.

"Oh I'm sorry I guess all of this wizard talk must sound like a bunch of gibberish to you guys right? But I'm telling you now that I'm definitely gonna join that guild someday, and then I'm gonna take all kinds of exciting jobs and make a crap load of money!"

"...You've got a rich fantasy life don't you?"

"Oh yeah that reminds me, didn't you guys say that you came to this town trying to find somebody didn't you?"

"Yep, looking for old Kaminari himself and when we heard that rumor about a Thunderclap coming here through Hargeon we came here to verify whether or not it was true? Unfortunately it turned out to be that flamboyant jackass, I bet that poser is just some rookie trying to make himself look good and doesn't even know how to fight like a real dragon."

"I don't think I follow, your friend Kaminari looks like a dragon?"

"No don't get the wrong idea, Kaminari doesn't look like a dragon."

"Oh."

"He _is _a dragon."

"...Come again?"

"_Even in this magnificent world of magic, dragons are considered mystical creatures and it's been ages since one has last been seen by the human eye."_

"Are we talking like fire breathing dragon?"

"No Igneel is the Fire Dragon, Kaminari is a Lightning dragon." Luke told her like it was a normal thing.

"Why the hell would a gigantic dragon show up in the middle of town?!"

"How the hell should I know, I heard a lead so I checked it out and it's false."

"Because it's totally ridiculous- And I'm officially out of brain cells that I can spare on this conversation." she laid down some money "Well anyway I should get going, enjoy the rest of your lunch and maybe I'll see you around." she started walking away, only to glance back and sweatdrop even harder "Oh come on."

"Sad thing is this happens pretty often."

As it turns out, Bolt was bowing to her in a comical fashion "Thank you for the food oh kind and noble goddess!"

"For f*ck's sake Bolt get up off of the floor, we can't afford for you to humiliate us in public again, neither figuratively or literally. Besides she said it herself, we helped her out before and this was just her repaying us for it."

"Well we weren't even trying to help her, we owe her something."

"...Light lacrima (Fairy Tail version of light bulb)." Luke held out the autograph from Thunderclap over to Lucy, and ended up getting it shoved right back in his face "Yeah you know that seems about right."

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"_Sorcerer Weekly is a well known wizarding magazine quite popular throughout the kingdom of Fiore."_

Lucy looked at the latest issue in awe "Well what do you know, looks like the Fairy Tail guild is out there raising all sorts of hell again. The Demon Bandit clan wiped out in a matter of minutes by the mysterious wizard Thunderclap bearing the mark of Fairy Tail, talk about awesomeness at its utmost finest. And as usual the centerfold is Cana herself, she's so beautiful. I just wish that I knew how to get to be a member, do you have to apply or maybe interview or something? Well either way I am so gonna join Fairy Tail someday, they're totally the coolest guild ever!"

"What was that my dear?" that was when Thunderclap popped out of the bushes "You said you wanted to join Fairy Tail?"

"What the hell?!"

"I'll have you know my dear that I've been looking all over for you, I wanted to personally invite you to the party that I'm having on my yacht tonight.

"Forget it, your charm spell isn't gonna work on me. The weakness of that magic is awareness of its victims, it doesn't work on people if they know you're using it!"

"Just as I had suspected, I had anticipated that you were the wizard the moment I laid eyes on you. But that doesn't matter anyway, the invitation still stands."

"Well you can take it and shove it, I wouldn't be caught dead at a party being thrown by a creep like you."

"...A creep, why would you call me that?" he was comically offended.

"That spell of yours, using it to make yourself popular."

"No need to be mad my dear, rest assured it's all in good fun. I just wanted to feel like a celebrity of my own party, can you blame me?"

"And this just proves that even famous wizards can be big idiots."

"...Ignoring that, you said that you wish to join the Fairy Tail guild didn't you?"

"Uh… maybe?"

"Well then tell me have you ever heard about Thunderclap, one of the top wizards of the Fairy Tail guild?"

"Well yeah who hasn't, but are you telling me that you're _that _Thunderclap?!"

"That's correct my dear, and if you do wish to join so badly then I could probably put in a good word for you." and that sent Lucy fawning all over him.

"Well in that case then I would love to go to your party tonight!"

"Well that was even easier than I thought it would be."

"So you really think you can get me into Fairy Tail, are you serious?"

"I don't see why not, but you can't say anything about the charm spell."

"I won't say a word!"

"Excellent my dear, then I'll see you at the party tonight." and then he departed in a flashy way using his Lightning magic.

"You got it Mr Thunderclap sir!" and once he was gone she felt the realization kick in "Dammit he got me, that son of a bitch pseudo-charmed me! But then again, he's gonna get me into Fairy Tail! So silver lining, now all I have to do is keep my mouth shut and try to be nice to that jackass until then!"

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Nightfall came, and the stars were aligned along the night sky were shining brightly over the town of Hargeon.

Luke and Bolt stood on a higher up the street in the city, gazing out at the ocean "It's been about a year and a half since then."

"You think it's about time for us to head back?" asked Bolt.

"Do you think I'm strong enough to protect them?"

"You won't know if you spend all of your time training or moping." Bolt looked out in the distance "Hey isn't that where the Thunderclap guy is having his party?"

"At least the thought of modern transportation doesn't make me hurl, thank god we're not on that thing."

"Oh my god!" some fangirls were gushing over the yacht not far away "That's Thunderclap's yacht isn't it? Oh man I wish I could've gone to his party, I wish I could've met someone like him in person! He's so cool and he must be so strong to be a part of Fairy Tail!"

"...Bolt did they just say what I think they just said?"

"If by that you mean that they said that this Thunderclap guy is a member of Fairy Tail then yes, yes they did." Bolt glanced up at Luke "So does this mean that the fire in your belly is finally back?"

"First of all, that's Natsu's thing. Second of all, if that means going to beat the ever loving shit out of a power misusing the name of Fairy Tail, then hells to the yeah." and he leapt off of the terrace.

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The yacht party was in full swing.

Thunderclap was currently in the process of trying to woo Lucy "So you told me before that your name was Lucy did you not? That's quite a lovely name."

"Oh yeah, thanks." needless to say Lucy wasn't impressed.

"I would like to propose a toast to your beauty." he snapped his fingers and small bubbles of liquid started to rise into the air "Now be sure to open up wide Lucy, savor the taste of each flavorful drop as it enters your mouth."

'_Okay that's creepy. No focus Lucy, you are strong. You can get through this- Wait hold on a second.' _she swatted the liquid bubbles away "And just what in the name of hell do you think you're doing? I know what you're up to, you're trying to use sleep magic on me."

"So you noticed, very impressive my dear."

"Look I don't want to give you the wrong idea, yes I really want to join the Fairy Tail guild but I'm not gonna date you to make that happen."

"You're quite a handful aren't you?" Thunderclap glanced over to see his thugs holding the rest of the unconscious women captive.

"What's going on here?"

"Welcome aboard my ship, and you would be wise to behave yourself until we make it to the kingdom of Bosco. You don't want to make me angry."

"Wait a second, we're going to Bosco? You told me that you would get me into the Fairy Tail guild!"

"Not a chance, I only said that so that I could lure you here and make you into one of our slaves."

"How could you, you're gonna kidnap all these girls? Why you son of a-" Lucy prepared to whip out her keys, only for them to be knocked out of her hand by a blast of Lightning and for them to be caught by Thunderclap.

"These are Gate Keys, so that means that you're a Celestial Wizard. Only a wizard who has a contract can use this magic, so that makes these absolutely useless to me." and so he threw them off the ship and into the sea below "Whoops."

"You use magic to take advantage of others…" by now Lucy had tears of anger streaming down her face "You're the worst wizard alive!"

"Oh trust me blondie, he doesn't even come close!" that was when Luke burst through the roof and landed in front of them, his expression akin to pure rage.

"Hey I know you!"

"Yeah and I know that these guys are as good as- Wait hold that thought." Luke calmly made his way over to the side of the boat and then proceeded to puke his lungs out "I've made a terrible mistake."

"Are you kidding me?!"

"Do I look like I'm kidding you? Oh screw it, Bolt grab her and get her out of here while I clean up the trash."

"Wait what?"

"Hey Lucy!" that was when Bolt dropped down into the boat sporting wings "What the heck are you doing here?"

"Oh hey Bolt, this asshole tricked me and said that he was gonna get me into the Fairy Tail guild! Wait hold on a second, since when do you have wings?"

"Don't question it, just enjoy the benefits and hold on tight!" Bolt quickly wrapped his tail around Lucy's waist and took off into the sky.

"After them!" Thunderclap rounded on his men "We can't let those fools report this to the Magic Council!"

Lucy glanced down at the boat "Wait a second what about Luke?"

"He'll be fine, we do this stuff all the time." Bolt assured her "Besides I've only got the one tail."

"**Prominence Whip!" **Thunderclap unleashed several crimson colored blasts of Lightning magic into the air after them, only to end up missing which resulted in them exploding across the night sky like fireworks "That cat is quicker than he looks. You know what just forget about them, let's just hurry on towards Bosco."

"Hey assholes." that was when Luke made his way towards them after he finished puking his guts out "I've got a few things that I want to ask you."

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Lucy glanced back at the boat in concern "What about Luke and the other girls, we have to go back for them."

"Actually Lucy, we've got another problem." Bolt told her.

"What do you mean, what problem?" she was answered by his wings disappearing.

"The wings don't come out for very long." and then they fell into the ocean, causing him to hit his head with a loud thud.

Lucy on the other hand wasted no time in finding her Gate Keys on the ocean floor not too far away.

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Luke caught a punch from one of the thugs and promptly flung him overboard "So like I was saying, I have a few questions for you." he levelled his gaze on Thunderclap "So word on the street is that you're a member of Fairy Tail, is that right?"

"Maybe it is." Thunderclap shot him a dirty look "What of it?"

"Then I'm gonna have to wreck your shit."

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Lucy rose up from beneath the waves with a confident smirk "And now is where things are gonna get good. **Open gate of the Water Bearer, Aquarius!"**

Sure enough, Aquarius rose up in a brilliant water Thunderclap and shot her a dirty look "What do you want?"

"Yeah you see that cat, that's the power of a Celestial Wizard. Whenever I use one of my Gate Keys I can summon beings from other worlds to help me. Anyway listen up Aquarius, I want you to use your power to push that ship back into the port!" she received another dirty look, much to her annoyance "You're supposed to come from the Spirit World to help me, not to give me attitude!"

"You really think it's a good idea to make me angry? Let's get something straight blondie, the next time you so much as think about dropping my key I will kill you in a heartbeat. You got that?"

"...Yes ma'am sorry ma'am I swear it won't happen again."

"Hope for your sake that it doesn't." and in a comically badass fashion Aquarius used her power to cause a tidal wave, sending the yacht hurtling towards shore and dragging Lucy and Bolt along with it.

"Hey what the hell, don't wash me away with it!" and yet Lucy and Bolt got hurled onto the shore along with the yacht "Hey what's the big deal, you think you could've tried not to sweep me up with the ship?!"

"Oh I could've but that was actually an accident, I didn't mean to get the ship.

"Hey wait a second, that means that you were aiming for me?!"

"Don't call me for awhile, I'm gonna be going on a week long vacation with my boyfriend and he's hot." and then she disappeared.

"Hey you don't have to rub it in!"

"I have an idea." Bolt offered "If the fish chick gives me anymore trouble then just say the word and her tail is mine! Literally!"

"I don't think I can handle much more of you."

"Hey I'm a cat, I like fish, it's just a fact of life."

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Thunderclap pulled himself out of the wreckage of what was his yacht "Okay that hurt a lot- Wait what the heck?"

Luke towered above Thunderclap and the rest of his thugs on top of the wreckage of the yacht, and he hardened his glare "So you said that you were a member of the Fairy Tail guild, is that about right?"

"So what's it to you? Alright men go kill this little punk."

"I would ask if I could get a good look at your face but I don't really have any room to talk since I haven't been there for over a year, but one thing I know for sure is that I never forget a scent once I've caught a whiff of it. And you know looking back I probably should've mentioned this beforehand, but I happen to be a wizard too." he threw off his jacket and swatted aside several of the thugs, revealing the mark of the Fairy Tail guild on his left arm "My name is Luke Drako, I'm a member of the Fairy Tail guild and I know that you're nothing but a fraud. You see I never forget a scent, and every member of a guild carries a small trace of the scents of the rest of their guildmates. I would've recognized their scents on you, but you reek of nothing but booze and malice. Take out the malice and you would've fit right in."

"...Oh shit."

"Oh shit!" a few of the thugs pretty much exploded "This guy is the real deal, what do we do now Bora?"

"Don't call me that you idiot!"

"I thought I recognized your foul stench." Luke shot Bora a look of disdain "You're Bora the Prominence, word on the street is that a few years back you got your ass kicked out of the Titan's Nose guild because of bad behavior. I don't know what it is that you're trying to do and frankly I don't care, anyone who misuses the name of the Fairy Tail guild gets no mercy from me!"

"And what are you going to do about it? **Prominence Typhoon!" **Bora unleashed a powerful blast of Lightning, engulfing Luke in an explosion as a result, leaving the captured girls to run away screaming "That's the way it goes, the bigger the talk the weaker the man."

"You might wanna take your own advice." Luke emerged from the explosion without so much as a scratch, eating the Lightning right off his shoulder "And another thing, what the hell gives you the right to call yourself a Lightning wizard when the best you've got is an amateurish attack like that one?" this left everyone present except for Bolt comically freaked out "So Poser are you ready to get your shit thoroughly wrecked?"

"What the hell is going on here, who the hell are you?!"

"I could tell you but I suppose I should start with this, Lightning based magic doesn't work on someone like me. Now I've got some major thunder raging inside of my soul that's just raging to burst out of there, and you're in its path." he blitzed past each of the thugs with one arm extended, leaving them all out cold in an instant.

Bora on the other hand managed to escape from the attack on a Thunderclap and studied Luke closely for a moment "Wait a minute, I thought I recognized you. The ability to devour any Lightning magic as you please and the glasses, so that must mean that you're the real one. The Thunderclap of Fairy Tail."

"And I'm about to show you what a real wizard of Fairy Tail can do." his body began radiating a large amount of Lightning as he drew his sword, revealing the blade to be covered with golden colored dragon scales "Are you ready?"

"**Golden Shower!" **Bora unleashed a barrage of Golden colored Lightning bullets.

Luke blitzed through the barrage and dealt Bora a sharp kick to the face, sending him hurtling into the cliffside "Yeah I know, I eat Lightning and attack with it and it's freaking everyone the f*ck out right? Well to put it simply, it's called Dragon Slayer Magic. I've got dragon lungs that allow me to breathe in the stuff, dragon scales to help me dissolve the Lightning, and dragon claws for attacking with Lightning. My brand of magic is one that allows my body to take on all of the qualities of a dragon, barely anyone even uses it anymore. Oh and my sword here is made from the scales of an actual dragon, I call it Thunderclap."

"So what?! **Hell Prominence!" **Bora unleashed a large blast of lightning that shredded a good chunk of the surrounding city.

Luke caught the attack with ease and swallowed it whole "Now that was a pretty good late night snack, but considering you're probably already at your limit I'm gonna go ahead and cut you up like sushi."

"You're gonna do what to me?!"

"Exactly what I said dipshit." Luke blitzed above Bora and slashed him across his back, his sword infused with lightning magic while being backed by a powerful blast of lightning, the force of which also blowing Bora clean straight downwards and sending him to the ground with a loud thud "And that right there is how we get shit done at Fairy Tail, be sure to take notes people."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." that was when a certain figure showed up on the scene, this man having blue hair and a tattoo above and under his right eye (yeah, see if you can guess who this is) "I suppose I do owe you a debt of gratitude Luke, you do the jobs that I don't want to do and you do it well."

"Hey it gets me a decent workout and it gets your shit over with Siegrain, as far as I'm concerned it's a win win."

"Yet another reason why I'm so fond of you and your guild, if it wasn't for people like you then things would certainly be far less interesting." Siegrain hoisted Bora over his shoulder as several of his men cuffed the rest of his thugs "I may call on you again soon enough." and then he and his men disappeared.

"He says that literally every single time."

Lucy stumbled her way over to Luke, her jaw pretty much dropped "Okay all I can really say right now is, that was totally amazing!"

"That's what 18 months of hardcore training, 6 of which were under the living emobodiment of the Hybrid Theory with orange hair shaped like rabbit ears and a complete disappointment of a personality, will do for you." Luke hoisted Bolt onto his shoulder "Alright come on, let's get going."

"What do you mean, where are we going?"

"Where else, you said before that you wanted to join Fairy Tail didn't you?" this caused the look on Lucy's face to light up in excitement "Well I'm about to make your wish come true, so are you ready?"

"Seriously? Oh heck yeah I'm ready!"

"Great." and yet deep inside, Luke felt rather nervous '_Well this is it, whether I'm really ready or not, after 18 months I'm finally going home.'_

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A few days passed, mainly used for travel, and the city of Magnolia was soon in sight, the sun shining over brilliantly.

Still rather woozy from the train ride, Luke stumbled his way through the streets, with both Lucy and Bolt tailing behind him, until he came across the massive building of the guild hall and regained his composure "Well here we are, welcome to Fairy Tail."

Lucy looked on in awe "This is it, I can't tell you how much I've dreamt of this day."

"You did, the entire time during the train ride. Lucky me motion sickness helps to drown everything out. Anyway go ahead in and introduce yourself, applying to be a member is pretty easy."

"Aren't you gonna come in?"

"No, I've got something that I've gotta do first, I'll catch up with you later." and he disappeared in a flash without so much as another word.

"What was that about?"

"I don't think you wanna know, not yet at least." Bolt told her "But seriously go in, they'll welcome you with open arms."

"Alright, if you say so." so Lucy slowly opened the door… only to suddenly get yanked out of the way by Bolt "What the heck are you doing?"

"Saving you from what's about to happen next."

Sure enough, a figure with spiky pink hair and a scarf around his neck burst through the door, accompanied by a small blue flying cat of his own "WE MADE IT BACK ALIVE YOU SONS OF BITCHES!" he was met with various nonchalant greetings.

One guy took the chance to start mouthing off "So I hear that you went all out up in Lupinus the other day Natsu, you just had to go starting trouble-"

"YOU SHUT UP!" Natsu wasted no time in kicking the dude in the face, sending him flying into a wall.

"_This is Natsu Dragneel, a talented wizard who happens to be incredibly reckless and hot headed and speaks everything on his mind."_

"You lied about that Salamander you son of a bitch, I'm gonna kick your ass all the way across Magnolia!"

"Say what?!" the guy bolted to his feet "Hey don't get mad at me I'm not the one you should be blaming here, I was just passing along a rumor I heard!"

"It was just a rumor?!"

"You wanna fight?! Well let's go!" and thus the brawl began.

"Hey now Natsu I think you need to calm down-" a certain blue cat was sent hurtling across the guild hall.

"_That would be Happy, Natsu's partner. He likes to run his mouth. A lot."_

Despite this, Lucy was left in disbelief "I can't believe it, I'm actually standing inside the hall of the Fairy Tail guild!"

A third figure poked her head out from behind the counter, this one sporting with white hair falling down to her shoulders and blue eyes, and she wore a short, dark red dress with a white collar and bow "You know you guys are gonna have to clean that up, Natsu that means I'm looking at you!"

"_This lovely young lady is Lisanna Strauss, a master of Take Over magic who has a close bond with Natsu Dragneel."_

"Also Gray, your clothes."

"I don't have time for that!" Gray then proceeded to punch another guy out, then dealt Natsu a quick fist bump.

"Hey now Natsu I think you need to calm down-" a certain blue cat was sent hurtling across the guild hall.

"_That would be Happy, Natsu's partner. He likes to run his mouth. A lot."_

"So Natsu finally made it back huh?!" another guy with black spiky hair and no clothes on bolted to his feet.

"_This is Gray Fullbuster, a very talented wizard like Natsu but he tends to… well he has a bad habit of taking off his clothes without realizing it."_

"I say it's time we settle things once and for all!"

"Gray I believe you're forgetting your clothes again." a green haired figure in a trench coat pointed out.

"_This man here is Freed Justine, current leader of the Thunder Legion and a man who values honor above all else."_

This was when another white haired figure showed up "It's only noon and you fools are already whining like a bunch of little wimps!"

"_This brute of a man is Elfman, he's known for being a muscle bound wizard who believes that all you need to solve any problem are two strong fists."_

"But of course, such is the way of the guild."

Gray kicked some random guy out of his way "Hey Natsu get the hell over here and fight me already!"

"Not until you put some clothes on!" Natsu barked.

"Yeah I'm a real man, do you want me to prove it to you?!"

Lucy let out a sigh "I can't believe he's encouraging them."

"PROVE THIS!" Natsu and Gray proceeded to punch him out with a double punch, knocking him out in one blow.

"They actually knocked him out that easily?"

"Jeez it can be so noisy around here." a new figure spoke up, this one having spiky orange hair and two beautiful girls cuddling with him.

"_This is the lady killer Loke, he's known for being ranked high on the list of the most eligible wizard bachelors."_

"Seriously I try to show my girls the respect they deserve and then-" and then he got knocked out for a few seconds by a glass to the face, but he immediately rebounded and tried to save some face and look cool "Okay change of plans ladies, I'm gonna go fight but only to protect the two of you. Just wait here until I get back."

Lucy then proceeded to cross Loke out of a book "Well he's definitely off my list of potential boyfriends, god I'm glad no one heard that. What the heck is wrong with these people, there's not one sane person in this entire building!"

"You get used to it eventually." this was when another figure spoke up from where she was sitting at the bar drinking a mug of booze, this one being a beautiful woman with long brown hair tied back in a ponytail, tan skin and brown eyes, her attire consisting of a blue bikini top that somewhat revealed her DD cup breasts, a pair of capri pants and a pair of sandals.

"_This lovely young woman is Cana Alberona, a beautiful female wizard who is known for her bikini clad photos in Sorcerer Weekly Magazine, as well as being a formidable mage of the Fairy Tail guild. Oh, and she also holds the title of Fairy Tail's heaviest drinker."_

"So what's up?"

Lucy almost immediately had hearts in her eyes and steam coming out of her ears "Oh my god, you're Cana Alberona in the flesh!"

"Look if you do swing that way then let me tell you what I tell all of the other drunk idiots that think that they have a shot with me, you don't." she looked away, blushing slightly "I, uh… I've got my eye on someone else."

"Uh no no no, I'm not like that I swear. I'm just, I'm a really huge fan." Lucy glanced over at the idiots all fighting with each other "Don't you think we should try to stop them before they wreck the place?"

"This is just another Wednesday for us, and besides if you don't let them ruin your afternoon when you're just trying to have a quiet drink it turns out to be kind of fun. Eventually. It takes a lot of adjusting to. So what's your deal, you new here?"

"Uh yeah, I haven't officially joined yet. I still have to meet with the master. You know you're the second member of the guild I've met, third if you count a smartass little cat."

"We have two of those, and they usually spend their time trying to put each other in headlocks over fish." Cana glanced over to see Bolt catching Happy in a chokehold "Like that." she froze when she laid eyes on Bolt '_If he's back then that must mean… Luke, did you finally come back after all this time?'_

"Something wrong?"

"You said that I was the third member of Fairy Tail you met, was Luke Drako the first one you met?"

"Yeah, he saved me and offered to put in a good word for me."

"...Nice to know he hasn't changed in the time he's been gone."

"Why, did something happen?"

"...Forget it, it's not worth mentioning right now. Oh and duck." she pushed Lucy's head down and grabbed a pair of boxers fighting overhead "Hey Gray here's your underwear back, don't make me have to touch them again."

"Duly noted." Gray slipped his boxers back on and then proceeded to kick Natsu square in the jaw "The only one around here who gets to strip me is me! Wait a second, that didn't come out right."

"There's no way it could come out right."

"That's enough all of you, I suggest you all cease with the commotion you're causing." this was when Freed had enough and promptly drew his sword.

"Oh yeah, says who?" Gray prepared to unleash a spell.

"You punks can be such a nuisance." Loke prepared his own spell.

Natsu coated his fists with flames "I'm ready for ya, come at me bitches!"

Lucy took the chance to hide behind Cana "So they always fight like this?"

"Pretty much yeah." Cana just kept with mer mug of booze.

"You don't seem worried."

"You get used to it."

"**ENOUGH!" **a massive monstrous figure appeared in the middle of the guild hall, stopping everyone in their tracks "**Would you fools stop bickering like children?!"**

"And there be your guy, I didn't even realize you were still here master."

Lucy nearly lost her shit "Wait a second, did you just say master?!"

"That would be the guy in charge of the guild but if you like that, then you'll love what happens next."

Natsu barked out a triumphant laugh "Man talk about a bunch of pathetic wimps, looks like I won this round you guys!" and then he promptly got stomped on by the master.

"You'd think he'd learn by now, but with all of the brain damage maybe not."

And then the master set his sights on Lucy "**Well well, it would seem that we have a new recruit."**

"Yes sir." Lucy let out a squeak of fear.

"**Well then, just a moment…" **the master promptly reverted to his true form, that being a short old man with a stupid hat "Nice to meet ya."

"He's so tiny, so this little guy is really the master?"

"Yep." Cana gave a simple nod "That would be Makarov Dreyar, the third master of the Fairy Tail guild."

"Yep!" Makarov leapt onto the second level, hitting his head on the railing as he did so, but he quickly brushed that off and got everyone's attention "You've all gone and done it again you bunch of idiots, just take a look at how much paperwork the Magic Council sent me this time around! This is the biggest pile of complaints yet! Have all of you lost your minds?! All you kids are good for is getting the higher ups mad at me!" he was met with lots of murmuring "But on the other hand…" he burned the paperwork using fire magic and threw it to Natsu since he eats fire stuff "I say to hell with the Magic Council! Now listen up, any power that surpasses reason still comes from reason right? Magic isn't some kind of miraculous power, it's a talent that only works when the flow of energy inside of us and the flow of energy in the natural world are in perfect synchronization. In order to perform magic one must have a strong mind and the ability to focus, it should take over your being and come pouring out of your soul. If all we do is worry about following rules then our magic will never progress. Don't let those blowhards on the council scare you, follow the path that you believe in because that in itself is what makes the Fairy Tail guild number one!" he was met with various cheers "Now in the meantime, we'll be getting a new member today."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Soon enough, Makarov had stamped Lucy with the mark of Fairy Tail guild "Alright there you go blondie, now you're an official member of the Fairy Tail guild."

"No way this is so awesome!" Lucy nearly let out a squeal "Hey Bolt check it out, Cana just put the official Fairy Tail mark on my hand!"

"Hm?" Bolt barely even glanced up from where he had Happy in a chokehold "Oh yeah wait go for you Loony."

"My name is Lucy!"

"I know what I said, and welcome to the guild. If you wanna get started then I say hit up the request board for a job." Bolt grabbed onto one of the requests "160,000 Jewel and you've just gotta punch out some thieves? Makes sense, with a mermaid that's always acting like it's her time of the month that oughta be a snap."

"How come my dad hasn't come back yet?" a new voice quickly cut off whatever anger driven retort Lucy was about to give.

As it turns out, Makarov was dealing with a little kid by the name of Romeo "You know you really are starting to work my nerves Romeo, you're a wizard so just have some faith in your father and wait patiently for him."

"But sir he told me he'd be back in three days and he's been gone for over a week now!"

"If I remember correctly he took the job on Mount Hakobe."

"Yeah that's right and it's not that far from here, so why won't somebody go and look for him already?"

"Listen kid your old man is a wizard, and like every other wizard in this guild he can take care of himself! Now go home, have some milk and cookies and wait patiently!"

"JERK! I HATE ALL OF YOU!"" Romeo proceeded to slug Makarov across the face and ran out of the guild hall crying.

Lucy just watched with a sad look in her eyes "That's gotta be tough."

"Don't worry about it." Cana assured her "I know it sounds like the master doesn't care but he really is worried."

"Yeah I can tell, sort of."

"Well in the meantime I'm gonna get going." she hoisted Bolt over her shoulder "I'm gonna go up to Mount Hakobe and save Macao."

"Even after what the master said? Why?"

"Who knows? Maybe because it's because I think of Luke whenever I look at the kid and that look in his eyes."

"How so?"

"Just because we're members of Fairy Tail doesn't mean we all don't have our own personal issues too, we've all had our fair share of suffering and loss." and so Cana made her way out of the guild hall, with Lucy right behind her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Soon enough, Cana and the others were taking a carriage towards Mount Hakobe "Okay so I've gotta ask, why exactly did you come with us newbie?"

"I thought maybe I'd be able to help." Lucy told her.

"Well at least I can ride in one of these things without having to worry about a Dragon Slayer upchucking all over the place, Luke gets a crap load of motion sickness. Add that to the list of reasons to feel sorry for him."

"What do you mean?"

Cana glanced out at the landscape "Years ago Luke's dad left him and he never came back, the guy who raised him I should say. He's actually a lightning dragon."

"...He was a what now?! You mean Luke was actually raised by a dragon?!"

"I found it hard to believe at first too, but I had my own father crap going on so I figured I didn't have any reason not to believe him. He found Luke as a little kid and took him in and raised him like he was his own kid, and he taught him about all sorts of stuff including Dragon Slayer magic. But one day the dragon disappeared and never came back."

"So that dragon must have been the one he told me about, Kaminari."

"Luke doesn't talk about it much, but Kaminari abandoning him like that is always really hurting him." Bolt told her "One of his biggest dreams in life is for the day to come when he'll finally see Kaminari again, and for me to meet him."

"You know, as sad as that is it's actually kind of sweet." and then the carriage stopped "So does that mean we're there?"

"I doubt it, these things can only take us so far." Cana told her "We're gonna have to go the rest of the way on foot."

"Wait what?" Lucy opened the carriage door, only to find that they were on a mountain in the middle of a blizzard "What the heck, Cana where are we?! It's a frozen wasteland!"

"Yeah, we're on Mount Hakobe now let's get going." Cana hoisted Lucy over her shoulder and started walking on the path.

"Why the heck is it so cold? I know we're on a mountain but it's summer right now and there shouldn't be a blizzard like this anywhere- Put me down!" she was promptly set back on the ground "Thank you."

"It's what you get for wearing light clothing."

"Oh please you don't even have a proper shirt on, now hand over that blanket!"

"Oh wow you just keep on talking don't you?"

"Hey wait I've got an idea! **Open gate of the Clock Constellation! Horologium!" **she summoned one of her Celestial Spirits.

"Okay what?"

From the gate emerged what looked like a grandfather clock with a face and a moustache "Tick tock."

"...And again I say, what?" she was met with mumbling "Okay how the heck am I supposed to understand what you're saying?"

"She says "_I'm staying in here and I'm not coming out."_"

"Then why the heck did you tag along?"

""_A better question would be, what kind of crazy job would force Macao to come to a place like this?" _she inquires."

"You should've asked that before you came with us. He went to slay a vulcan, it's some kind of big monster."

""_I want to go back to the guild!" _she proclaims."

"Go ahead and be my guest, I say back- Okay why are we talking like this?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The sun was shining over the skies of Magnolia.

But in contrast to that, the mood was grim as Luke stared down at a certain headstone with the word STRAUSS engraved on it "I meant what I said before, what happened to you will never happen again, not if I have any say in it." he glanced back and quickly recognized it was standing behind him "Whatever you're going to say won't change how I feel about this, you'd just be wasting your breath… Lisanna."

Sure enough, before him was a young woman with white hair falling down to her shoulders and blue eyes, and she wore a short, dark red dress with a white collar and bow "I think I'll be the judge of that."

"_This lovely young lady is Lisanna Strauss, a user of Take Over magic who has a close bond with Natsu Dragneel."_

"So when did you get back into town?"

"Just today." Luke just kept looking down at the grave in front of them "You know it's not a good thing for you to be eavesdropping on people having private thoughts, you'll end up turning into Natsu if you do."

"I'd rather be accused of eavesdropping than let you live with guilt you put on yourself for no good reason."

"And now you're just talking out your ass. Why can't you or anyone else just say that you blame me for what happened to her? It would just be a hell of a lot easier on all of us and on me if you just say that it was my fault."

"I don't blame you because I don't see any reason to blame you." Lisanna gave him a small smile "If I were ever to blame you for what happened to her then I know that she would never forgive me. It's no one's fault that she died, sometimes in life the bad things just happen and she understood that all too well. Mira was my big sister, a girl with so much love in her heart for her family that she would do anything to protect them. And remember this Luke. Mira, my big sister that me and Elfman loved so much, was willing to give up her own life in order to protect yours."

"Lisanna…"

"You know Cana, Bolt and the new girl, I think her name is Lucy, went to look for Macao up at Mount Hakobe. If you wanted to see Cana then I think that would be the time and the place to do it."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cana and Bolt continued their track up the side of the mountain "Hey Macao where the hell are you man?!"

"WOMAN!" that was when a vulcan dropped down onto the scene, sniffed Cana and shrugged, and then it went over to Lucy inside of Horologium and attempted to make off with both of them "Me like blonde woman!"

"So the thing can talk huh?"

""_Don't just stand there, hurry up and save me!" _she yells furiously."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Near the summit of Mount Hakobe…

Horologium and Lucy had found themselves taken to the Vulcan's lare near the summit of the mountain, though only one of them was actually concerned ""_How did I get myself into this mess, and what's with this giant monkey? Why is he so excited?" _she asks tearfully."

The Vulcan started staring at Lucy with a big pervy grin "Woman, woman!"

And it was in this moment that Lucy suddenly found herself abandoned by her spirit and totally defenseless "Hey Horologium where the heck did you go?! Don't you freaking dare disappear on me!"

"_Sorry but my time is up, do be sure to take care."_

"Just give me some kind of extension! Please!" she let out a scream of terror.

"Hey you big ape!" that was when Bolt charged onto the scene "Where the heck is the old guy who's name I never bothered to remember?!" but then he slid on the ice and ended up slamming into the wall of the cave "Ow."

"...That was almost cool for about five seconds."

"How the heck does Luke make it look so natural?"

"Well that's obvious, it takes practice." Cana slowly walked into the cave and pointed a magic card at the Vulcan "Start talking monkey, where the heck is my friend? You can understand what I'm saying can't you? He's a human man who thinks he's a lot cooler than he is, now where is he?"

The Vulcan stared long and hard at Cana "Man?"

"That's right, now where the hell are you hiding him?"

"Don't you think you might be jumping to conclusions?" Lucy pointed out.

"Probably, but I don't give a damn!...Yeah maybe Natsu has rubbed off on me. Anyway, I'm pretty sure he's gonna shove me out of the cave opening and down the mountain so I won't buy into that crap.

"Women…" the Vulcan stared long at hard at Cana, then at Lucy, and then alternating between them, and then it started beating on its chest "No like man, me like woman! Woman woman woman!"

"And just like that this got serious levels of annoying."

"Which is why I'm ending this, stand back." Lucy got to her feet "Alright you pervy monkey you are so going down!" she pulled a golden key off her belt "**Now open gate of the Golden Bull, Taurus!"**

Sure enough, the gate opened to reveal a black and white bull with a battle axe "Moo to the moo missy."

"I should warn you monkey boy, Taurus is the most powerful celestial spirit that I have a contract with."

"Oh wow to the wow Miss Lucy I actually almost forgot what a nice figure you have, why don't you come give me a smooch?"

"...Oh yeah I forgot, he's also a massive perv too."

"Moo to the moo."

"No touch my woman!" the Vulcan let out an outright snarl.

"Your woman? Them be fightin words you moo-nkey!"

"Get him!" Lucy barked.

"MOOO!" with a roar Taurus slammed his axe into the ground, forcing the Vulcan to dodge the shockwave emitted from it as a result.

"BOOYAH MOTHER FUCKER!" Luke suddenly burst onto the scene and aimed a kick at the Vulcan, only to be struck by Taurus and his axe, to which Luke comically retaliated with a kick to the face, sending him flying clear across the cave.

"Looks like this is the end for me… mooo…"

"Call it whatever the hell you want, I call it payback for hitting me with that thing." he noticed the horrified look Lucy was giving him "What?"

"You're oozing out blood by the gallons!" Lucy pretty much shrieked.

"I am?" he glanced at his reflection in the cave wall and noticed a rather large wound in his head bleeding heavily "Huh, I don't feel any pain."

"How the hell are you- Hey wait a second, how did you get here anyway? You were back in Magnolia when we left weren't you?"

"Oh yeah I started climbing the mountain to meet up with you guys but Bolt met me about halfway up and brought me the rest of the way. Thanks little buddy." he dealt Bolt a quick fist bump.

"So you mean you can't handle normal modes of transportation but flying with Bolt is totally fine to you?"

"It's artificial means that make me hurl my lunch from last week, but my little buddy here could never hurt me."

"MY WOMAN!" the vulcan charged at him at full speed.

Luke stopped the Vulcan in its tracks with one hand "Alright let me make this clear to you you furry son of a bitch, I consider every single member of the Fairy Tail guild to be one of my friends. Whether it's people like the Master, or Natsu and Gray, and especially Cana and Bolt, and now Lucy too. Every single one of them are my friends." he drew his sword from the sheath on his back "This sword was created from the scales of my father, Kaminari the Lightning dragon, and the strength of this blade represents my resolve to protect every single friend that I hold dear! I'm not leaving without Macao, and if I have to cut you down to get to him then I'll do it!" he dealt the Vulcan a swift kick to the chest, sending it flying.

The Vulcan rebounded, but when it did it revealed that it had Taurus's axe and a wicked grin on its face.

"Okay didn't see that coming, but that's what makes it fun!" Luke leapt over the attack and threw his sword into the air as he coated his fist with Lightning "Now you'll see what happens to people who mess with my friends! **Lightning Dragon… IRON FIST!" **he slammed his lightning coated fist into the Vulcan's torso, sending him crashing directly into the wall of the cave "And that's how a Lightning dragon takes care of business."

"Nice but, wasn't he supposed to tell us where your friend is?" asked Lucy.

"He isn't gonna do much talking, not that he actually needs to. See for yourself." he looked away from a massive flash of light, and he glanced back at it once the light subsided "And there we go, we've got ourselves a Macao."

"Wait a second, are you telling me that big perverted monkey was actually your friend the entire time?!"

"Looks to me like he got taken over by that Vulcan through some kind of possession spell, not that I couldn't tell though since the personalities weren't that different. Vulcans survive through possession of peoples' bodies and taking them over. Looks to me like Macao put up one hell of a fight before the thing got to him though. Hey Macao, come on stupid get up. Your kid is waiting for you back in town."

Slowly, Macao opened his eyes and glanced over at Luke "Oh hey Luke, when did you get back into town?"

"Just today, so how many of them did you take out?"

"About 19 of them, but then the 20th jumped me when I had my guard down. I'm such an idiot, I'm so angry with myself. I'm embarrassed to go home and face Romeo."

"Hey beating down 19 monkeys that thought with their penises is something to be proud of you idiot."

"I guess but still, all or nothing…"

"I say take what you can get, and speaking of which…" he glanced back and tried to hide his growing fear "Cana…"

Sure enough, Cana stood leaning against the wall of the cave looking pissed as hell, but her hair was covering her eyes in a very ominous way "You haven't changed at all have you? You're such an idiot, no matter how powerful you get you're always gonna be reckless." she made her way over to him and smacked him upside the head, but then she pulled him into a gentle and tender hug "Welcome home you idiot."

"Good to be home."

Lucy watched the others with a sad smile '_All of these guys are so amazing, I don't even begin to compare to them.'_

"Hey Lucy what's with the grin?" Bolt tried to hide a smirk "It's totally like something out of a horror movie."

"I'll show you creepy cat, watch your back."

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Romeo sat on the stairs, curled up in a ball with tears streaming down his face '_Daddy, where are you?'_

"Hey squirt."

Romeo glanced up to see Luke, Bolt, Cana, Lucy and an injured Macao wandering towards him, but he didn't give them the chance to "DAD!" he quickly tackled Macao to the ground "You came back, I'm so sorry dad!"

"No son, I'm sorry for making you worry." Macao told him.

"I can handle it, I'm the son of a wizard aren't I?"

"Next time those bullies pick on you here's what I want you to say, you tell them that your old man can defeat 19 monsters all by himself?"

"Right!" Romeo glanced back at the others "Hey you guys, thanks a ton for your help!"

"Whatever floats your boat squirt." Luke just gave a nonchalant wave and started walking back towards the guild hall with the others, and he shot a glance over at Lucy "So how do you like your first day as a member of Fairy Tail?"

Lucy let out a chuckle "Well it was a sunny day followed by a blizzard but it ended up sunny again."

"And yes most of the people in Fairy Tail act like a pack of crack addicts but they're also good people with good hearts who know how to do what's right in the most destructive way that's humanly possible."

"I know I'm still a newcomer around here but I can't help it, I already love being part of this guild."

"And hopefully you will for a long time to come." Luke set his sights on the guild hall in front of them, and as he creaked the doors open and awaited the inevitable bombardment of questions and yelling from the other guild members, he couldn't help but smile '_I know you can hear me Kaminari, wherever you are. Please let me stay with Fairy Tail for at least a little bit longer. I have to become stronger, so much stronger than I am right now so that I can continue to protect my family so nothing like that ever happens again. I have to get so strong I even surpass you, and if I don't… then I'll never be able to face either her or you again. But that can wait until tomorrow, because tonight, I'm just gonna enjoy being with my family here in Fairy Tail.'_

**A/N:**

**This is my OC in Fairy Tail, a friend of mine spent months trying to get me to watch it and I feel like a total idiot for not listening to him and watching it sooner, so I dedicate this story to him. Despite that though, I like to think of this story as a tribute to the fact that the final season of Fairy Tail started airing in October of 2018.**

**I was struggling for a long time to figure out what element for my Dragon Slayer OC to have, and in the end, my plan is to go with Lightning and have him be trained by an actual Lightning dragon. I know there already is a character who can use Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic in the form of Laxus, but keep in mind that in episode 49 Makarov said that he wasn't a true Dragon Slayer since he only has a Dragon Lacrima implanted in his body but that doesn't mean that there isn't a Lightning Dragon out there. I named him Kaminari because that's Japanese for Lightning. But anyway, I'll be including most of the Lightning Dragon Slayer spells that Laxus uses and trying to make up a few of my own spells.**

**Oh, and speaking of Laxus he will be involved in a different direction that I'm taking a certain arc later on. I wanted to do something different with this arc, and I don't believe that I've seen a fic do this before. It won't impact the overall story in a huge way though.**

**Oh, and in case it wasn't already obvious, Lisanna being here along with Elfman instead of Mirajane means that there's a huge difference from canon isn't here? I had spent a lot of time looking for fics where Lisanna didn't die and someone else went to Edolas instead of her, but they usually just involved Natsu going instead of her, and franky none of them were very well written, so I decided to do something different. And just to add to the suspense and to throw you guys off, I deliberately made sure not to mention by name exactly who "died". Oh, and this means that Lisanna will be a part of Team Natsu and I ship NaLi, so NaLu shippers, come at me bitches!**

**And no that doesn't mean that I'm against NaLu, I like the pairing but I'm sick and tired of 90% of the stories and authors on this site, along with potentially rabid fans that I find commenting on YouTube, trying to cram it down my throat! I've only been into Fairy Tail for about a year and I know that they need to either back off or seek help. As for who I do plan to pair Lucy with, that was something I struggled with for quite awhile, and I only just recently found a good answer to it. It won't happen for quite some time though so nothing is set in stone, but if you have other suggestions I'd be happy to hear them.**

**I chose to make Cana more significant because I really like her character and I thought that she underutilized, at least before the Tenrou Island arc. Besides she's the most down to earth and realistic female in Fairy Tail, at least in terms of personality, aside from the alcoholic thing.**

**The scene with Natsu and Gray working as bartenders and, you know not trying to strangle each other, is part of a plot device I have in mind for a later arc. It'll make sense then so don't worry.**

**Oh, and just so I can avoid any potential confusion, I've provided Luke's character bio below, or at least the first part of it. I can't spoil everything in the first chapter now can I?**

**Character Bio:**

**Name:** Luke Drako

**Rank:** S-class

**Magic Teacher:** Kaminari (Lightning Dragon)

**Appearance: **Short kurt brown colored hair, teal colored eyes, thin-rimmed glasses 5 feet 8 inches tall.

**Attire: **Dark blue quarter zip, black pants, black shoes.

**Magic:** Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic, (Spoilers) Generation (Will be revealed later on for the sake of suspense)

**Exceed: **Bolt (yellow)


	2. Daybreak

**First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I published it.**

**Abdultahir38: **I'm glad to hear you like the story so far. I don't mean for Luke to come off as too similar to Natsu, yes there are similarities but they're very different. Luke is a logical figure who knows how to think things through, and unlike Natsu he carries a lot of guilt with him in regards to _that _incident. It was only the first chapter so I couldn't flesh out the differences too much as of yet.

**StraxyX: **Glad to see you're interested so far, and yes I always thought the character of Cana was underrated. I don't know what it is exactly, maybe it's because she's the closest to normal in comparison to other girls from Fairy Tail, but she's always stood out to me.

**Ragnas Bredvolts: **I'm glad to see I've caught your attention. I know Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic mainly belongs to Laxus, but I wanted to see if I could explore any possibilities with it in my story. I'm also glad that someone else shares my opinion of NaLu, how the rapid pack of insanity that is the Fairy Tail fanbase is shoving it down people's throats to the point where it's gotten completely out of control, especially those who wish for Lisanna's death just for NaLu to get together. As for Cana, yes she does have a lot of unexplored potential. However, while I have some ideas in mind for the type of magic she uses, she's actually not an S-Class mage. I only made Luke use the Lightning Dragon Iron Fist because according to the Fairy Tail website where I collect information on spells and characters, that is an actual spell. I have some original spells in mind for him as well, you'll see those later on. And thank you for reviewing, I hope I continue to satisfy you with this story.

**Ericsofly2: **I'm glad you enjoy the story so far. While the idea of Levy x OC is interesting, I very much enjoy the pairing between her and Gajeel, and so that's what I intend to do with this fic going forward.

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"_In a land far far away lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small and peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most people, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards and mages, and banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore, but there is a certain guild in a certain town that stands high above the rest of them, one from which countless legends have been born, a guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. This guild is known as Fairy Tail."_

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(And now how I imagine the first opening song for Fairy Tail would go)

Silhouettes of fairies dance across the night sky over Magnolia, then across the skies over all of Fiore as Luke looks on from the ground below **Fairy, where are you going? I'm holding, all the light on to your way; this light will shine upon a brand new day!**

Lucy and Cana stand on a hill overlooking the city of Magnolia until they see the silhouette of a fairy fly past them **(Oh yeah!) Now can you hear the voice that's calling out to you?**

Natsu, Happy, Lisanna and Gray stand amongst a large amount of rubble until they see the silhouette of a fairy fly past them **(Oh yeah!) Though I know its shouts have caused its overuse.**

Erza finishes cutting down a monster when she notices the silhouette of a fairy fly past her **(Oh yeah!) But will it stay until your heart can hear it through?**

Luke and Bolt stand on top of a hill looking over the horizon, and then Luke whips around and gives a thumbs up **(Oh yeah!) OH YEAH!"**

The nine of them ride on a train, with Natsu suffering from motion sickness, Erza calmly eating a piece of cake **The sun and moon have joined in celebration**

The nine of them ride in a carriage and then settle down in camp for the night, with Natsu and Gray engaging in an eating contest while Luke and Erza just look on **Have you forgotten our affiliation?**

Lucy sits alone on a bridge in the rain with Plue, until she notices Luke and the others call out to her, and the rain clouds disappear as she rushes off to join them **When you're not here to share your laughter with me, I just can't find my inspiration, but now it's:**

Insert a quick montage of adventure and comical infighting **Snowing, keep going; be honest and smile as we're**

Erza looks out into the distance, facing away from a silhouette of Siegrain, followed by silhouettes of Makarov and all of the secondary characters in the guild **Approaching, evoking, the clock to keep repeating over, but,**

Lucy summons her Celestial Spirits, Natsu unleashes a burst of Fire Dragon Slayer Magic, Gray uses an Ice Make spell, Erza uses her Requip, Lisanna uses her Animal Soul, Cana summons her Magic Cards, and Luke finishes by unleashing a powerful burst of Lightning Dragon Slayer magic as everyone else in the guild looks on **Fairy, where are you going? I'm holding, all the light on to your way; this light will shine upon a brand new day!**

The nine of them all prepare to face a massive monster together **{(Why?!) x3}**

The song finishes with a shot of everyone in front of the guild hall **Don't say goodbye!**

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The sun was just beginning to rise over the skies of Magnolia.

Luke pulled himself out of bed and glanced out the window with a small smile '_My name is Luke Drako, I'm a Lightning Dragon Slayer and a proud member of the guild known as Fairy Tail, a guild filled to the brim with powerful magic and amazing opportunities for everyone. Just head through the center of the city of Magnolia, head past the Kardia Cathedral, head to the gigantic building in the back of the city with the words FAIRY TAIL at the front of it and you'll find the place, the Fairy Tail guild hall. The city itself has a lot of things to offer to like cheap housing, I'm sharing an apartment with my talking cat partner Bolt for about 120,000 Jewel a month. It's not huge like Lucy's apartment is, dirt cheap for a place like that being worth 70,000 Jewel a month, but it gets the job done and it's close to the guild hall.' _he let out a sigh '_It's been about a week since Bolt and I came back from our year and a half long training trip, bringing our newest member Lucy back with us. When I finally showed my face at the guild hall a full 18 months after the incident, rather than be met with scorn for my cowardice they pretty much clobbered me in a bear hug, and then actually tried to clobber me. I got around pretty much all of them without too much trouble, but when it came time to deal with Natsu I just called it a day and ducked out while everyone else started brawling for no reason in the way only they can. I'm gonna take my time and ease my way back into this.'_

"Wow your place is just as nice is mine."

Luke glanced back and saw Lucy standing in the doorway "Let me take a wild guess, Bolt let you in?"

"Yeah I just wanted to check out your place."

"At least you bothered to knock and to use the door, just warning you in advance that it's pretty likely no one else in the guild will when they drop by your place."

"Considering how freaking nuts they all are I wouldn't be surprised, at least they won't walk in on me when I'm naked."

"They will without hesitation."

"...This might have been a horrible mistake."

"With many more to come. You're in Fairy Tail now blondie, get used to it, now can you leave so I can take a shower and get some decent clothes on?"

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10 minutes later…

Luke came back out dressed in some more suitable attire, a quarter zip and a pair of black jeans, then he glanced up and he let out a sigh "Alright Natsu, let's get this over with."

"**FIRE DRAGON SWORD HORN!" **Natsu burst down from above with flames coating his skull, freaking Lucy out enough for her to use Bolt as a meat shield.

Luke nonchalantly stopped him with one hand, putting out the flames in an instant "You know something Natsu, you really need a hobby."

"This is my hobby, now do you want some more or are you gonna say mercy?"

"Oh for fuck's sake… Hey Lucy can you open the window real quick?" this prompted Lucy to slide open the bedroom window "Thank you."

"NOW YOU'RE MINE!" Natsu charged at him "**Fire Dragon-"**

"Boot to the head." Luke dealt Natsu a solid blow to the head and sent him flying straight out the window, soaring into the early morning sky "With people like Natsu you've just gotta know where to hit them and how hard to hit them."

"Is that gonna be okay?" asked Lucy "I mean won't he suffer from brain damage from something like that?"

"If he did then he did long before he came to Fairy Tail, besides he'll soak that shit in like some kind of incredibly stupid sponge. So out of curiosity how many Celestial Spirits do you have a contract with right now?"

"Well so far I have six in total but I have a few different types, not to brag or anything but I even have a few different types of them."

"The silver keys are ones you can find in most magic shops around the kingdom, the gold ones are the super rare ones with each one representing the 12 Zodiacs from Leo the Lion to Pisces the Paired Fish."

"Exactly, I have Taurus the Golden Bull, Aquarius the Water Bearer and the third one that I have is Cancer the Giant Crab."

"Mermaid, bull and crab huh? Sounds like the name of a shitty heavy metal band."

"Oh that reminds me, I need to make a contract with the key I bought in Hargeon. I don't suppose you and the smartass cat over there are interested in seeing how a Celestial Wizard makes a contract with a Celestial Spirit."

"Well we've got about 20 minutes before Natsu lands and storms his way back here to challenge me again, so yeah why not I say go for it."

"Alright then, now pay attention. **I call upon thee in the world of the Celestial Spirits, I beckon you to my side at once! Pass through the gate! Open, gate of canis minor! Now come, Nichola!" **she opened the gate and summoned the spirit, revealing it to be a tiny adorable snowman creature.

"Okay what the hell are we looking at?"

"It's supposed to look like that." Lucy reached down and started cuddling the spirit "Oh my god you're such a cutie patootie!"

"You've got a type don't you?"

"It doesn't take much magic power to get these guys through the gate, so a lot of wizards keep these guys as pets."

"So basically you're gonna keep him like a dog or something?"

"Maybe." Lucy turned back to Nichola "So let's start working on our contract, are you free on Mondays?" she received a head shake "What about Tuesdays?" a nod "Okay then, what about on Wednesdays?"

Luke just watched the process go down as he handed Bolt a fish and made himself a cup of coffee "Well this is boring."

"Great well that just about does it." Lucy didn't take too long to finish up "You know stuff like this may seem boring to you but it's really important, you see the contract of a Celestial Wizard relies on the promise that's made between the wizard and the spirit and that's why I make it a point to always keep my promises."

"I can respect that."

"Now I just have to come up with a name for the little guy."

"I thought it was Nichola, or is that just the name of its species."

"Just the species, I just thought it was the cutest name ever, isn't that right my little Plue?"

"You sure he's cool with that?"

"Why wouldn't he be?"

"It's kind of weird to think that his sign is the Little Dog but he doesn't bark or act like an actual dog." Bolt pointed out.

"I don't hear you acting like a cat over there buddy-" Lucy glanced down to see Plue dancing around the place "What's he doing?"

Luke let out a chuckle "Well I don't know if I would go that far."

"You can understand what he's saying?"

"More or less, but anyway since you're a part of Fairy Tail you wanna be part of the team I'm putting together?"

"Wait what do you mean team?"

"See even though we're all members of the same guild a lot of the time wizards group into separate individual teams, it helps if jobs too hard for any single wizard can be done through a team effort. Examples include Levy with Jet and Droy to form team Shadow Gear. Freed is paired with Bickslow and Evergreen under Laxus to form the Thunder Legion, Macao usually pairs up with Wakaba, Alzack and Bisca are a team in more than a few ways, and I usually pair up with Cana but sometimes I go with people like Natsu and Gray."

"Awesome, I say let's do it!"

"Works for me, meet me at the guild in an hour and we'll get started."

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An hour passed.

Lucy made her way into the guild hall and found Luke sitting at the bar with a job request in his hand "So what's my first job gonna be?"

"Hate to break it to you blondie but that's gonna have to be put on hold." Luke held up the job request to her "I don't know why but whoever sent this job request, they asked specifically for me."

"It's like I told you." Makarov spoke up a few seats away "I wouldn't say such a thing if it wasn't true. Take my advice Luke, don't let the lightning control you."

"How about this Master, I won't let the Lightning control me so long as you don't let the liquor control you. Sorry Lucy but whatever this is sounds like it's too much for a beginner, I'll give you a hand when I get back." he glanced over "Hey Gray, first of all put on some pants."

"Dammit!" Gray quickly pulled his pants back on "What?"

"Going on a job, you wanna be my backup?"

"Yeah I think I'll pass, you don't need me for some sidekick or-"

"It pays 250,000 Jewel a piece."

"I'm in." and that was the end of the discussion as the three of them (Bolt included) headed out of the guild hall.

Lucy glanced over at Makarov "So Master if you don't mind me asking what's the deal with that job that Luke took?"

Makarov let out a sigh "It's from a city that's been plagued by lightning for several weeks."

"A plague of lightning? Sounds like the name of a heavy metal band."

"The job comes from the courrier town of Borwatt, it's being barraged by lightning on a daily basis and since Luke uses Lightning Dragon Slayer magic they specifically requested him to deal with this matter."

"Wow, so I guess he's made a name for himself."

"You have no idea." Cana spoke up from right next to Lucy, startling her "Luke's a lot more down to Earth than most of the guys in the guild, but him aside if you need someone to go on your first job with you then I'm your woman."

"No way that's awesome, I say let's do it!" they high fived "So what's our plan?"

"Well blondie you're in luck, I've got our first job right here." Cana held up a job request "Take a look and see for yourself."

"Let me see what you've got here." Lucy took the flier, unaware of the evil glint Cana had in her eyes "So it's in Shirotsume huh? No way, for 200,000 Jewel just for taking a book from some rich guy named Duke Everlue?"

"Should be a piece of cake right?"

"Yeah it- Wait there's more. Please note: Everlue is a dirty old man who is currently looking for maids with blonde hair."

"And we just happened to know a girl with blonde hair, and I know someone who can get her a maid's uniform no problem."

"Why you sneaky little- That is so not fair!"

"Good thing Celestial Wizards always keep their promises right, cause now you're stuck with me blondie."

"But you tricked me!"

"Oh lighten up, now try getting into character and addressing me as your mistress."

"Not a chance in-"

"Oh yeah that reminds me, here." she handed her a note.

"Word of warning, Cana is a loyal friend and teammate but she can also be manipulative as fuck when she wants to be. Luke Drako." she crushed the note in frustration "Thanks for the heads up."

"Looks like we've got ourselves a full day ahead of us."

"Just one thing you should know before you leave." Makarov spoke up "I was contacted by the client concerning that job not too long ago."

"What did they cancel it?"

"Quite the opposite actually, in fact they increased the reward from 200,000 to 2 Million Jewel."

"You're kidding me, they paid that much money just for some stupid book I'm gonna use Lucy to get so we can split the reward money?" Cana gave a smirk "Sounds like this job just got a lot more interesting than it already was."

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It didn't take very long for Luke and Gray to arrive in the town of Borwatt and scope out the situation "Well they definitely don't have a shortage of lightning rods and the place is a fucking ghost town."

"Wouldn't be surprised if they were connected." Gray was quick to pick up on something else as well "There's a crap load of static in the air."

"It's doing wonders for your hair man, you look like you're going Super." Luke gestured to his hair standing up on end from the static.

"Like you have the right to comment, for all I know you're doing that to screw with me."

"You know me so well, anyway heads up." Luke glanced up to see multiple blasts of lightning raining down on the city "One thing is for sure, there was definitely nothing natural about those blasts."

"The lightning rods looked like overkill before but now it seems like they're nowhere near enough to get the job done."

"Imagine trying to live your life in a hellstorm like this, anyway let's go."

"Where to?"

"Where else, we have a client to meet up with." he held out his fist and absorbed the blasts of lightning that started raining down on him, only for a second barrage of lightning blasts to rain down a few seconds later, much longer this time.

'_Something isn't right, magic or not lightning should never last for this long. If the lightning doesn't run out of juice then Luke will, but my Ice Make magic won't be able to stop a fucking lightning bolt, I learned that one the hard way.'_

"You know fuck it, Gray hang back for a second while I just go for the quick fic. **Lightning… Dragon… ROAR!" **he breathed a massive blast of lightning into the air, blowing away the dark clouds and letting the sun shine once more.

"So does that mean we did the job?"

"I wouldn't bet on it, those clouds are gonna be back in a matter of hours so we'll have to find a more permanent solution. Plus getting rid of the storm clouds didn't do anything about the static, which means that the storm was more an effect of this problem rather than a cause."

"Looks like we've gotten ourselves into some real shit." Luke glanced around to see the citizens of the city emerging from their homes surrounding him and Gray "And now this is happening for some reason."

"Holy crap, you're Luke from Fairy Tail!" one kid ran up to him "I heard about you beating down all sorts of dark guilds, you're just awesome!"

"I just did what I thought was right."

"Well this is the first time we've had clear skies here in over a month, seriously everyone here owes you big time!"

"It's no big deal really."

"Excuse me." another one came up to him, this one being a young woman "Sorry but I saw you fight those slave traders in Hargeon, I'm just a little bit starstruck so… do you think I could shake your hand?"

"Uh…"

"I have this lipstick too but could you please sign my arm?"

"I mean you just blew those clouds right out of the sky, not to mention you're a solid 9 out of 10 to boot! I mean I'm not a fan of glasses so…"

"I'm gonna choose to ignore that."

"Please sir shake our hands too!" a large crowd of people started crowding around him at a quick pace.

"Uh…"

"Well what do you know." Gray let out a chuckle "Looks like someone's quite popular with the ladies, something most guys would only dream of."

"Do I look like I'm having fun with this?"

"You look like you're trying to screw with me but I know that you're enjoying every last bit of this."

"...Bite me." he shot a glare at some of the women, causing them to swoon "Look in regards to the hand shaking I've accidentally fried people enough times to know that it's a bad idea, but in regards to getting rid of the lightning blasts I'll do what I can. Anyway if you'll excuse me I have to meet up with our client, hey stripper let's move." he grabbed Gray while he was in the middle of ripping off his shirt (Gray wasn't conscious of him doing this) and dragged him along through the city "And for the record, the glasses are part of my charm just like stripping is a part of yours so I should be a solid 10."

"Chicks are crazy."

"And you're naked again."

"I am?"

"Yeah." Luke glanced ahead "Heads up stripper, we've got more company coming our way but at least these people look sane."

Sure enough, coming towards them was two guys, one short with a receding hairline and one with glasses and a bow tie "Why hello there, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"So I take it you're the one who hired us for this job?"

The taller one nodded "Indeed it's a pleasure to finally meet you, allow me to introduce before you Mr De Cybele, the mayor of our fine town of Borwatt. My name is Ga Maille and I serve the town as the secretary to the mayor, and to answer your earlier question good sir we are indeed the men who hired you for this job, one of the better calls we've made I believe. Your display in clearing the clouds of those horrible dark skies was quite impressive to say the least." he glanced down at the mayor "Very well done Mayor Cybele, yet again our town has been saved from an impending disaster by your sound judgement and watchful eyes. Our citizens may return to their prosperous lives without fear of being struck down by bolts of lightning!"

"Yeah let me stop you right there, I think we have a lot more to discuss about what's going on in this town."

"Indeed we do gentlemen, if you would be so kind as to follow us and give us the honor of a private audience. The mayoral palace is nothing compared to your guild hall but I think it should suffice, we're quite keen to tell you what we know of this phenomenon and to hear what you might have to say about it."

"Works for me, let's do it."

"Excellent. Now then people of Borwatt, let us give one last round of applause for the Thunderclap of Fairy Tail and the savior of our town!"

"Really unnecessary." Luke glanced back and noticed a small electrical charge building up from underneath the stone pathway '_That doesn't seem right.'_

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At the same time, Lucy and Cana were travelling by carriage to meet with their own client, the former being forced to practice her maid routine "Are you enjoying your carriage ride today mistress, is there anything I can get for you?"

Cana shot her a wicker grin "Not yet but next time we see any place that sells liquor I'll let you know, sound good?"

"Can I drop the act now?"

"Your mistress allows this."

"Why did you and Luke want me to join your team?"

"Luke just calls it like he sees it, he said you had potential and you seemed like a good person so that was good enough for me."

'_...Well that was weird, did I just get a compliment from her?'_

"But you're kind of on the quirky side?"

'_I'm a gorgeous young woman with Celestial Spirit contracts and the girl with the drinking problem who's probably a Dominatrix and is paired with a talking cat with wings and a guy that eats lightning thinks I'm weird? _Well anyway I'm totally stoked about my first real job, I know I'm gonna rock it."

"What's with the change in attitude, I thought you were upset about me using you."

"Well yeah I was mad at first but then I realized that if this perv likes pretty girls then I'm perfect for the job right?"

"We said he wanted a blonde, if he wanted someone who was drop dead gorgeous regardless of hair color then he would've gone for yours truly."

"...Ignoring that, I think it's time for us to work out the pay scale. Since I'm the one doing all the work I think we should split the reward 70 and 30."

"You only want 30% of it?"

"I'm the 70!"

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Luke, Bolt and Gray followed Cybele and Maille back to their mansion at the top of a hill overlooking the town "So let's get down to business, exactly when did this plague of lightning which sounds like the name of a bad heavy metal band first start?"

Cybele shared a look with Maille, and then he shot a dark look at Luke "The lightning first came when you did, back when you screwed over this town!"

"Gonna need some context here."

Maille's frown deepened "You do recall your last visit do you not? It was several months ago during the time of the Magnolia Harvest Festival." they all failed to notice Gray cringe at the mention (Will be explained in a later chapter).

"The harvest festival huh?" Luke frowned in thought, until a realization finally dawned upon his face "Oh shit, so this is where I was."

"Where you were for what?" asked Bolt.

"I passed through here awhile back after I got drunk as fuck, I think it was the day you found me in the alley. My memories are a little bit hazy but I beat up some guys and blasted them with lightning I think, and I guess this place has been storm central ever since then right?"

Cybele nodded "You're damn right it has you imbecile."

'_And with that major change in his mood the mayor is showing his true colors.'_

"Borwatt prospered once, half of the mail out of Crocus came through here but after you left the wrath of a lightning god in your wake-"

"Lightning dragon, be accurate."

"Whatever, people started avoiding this town however they could and business ground to a halt and the livelihoods of people were ruined because of your reckless abuse of power!"

"Bullshit!" Gray barked "You really think he would be that reckless!"

"I know what I know you ignorant whelp!"

"Stop it Gray, don't start a fight with this guy." Luke shot a look at Cybele "Just tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it."

Cybele shot him a wicked grin "What I want is for you to clean up your mess, all I ask of you is that you complete the job you were hired to do but I figured the knowledge that you caused this mess in the first place might put some spring in your step. The people of this city see you as their hero but they don't know that you sabotaged their way of life in order to win some pointless brawl, have you ever heard of the phrase the higher the climb, the harder the fall? Think of how their opinions would change when they learned that the hell they go through was caused by you and you alone, think of the reputation of your guild!"

"The reputation of our guild already has one foot in the crapper as it is." he received a WTF sort of look from Gray "Well it is. But fine, give us until sundown and the job will be as good as done."

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Meanwhile, in the town of Shiratsume…

It didn't take too long for Cana and Lucy to reach the town of Shiratsume "Man I don't know about you but I need a drink."

"What you didn't bring anything with you?" asked Lucy.

"I tried that a few times but a while back everyone in the guild tried to send me to rehab so we reached a compromise, I stop bringing it everywhere I go."

"Makes sense I guess. Hey I've been wondering, about Luke eating lightning-"

"It's a Dragon Slayer thing, he can eat lightning as long as it's not his own. Natsu's the same way with fire, he can eat fire as long as it's not his own."

"Well that's kind of lame-"

"Blame the guy who came up with Dragon Slayer magic- Hey check it out." Cana glanced up at a tavern up ahead "I don't know about you but I could use a drink, that client isn't going anywhere so let's take a quick breather."

"That's okay Cana I'm good, you go ahead though." and so Lucy walked off.

'_This chick doesn't get how we operate in Fairy Tail does she? We should be drinking together as a team, it's like a symbol but it's her loss I guess.'_

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10 minutes later…

Cana gulped down her 7th mug of booze like it was as easy as breathing "Hey Lucy if you're gonna get your mug then now's the time to do it, I can tell from the look of you that that's exactly what you need."

"Hey hold on a second, what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Cana glanced up to see Lucy storm up to her in a cute maid outfit "Huh, didn't expect you to put that thing on willingly."

"Yeah well I thought about it and I realized that I would look super cute in this maid uniform, come on there's no need to be shy."

"Uh…"

"Have you had enough to drink mistress or shall I bring you some more? Whatever you wish is my command."

"...You realize that I'm not a lesbian right?"

"Yeah well I figured that if everyone in the guild is as insane as, well you then I can just throw any sort of logic out the proverbial window."

"There you see, now you're learning."

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Meanwhile, in the town of Borwatt…

Gray and Luke made their way back into the town "That mayor guy and his butler really know how to piss a guy off."

"That just means he was showing his true colors." Luke told him "And that means he's got something planned."

"So what then you think he's a lying fink?"

"There's definitely something off with the old guy that's for sure, I mean blackmailing us into the job we'd already signed up for."

"But you're thinking we can't go accusing him without proof."

"Yeah." Luke glanced out at the city and let out a sigh "Son of a bitch."

"What's the matter?" asked Bolt.

"I think I just realized what the master was talking about before we left, not letting the lightning control me. I guess he was right, I let the lightning and the liquor control me. Only one of those things applies to me though and that's what makes it suck all the more."

Gray glanced up and noticed the storm clouds returning over the city "So you gonna blow it away with a roar like you did the first time?"

"No more quick fixes, I'm the one who started this and I'm gonna end it. It's the least I can do for this city."

"Right behind you man, just say the word and I'll do whatever you need me to do."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind, sorry about dragging you into this and bribing you the way that I did."

"I've been dragged into worse by Natsu, last year at the Harvest Festival we had to team up and go toe to toe with Laxus."

"Did you win?"

"It was more like a draw, we barely made it out alive."

"Sounds like I missed one hell of a show-" Luke cut himself short and he glanced over at the city below "This was unexpected."

"What's the matter?"

"The city doesn't just have an electric charge, it's building one with all of those lightning rods they have in place down there. It almost feels like it's draining the lightning right out of my body, which means that you and I are gonna have to snoop around."

"So what are we going for then, the mayor or the lightning?"

"I don't see any reason why we can't do both." Luke glanced down at Bolt "Alright listen up little buddy, I've got a job for you."

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Maille handed Cybele a cup of tea "Well sir it would seem that everything is going according to plan."

Cybele let out a chuckle "Well it would seem that you've outdone yourself on this one Mr Riftor my old friend."

"You flatter me Mr Mayor but I'm nowhere near your level, blasting your town apart in order to receive compensation from Fairy Tail was a stroke of brilliance."

"When you put it like that it sounds almost sinister, look that wizard did leave behind some static and without it our little lightning plague would never have been possible."

"Well played, the beauty of our plan is that whatever catastrophe comes of this the world will know that it was caused by Fairy Tail. So how much should I ask for when the reparations actually do begin?"

"Well let me think about that for a moment, these buildings were designed by a famous architect so maybe 5 million each."

"But one cannot put a price on heritage so you could demand twice as much as that."

"You're such a clever scoundrel you're in a league of your own."

"As humble as you are devious sir." they failed to notice Bolt watching them through a nearby open window.

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In Shirotsume…

The client meeting with Lucy and Cana was a tall and aged man in a suit with gray hair and a short moustache "My name is Kaby Melon, it's a pleasure to meet both of you."

"Why does your name make me hungry?" Cana pointed out flatly, only to receive a quick nudge on the side from Lucy "What, don't tell me you weren't thinking the same thing."

"It's alright, I actually get that a lot. But first things first, I should tell you both about the job that I hired you for."

Lucy studied Kaby for a moment '_Why does this guy's name sound familiar?'_

"The job I hired you for is pretty straight forward really, Duke Everlue has a book called Daybreak in his possession and I would like you to burn it for me."

"That does sound pretty straightforward sir, but if you don't mind may I ask as to why you want us to burn this book? Is such a thing really worth raising the reward from 200,000 to 2 million Jewel?"

"It is, and I raised the reward as much as I did because that's how much this means to me. That book has to be destroyed no matter how much the cost may be."

"Well that's all I need to hear." Cana bolted to her feet and slung Lucy over her shoulder "That much money is all the incentive is all that I need to do this, come on blondie let's go burn some shit." and so she dragged Lucy out of the room despite her protests.

'_Daybreak… that book must be burned, I cannot allow such a book to remain in existence any longer.'_

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In Borwatt…

Gray and Luke bolted through the streets of Borwatt as lightning continuously rained down around them "This is bad, the lightning is everywhere now, even in the ground!"

"And that's not all." Luke gestured to the lightning creatures rising up in front of them "Looks like the ones behind this have themselves a couple of lightning elementals, creatures made up of a structure made of lightning magic. I trained with a guy who could make these things but those were the size of whole buildings, you could take them out in one hit each."

"I just might take you up on that. **Ice Make: Sword!" **Gray charged forward, materialized a sword made of ice and cut through as many as he could, but as he did they just multiplied into many smaller ones, a good number of them slipping past him "Luke you're gonna have to absorb some of them!"

"I'm on it!" Luke charged them and started chomping onto each one that he could and devoured them due to their lightning properties, charging himself with electricity in the process.

"Hey slow it down you idiot, you're charging yourself up too fast to be able to hand that much at once!"

"It's not like I have a choice, if I can't hold it in then I'll end up blasting the entire town and everyone with it! Besides shredding them won't do the trick, you've gotta obliterate them all the way! **Lightning… Dragon… ROAR!" **Luke breathed out a powerful blast of lightning, obliterating the current elementals only for more to materialize in front of them "They just keep coming, we'd better figure out an actual fix for this or it's only a matter of time before we're screwed."

"I think I figured that out already, take a look over there." Gray gestured to a nearby statue a short distance away with an electrical charge building underneath it due to the metal grills put in place "The electricity is seeping through those metal grills."

"Not to mention this looks a lot like where I beat down those punks, which means that this is the source of what's going on. Gray stay here and make sure nothing follows me, I'm gonna go on ahead and find out what's causing this and end it." and then he bolted off, leaving Gray on damage control for any other lightning elementals.

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Meanwhile, outside Duke Everlue's mansion…

Lucy braced herself as she stood outside the gates to Duke Everlue's mansion, and with a deep breath she started with the plan '_Luke is so gonna pay for this when I get back. _Excuse me, I was told you had an opening for a maid position! Hello? _No enough thinking about that, I have to stick to the plan, I wow this geezer with my looks, burn some stupid book and then collect 2 million Jewel. This should be easy, so long as that drunk lunatic over there doesn't screw it up or blow my cover.'_

That was when things started to get weird as a figure burst out of the ground behind Lucy, and revealed herself as a gigantic figure with pink hair and a maid outfit "So you're a maid then are you?"

"Uh… yeah."

"I assume that you're here because you saw the ad that the master placed in the paper?"

"That's right."

"BO YO YO YO!" and then _he _burst out of the ground "I do believe I heard someone say master!"

'_Master, yeah right it's more like a monster to me!'_

"Now then, let's see here…"

"Well I sure do hope you like what you see. _Oh god this guy is seriously creeping me out, but you have to stay strong Lucy.'_

"Thanks but I'll pass, now get lost ugly."

"Excuse me?!"

"You heard me."

The other maid picked her up by the uniform "You heard the man, time for you to get going already ugly."

"Yeah sorry about this, but you see a man of my standing has certain standards to uphold for myself." he summoned a crew of less than impressive woman to his side "And that is why I only hire the fairest of the fair. Yes ladies you don't have to say what's already obvious, your master is the best so how about one of you shows ugly here how to get out of my sight."

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Cana found Lucy sulking a few minutes later "So you couldn't pull it off huh? Well add that to the list of reasons as to why men are idiots."

"Hey I tried my best!" Lucy yelled at her "That idiot wouldn't know beauty if it bit him right in the ass!"

"Well then I guess we'll just have to resort to what Luke has dubbed as Operation WTS."

"Hell yeah, that jerk is gonna pay for failing to understand true beauty! Hey quick question, what exactly is Operation WTS?"

"It stands for Operation Wreck Their Shit, as in we charge in like a bunch of crazed animals, beat the crap out of anyone who gets in our way, take the book by force and then kick that old guy in the balls just to piss him off."

"That's not a plan!"

"Oh lord, blondie you have a lot to learn about being a member of this guild."

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What went unnoticed was that Everlue was watching Cana and Lucy from his mansion through use of a crystal ball "So it would seem we have another group of wizards at our door, and these are from Fairy Tail."

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Meanwhile, in Borwatt Town…

Luke bolted through an underground passageway underneath the city, only to come across something rather unsettling '_That gigantic thing is filled with me electricity. Every wielder of magic based on lightning or electricity has a unique wavelength like a sort of an electric magic fingerprint, which means that this is the electricity that I blasted into the ground that night when I zapped those punks, and it's been drawing in static and electricity ever since and that's causing it to grow. It happened so I guess it happens. I don't know how it could've grown so much in just a few months but it doesn't really matter, what does matter right now is that I have to stop this once and for all. If I hit it with one of my most powerful attacks then it should cancel this thing out. Is it risky, maybe it is but I don't have any other options right now. I don't like that mayor guy and I think he's pretty shady but that sphere down there proves that he's right, I'm the one who created this thing so I should be the one to put it down.' _he made his way towards the source of the lightning and absorbed the electricity that shot towards him, though as he moved forward he started to slow down, but despite this he wasn't deterred and drew his sword from the sheath at his side "With the blade in my hands forged from your dragon scales, I beg you to lend me strength Kaminari. **Dragon Slayer Secret Art: THUNDER LANCE!" **with one clean stroke he cut clear through the ball of electricity, causing the ball of electricity to dissipate "And that's how we do it in Fairy Tail!"

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Gray withdrew his ice swords once he saw the lightning elementals disappear, and he gave a small smile "What do you know you pulled it off, looks like you have gotten a lot stronger haven't you Luke?"

"Hey Gray!" that was when Bolt came flying up to him "Hey listen Luke told me to go and spy on the mayor because he thought something wasn't right, you're not gonna believe what I found out."

"I probably won't, you know how to come up with some weird shit."

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"**Magic Card: Sword!" **having carried Lucy to the roof of the mansion, Cana summoned a sword from within one of her magic cards and quickly cut open a window "I'm just gonna go on record and say that I think still think we could've busted in through the front door."

"Yeah don't get me wrong, I love being part of this guild but there's no way in hell I'm going to jail because of you." Lucy told her flatly.

"Didn't you tell me you were out to get revenge on this guy?"

"Oh I'm gonna get my revenge alright, not only am I gonna burn his book but I'm gonna use his toothbrush to clean his toilet."

"Scathing, just drag it through a pile of dog crap." Cana dragged Lucy inside through the window, into what looked like a storeroom.

"What the heck is this, some kind of weird storeroom?"

"You think he's hiding booze somewhere in here?"

"I don't know, looks more like he's got some old antique stuff in here. So what's our plan, I think we'll have to search every room until we track down the book."

"That shit will take way too long, let's just take a hostage and force him to tell us where the stupid book is."

"...Are you drunk?"

"A little bit."

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10 minutes of searching later…

Cana and Lucy searched through one room after another in search of the book, only to have no luck in that department "So just to be clear we really have to search every inch of this place just to find this stupid book?"

"That is what we agreed to do." Lucy pointed out.

"I still say we should take a hostage and make them tell us where the book is, it would be a lot faster in the long run."

"Yeah but the whole idea is for us not to be seen, you have to be stealthy like you're some kind of ninja."

"Like a ninja." Cana held up some cards in between her fingers "And like ninja we wreck people's shit without them ever noticing us."

"What the hell is going through that head of yours."

"Booze, lots of it."

"VIRGO FORCE AWAY!" that was when the pink haired maid, her name being Virgo, burst up through the floor with her squad of maid guardians "Come on girls, let's get these ugly little sluts!"

"Ninja power bitches!" Cana hurled some exploding cards at them, blowing four of them clear away in the explosions that followed.

"**Flying Virgo Attack!" **Virgo leapt into the air and slammed down on top of Cana, much to the horror of Lucy.

Much to the shock of everyone else, Cana lifted Virgo into the air and then threw her clean off of her "And now for the follow up! **Magic Card: Liquid Rifle!" **she summoned a card and fired off a barrage of water bullets from the surface of it, blowing Virgo clean through a wall before the liquid rifle de-materialized "You know something Lucy I was ninjas are overrated big time, snipers are the way to go."

"I'm pretty sure snipers are supposed to be silent." Lucy pointed out dryly.

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The smoke cleared away and allowed Luke to pull himself back to his feet "So to sum it up I stopped the blast, I'm still alive, and I was able to stop the explosion from causing any significant property damage and without frying myself. Not too bad of a day's work." he glanced down and picked up what looked like a small orb "A lacrima huh? Well that would explain it, my lightning magic couldn't have drawn in all of that power on its own so this thing must have been amplifying it. Chances are that someone planted it here on purpose, and I think I know exactly who it was. The only question is, why would they do something like that?"

"Hey Luke!" that was when Bolt and Gray rushed onto the scene "I figured it out, it turns out you were right about the mayor. He's the one who set this whole mess up and framed you for the whole thing!"

"I figured as much, I just wanted to be sure that I was right or else wrecking the guild's reputation even further."

"So what now?"

"Now we go and wreck some shit, or rather have shit wreck some. Yeah you know what I'm gonna work on that."

"Probably for the best."

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Cana and Lucy found themselves in the library of Duke Everlue's mansion "For a dirty old man with crappy taste you'd think a lot of these books would actually be porn instead."

Lucy was less put out and more in awe "Oh wow, who would've thought Everlue would turn out to be such a major bookworm."

"Well whatever, let's start looking already so we can get the book and then get the reward money."

"Agreed."

20 minutes of searching later…

Lucy and Cana spent some time searching through the various shelves, only for them to quickly grow impatient "How the heck are we gonna find one stupid book in an entire library of god only knows what kind of books?"

"HA!" Cana barked out a laugh "Hey check it out I was right, he did have a shelf of porn after all! Also what did this Daybreak or whatever book look like again?"

"I don't know the guy never said what it looked like, why do you-" Lucy turned around and her jaw literally dropped to the ground anime style "Oh my god you actually found it, 2 million Jewel here we come!"

"Just hold it for a second while I used a card or two to shred this thing and earn us that drinking money-"

"Wait hold on a second!" Lucy snatched the book away from her "I didn't realize that this book was written by Kemu Zaleon!"

"Zale- What now?"

"Zaleon was a great wizard and an amazing novelist, I'm such a huge fan of his work! I was totally positive that I had read every single sentence he'd ever written but this must be an unpublished novel!"

"Yeah well either way a job has gotta be done, let's just get rid of the damn thing already."

"Don't you dare touch it, this is a great work of literature and you'd better stay away from it you drunk sadist!"

"What about the job?"

"Just forget about that stupid job already!"

"2 million Jewel blondie, failure is not an option."

"Why can't we just tell the guy we burned it, I swear I'll keep it a secret."

"The people of Fairy Tail may not be sane but we're also not liars."

"Well well, what do we have here?" and who should burst upwards through the floor and land in between them but Duke Everlue himself "So you thieving wenches are looking to pilfer Daybreak from me are you? Boyoyo."

"You see what happens when you don't let us do the damn job, for the record blondie this is going on your evaluation."

"Am I really getting evaluated for this?" asked Lucy.

"Maybe, maybe not. I'll just let you squirm a little bit for now since either way this is still your fault. And by the way old guy, wouldn't it have been easier for you to just come in through the door?"

Duke Everlue let out a chuckle "I was well aware that all of you lowlife wizard types were coming around here to take something that belongs to me, I never would've guessed it would be that stupid book."

"Stupid?"

Lucy shared a look with Cana '_This book must be really important if the client is really willing to pay so much to destroy it so I don't understand, why would Everlue say something like that about it? _Well this works out great, if it's so stupid to you then I guess it would be fine if I were to keep it?"

"Absolutely not, it belongs to me!" Everlue barked "You can't have it so get your grubby hands off!"

"Greedy gut."

"Shut your trap you ugly wench."

"You son of a-"

"Oh for the love of fuck!" Cana pulled out one of her magic cards "Just give me the stupid book so we can get this over with."

"Not a chance, I'm not giving it to you!"

"Think for a second Lucy, this is what we were hired to do."

"Well at least let me read the thing first."

"You're reading it now?!"

"How the hell could I not?"

"A little something called common sense!"

This was when Duke Everlue finally lost his temper "I've officially had enough, how dare you place your filthy hands on my possessions! Now come forth Vanish Brothers!"

Sure enough, two figures emerged from a secret passageway behind the bookshelf "You summoned us master, can you believe that these little punks are from the Fairy Tail guild? Talk about a bunch of runts."

Cana was quick to recognize them "Those emblems mean that they're from the mercenary guild the Southern Wolves, so you have some bodyguards then do you?"

Duke Everlue let out a chuckle "The Southern Wolves are always hungry for fresh game, say your prayers thieving wenches."

"I'll be saying something but it won't be prayers."

Lucy pulled Cana aside for a quick second "Hey I need you to try and hold them off for a little while okay? I'm not sure what it is but I think this book holds some kind of secret." and she quickly rushed out of the room."

'_So now I'm buying time huh? She's learning, good for her.'_

"A secret?" Duke Everlue suppressed a snarl '_It must have been able to slip through my notice somehow, it could be a treasure map or something. _I'm going after the girl, you two make sure the brunette doesn't leave this place in one piece." and then he disappeared through another hole in the floor.

"Yes sir." the Vanish Brothers dropped into different combat stances.

Cana summoned a few cards in between her fingertips "Looks like luck isn't on your side today boys."

"You talk big for some arrogant drunk chick, maybe it's about time for us to put you in your place. So you're a card wizard then are you?"

"Something like that, what gave it away?"

"The fact that you're holding cards infused with magic energy right now and the fact that you summoned a magic water rifle when you fought Virgo before so you're an ability type card user that has magic flowing through their body."

"The fact that you know so much means that you know what happens when you piss off someone who uses cards, they rip you to shreds! **Magic Card: Flame Shower!" **she threw forward a volley of cards that shot out blasts of fire from each one.

The older Vanish Brother blocked the attack "Sorry to disappoint you girl but fighting against fire magic is something that we know how to do quite well."

"Oh really?"

"YEAH!" the younger Vanish Brother dealt Cana a sharp kick to the side, blowing her clean out of the room and forcing her to rebound atop of the large tacky statue of Duke Everlue, and they dodged a quick counterattack of a card being thrown at him "Here's a little wakeup call for you, Fairy Tail may be a big time wizard guild and all but you pathetic wizards are no match for trained mercenaries like the two of us."

"Here's a reality check asshole, if that's the best you can do then you're dead wrong."

"Oh please, do you really think you can beat us? Here's a thought, do you have any idea what the greatest weakness is for a wizard?"

"If you're talking about motion sickness I know a few guys who have that issue but that might be more personal."

"More of a personal issue really, their weakness is actually their bodies!" the older one blitzed in front of Cana and attempted to strike her, dodging a card that she threw at him in the process "You see wizards have to focus increasingly intently on honing their mental abilities, and as such they fail to train their bodies properly and as such they end up physically weak as a result. On the other hand, we focus on our physical abilities and as such we have greater power and speed than you."

"Oh wow I'm so scared, are you gonna keep talking or are we gonna do this?"

"If that's what you want then so be it, now you'll die by our combination attack. **Heaven and Earth Annihilation Technique!"**

"Yeah well I say bring it on!"

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Lucy blitzed through the book using her Wind-Reader glasses, allowing her to read through the entire book in a matter of moments, and she was amazed by what she was "Unbelievable, I knew that this book was holding some kind of secret!"

"Boyoyo!" Duke Everlue suddenly burst through the wall behind her and grabbed Lucy by the arm before she was able to react "Well if that is the case then please do share, secrets don't make friends you know."

"Not a chance, a pig like you doesn't deserve to know what it is! As far as I'm concerned you're an enemy of literature!"

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"**Heaven and Earth Annihilation Technique!" **the younger Vanish brother launched the older one into the air and blitzed towards Cana "Look towards heaven and I strike down from the Earth!" he dealt Cana a sharp attack to the side using his gigantic frying pan, dodging an attempted counterattack with a card in the process.

"Look towards the Earth and we strike down from heaven!" the older brother dealt Cana a quick kick to the spine from above.

"And now you have witnessed the true power of the Vanish Brothers, the Heaven and Earth Annihilation Technique, a force that very few have been able to survive and even if they do they will never escape unscathed."

"Is that so?" the dust cleared to reveal Cana standing there without a scratch on her, and she quickly threw a card to the side "Sorry to disappoint you guys, actually no I'm not, but I guess I'm the exception to your rule."

"But- But that's impossible!"

"And you know something else?" she pointed to the few cards that she had used to apparently attack them, scattered in various corners of the room "A new technique I learned from one of my guildmates, I haven't gotten to try it on anyone yet so get ready to be my test monkeys. **Magic Card: Lightning Perimeter!" **she held up one arm, electricity charging in her hand and in the four different cards surrounding them, and she guided it down towards them, engulfing them in an explosion on the spot that also wrecked the mansion.

When the blast subsided and the smoke cleared, the Vanish Brothers lay on the ground in comical heaps, charred and burned but still alive.

"Well shit, I guess I overdid it." Cana let out a sigh "Well at least I know that the technique works. See this technique makes use of my Lightning Summoning Cards and I just manipulate the lightning to do whatever the hell I want."

"Uh… hey Fairy chick?"

"Yeah?"

"Let us know when the room stops spinning okay?"

"Yeah how about now, I'm gonna go track down Lucy since you two wizard chef guys are pretty much screwed."

"We're mercenaries."

"Not with those looks, at the very most you'd be magic prostitutes." Cana promptly left the scene in search of Lucy, unaware of Virgo's eyes glowing menacingly from underneath all of the rubble.

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Duke Everlue tightened his grip on Lucy's arm "An enemy of literature you say? My massive collection of books and art only proves me to be the greatest friend of culture!"

"Doesn't matter!" Lucy let out a scoff "That collection of the ugly maids proves that you don't know a damn thing about beauty!"

"How dare you mock them, they are the very definition of beauty! Now what secret does the book hold? Let me guess, he buried his fortune and there's a treasure map hidden inside of the book! Tell me now or I shall snap your arm like a toothpick!" he was met with a middle finger and promptly bent her arm "Now is not the time I would recommend getting sassy with me you ugly wench. Listen to me, I myself commissioned the very creation of this book and therefore any secret it holds is rightfully my property!"

"Get… your grubby hands… OFF ME! **LUCY KICK!" **Lucy dealt Duke Everlue a sharp kick to the face, sending him crashing into the sewer water a few feet away.

Duke Everlue pulled himself out of the water and promptly spat it out, as well as a large amount of spit that followed "You little- How dare you damage my face!"

"Yeah well you touched my merchandise first asshat!" Lucy pulled out one of her Celestial Keys and aimed it at him "Looks like the tables have turned in my favor, but if you let me keep this book then I might think about going easy on you, although I am tempted to smack you right upside the head."

"So then you're a Celestial Wizard, but for a reader you seem to be a bit deficient in your turns of phrase. Saying that the tables have turned implies that the weaker party has rallied to claim the ultimate victory, but there's no way a hideous wench such as yourself could ever hope to defeat me and my diver magic. Boyoyoyoyo!" he dove into the ground.

'_So he's using magic in order to do that, I guess I shouldn't be surprised but I had no idea this guy would turn out to be a wizard too.' _Lucy was quick to react and dodged every underground grab attempted being made by Everlue "Alright listen up, I already know the entire story in this book now. It's a horrible adventure novel about this trashy little character and guess what, his name is Duke Everlue!"

"Well I don't know if I would go so far as to call the protagonist trashy, but yes the story itself is crap and to think it was written by the great Kemu Zaleon! INEXCUSABLE!" he burst out of the wall behind her.

Lucy quickly leapt out of the way of the grab attempt "I can't believe how insanely arrogant you are, you're the one who forced him to write it!"

"Arrogant, moi? The word doesn't even begin to apply, to tell my story is an honor no matter what the circumstances may be!"

"Then why did you have to blackmail him into doing it?"

"What's the big deal, he just needed a little bit of extra encouragement in order for him to take the job." he started swimming through the concrete.

"Oh really?"

"But of course, any fool would have jumped at the chance to have yours truly take the mantle of their muse, but he had the audacity to say no so I gave him the added inspiration in the form of an ultimatum. He would either write the novel or I would see to it that his family would be stripped of their citizenship."

"But then none of them would be able to join any of the guilds and make a living, do you really have the power to do that?"

"I have the power to do anything I desire, and I got him to write it didn't I?" Duke Everlue burst out of the ground in front of Lucy "But that being said I didn't like his attitude so I decided that he would do best writing from a prison cell, boyoyo. He went on and on about being a brilliant novelist would never give into threats, but in the end I got what I wanted!" he started ricocheting himself off of the tunnel walls, forcing Lucy to retreat.

"I can't believe you would go that far just to boost your own stupid ego, he was in solitary confinement for three years! Don't you know how hard that must have been for him, or do you just not care?"

"Perhaps that was how long it took for him to appreciate me, boyoyoyo."

"You're wrong, it's more like he couldn't bear to spread your lies but he had no choice but to satisfy your vanity. He knew that if he didn't write your character as a heroic champion of justice then his family would suffer."

"Is that so? And tell me wench, how exactly do you know all of this?"

"How else, it's all right here in the book in black and white."

"What? I've read that book from cover to cover and Kemu Zaleon isn't in it."

"Well yeah that's obvious, if you read the book normally then there wouldn't be any mention of him. But I know something you don't know, long before he was an author he actually used to be a wizard."

"What?" Everlue suppressed a snarl "What did he do?"

"After he finished the book he gathered all of the strength he had remaining and used it to cast a spell on the book."

"What a dirty trick, he turned a book about a great man such as myself into some sort of hatchet job?! The nerve of that fool! Boyoyo!" he dove into the ground again.

Lucy quickly retreated from him "Would it kill you to get over yourself, it's true that he wrote all about the pain and torture that you put him through but the chapters that focus on what you did to him are only a small part of the book! In fact its secret has nothing to do with you!"

"What the devil are you going on about?"

"There's no way I'm gonna give the book back to you Duke Everlue, because it was never really yours to begin with! **Now open gate of the Giant Crab, Cancer!" **she pulled out one of her keys and opened the gate.

From that gate emerged what looked like a hipster dude with crab appendage, and some custom sets of crab scissors "Cancer."

"Yeah how do you like that, nothing says kicking your ass in style like a guy with crab claws and giant shades."

"Hey so tell me Lucy, how would you like your hair done today baby?"

"Look I'm not discreting your work but what I need right now isn't style, I need some serious help here. It's that guy, I want you to take care of the ugly old man over there."

Duke Everlue could feel his mind racing '_What could the secret possibly be? That wretched hack must have written an expose on all of my illegal business deals, I can't allow that. If the Magic Council got wind of how I actually made my fortune then my goose would be cooked! _Well seeing as you've forced my hand, I suppose I may as well reveal my little secret. **Open gate of the Maiden, Virgo!" **he pulled out a gold Zodiac key of his own and opened the gate.

"Wait a second, what's going on right now?"

"You're not the only holder of a Zodiac key wench!"

Sure enough, Virgo burst upwards from the ground and appeared before them "Did I hear you summon me master?"

"Indeed I did Virgo, now fetch me that book from that- What in the world?!"

As it turns out, Cana was latched onto Virgo's back trying not to hurl "Okay so apparently I'm here now."

"What is the meaning of this?!"

"It's called a hangover you ugly dipshit."

"Cana what the heck are you doing up there?" asked Lucy.

"Well I beat those two idiot brothers but then she got back up so I jumped on her and then all of a sudden I ended up here."

"So you mean you grabbed a hold of her inside the house?"

"Yeah why?"

"But that would mean that you must have passed through the Spirit Gate with her, but that's impossible!"

"Okay, so what the heck do I do now?"

"What? Oh yeah, you finish what you started!"

Everlue had different plans "Virgo, clean up this rubbish!"

"As you wish master!" Virgo let one of her massive fists fly forward.

"**Magic Card: Flame Cannon!" **Cana summoned one of her magic cards and unleashed a stream of fire from it, the flames engulfing Virgo in the explosion that followed and blowing her clean away.

"You dirty little mole man!" Lucy pulled out a whip out of somewhere and caught Duke Everlue with it "You can't dig yourself out of this now can you, you make me sick!" she hurled him forward.

"Baby." Cancer quickly cut down Duke Everlue using his custom scissors, which left him bald as a result "Okay then I'm done baby, does this look fabulous or what?"

"Oh yeah, that definitely looks fitting for a creep like that." Cana gave Cancer a thumbs up, only for the entire mansion to suddenly come down around them due to all of the holes that had been dug in the walls by Duke Everlue.

Lucy was left horrified by what was happening "Oh… my… god."

"You know I like your style blondie, going out with a bang is a win for us so you're definitely gonna fit in with Fairy Tail."

"But we're supposed to not destroy stuff!"

"That's not how our guild works."

"Oh lord I hope I'm not gonna get blamed for this." they failed to notice a pissed off Virgo holding the unconscious Everlue glaring at them from within the collapsing mansion."

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It didn't take long for them to return to the mansion to meet with Kaby and discuss the job further.

Lucy was quick to elaborate on what she had discovered "When I read Daybreak during all of that hell I couldn't believe it was written by Kemu Zaleon of all people, there's no way he would've done something that bad. And that in itself is how I knew that there had to be some kind of spell on it." she held it out to him.

Kaby was understandably taken aback by this "But… But I requested of you that the book be destroyed, why on Earth are you handing it back to me completely unscathed?"

"If you really want to burn it then I would rather you do it yourself."

"I most certainly will burn this trash, I never wanted to see it again."

"I completely understand why you feel the way that you do about this book Kaby, you wanted to protect the legacy of your father because you're actually the son of Zaleon aren't you?" this revelation left Cana with a simple raised eyebrow.

"Yes, that is true."

"Have you ever actually read it yourself?"

"No I haven't, I was never able to bring myself to do such a thing. My father told me that it was absolute garbage."

"So you were just going to burn it without ever seeing what was inside it? It was the last book that your father ever wrote, so you must have a very good reason don't you?"

Kaby let out a heavy sigh "Please I beg of you, that book caused my family so much heartache and shame. It was 31 years ago, my father returned after three years and the first thing he did was cut off his right hand so he could never write again. My father passed away not long after that, but even though he was gone the anger and betrayal I felt towards him lived on. But as the years have passed by, the anger that I've felt has slowly turned into remorse and now it's too late for me to ask for his forgiveness, so I decided to make amends by destroying his final work that had caused him so much pain and suffering. This is the only way, the only thing I can do to preserve his legacy." he lit a match in order to burn the book "I'm sure that's what he would want me to do.

"No Kaby, you're wrong. Just see for yourself."

"What do you-" Kaby was cut off as Daybreak began glowing brightly "I don't understand, what's going on?"

"There was a spell that was cast on the book, it's the work of the wizard Kemu Zaleon, or should I say Zekua Melon."

"There was a spell cast on it by my father?" Kaby looked on in awe as the letters were rearranged in front of his eyes "Dear Kaby…"

"Yes that's right, this book was his letter to you disguised behind a spell that rearranged all of the words so that no one else would be able to read it." and then the words started flying around and rearranging themselves in the proper order "He didn't stop writing because he was ashamed of what he had created, he stopped writing because he had finished his masterpiece, a novel that was containing everything he ever wanted to say to his beloved son and when you read it the way that he intended it's easily his best work of all time, and now that the spell has been broken you can read it for yourself.

'_Father… you said you thought about me the entire time you were gone…' _Kaby caught the book in his arms and sank to his knees, tears streaming down his face "Thank you father, I swear to you that I will never allow any harm to come to this book."

"I'm sure that's what your father would want."

Cana let out a sigh and gave a small smile "Well I guess this means we're not gonna be collecting that reward."

"Yeah I guess- Hold on what now?!"

"We were supposed to destroy the book but we never did, that means the job wasn't actually finished."

"But even so, please just let me do something." Kaby told her "I mean even if I did decide not to burn the book, you were the ones who got it back for me."

"Yeah but being greedy right now would totally be ruining the moment, so thanks for the offer but we don't want any money."

"I do." Lucy pointed out "Keep in mind that I have to pay rent."

"Well I think it's about time for all of us to finally head home, and keep in mind that refers to you too Mr Melon. Go back home."

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And now to finish up Luke's subplot…

Cybele and Maille were relaxing and/ or basking in the supposed success of your scheme, only for a sudden earthquake like rumbling to spill his tea all over his face "OH MY GOD OH MY GOD IT BURNS IT BURNS!"

"Oh my goodness, Mr Mayor please stay still!" Maille wasted no time in trying to dry him off, only for more shaking to start to damage the walls in the manor.

"Oh no, not my poor palace! What is this, what's going on?"

"I cannot say sir- Mr Mayor sir, look over there!" Maille pointed outside the window as lightning began flashing "Another lightning storm!"

"But I don't understand, why isn't the Lacrima drawing the storm away?" and then the lightning struck the manor, sending the mayor spinning in a comical fashion.

"Have you been injured sir?!"

When the dust settled, it revealed Luke standing there looking mad as all hell, his body crackling with electricity as he held up the Lacrima and crushed it in his hand "Yeah I know, this is awkward as all hell for the two of you. I'm not the kind of person who takes kindly to people insulting or disgracing my guild, and if I were someone like Laxus or Erza, or Natsu or the idiot with no pants on, then I would unleash all sorts of hell on the two of you." he glanced back down the side of the hill "For the record Gray that applies to you, put some pants on!" he glanced back towards the mayor Maille and let out a sigh as he calmed himself down, and the lightning and electricity soon subsided "But that being said, my father and my various mentors over the years have taught me how to see the good in people even if they seem like worthless human waste on the outside. Let me tell you this once, make things right with your people and with all of those that you've hurt or I'll be back to finish the job." and with that, he took his leave.

Bolt was waiting for him right outside and glanced down to see Gray desperately trying to pull up his pants "So what do we do now?"

"What else? We go home."

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Nightfall came, and the moon was shining brightly throughout the sky.

A disheartened Lucy followed Cana along the path alongside a lush green forest "You know you're just unbelievable, who in their right mind would turn down 2 million Jewel without a second thought?"

"You have to think of the guild's reputation in times like this." Cana told her "It wouldn't have looked good if we took the money."

"But we made him happy in the end, we got the job done and now we're walking home. And then to find out that they're not even wealthy, they were just renting that house so everybody would think that they were rich. It's not like it even matters, we would've taken that job either way."

"I'm not so sure about that, not with you at least."

"Of course I would've!"

"Whatever lets you sleep at night."

"Ignoring that I have to ask, how did you figure out that the house didn't really belong to the two of them?"

"It was mostly a bunch of little things like the patchwork all over their clothes, when you notice things like that it turns out to be pretty obvious."

"Well yeah I guess that makes sense, but as for me I was still lost in the clouds from reading that masterpiece of a book."

"And just like that I've got you figured out. Luke mentioned something about you being a huge literary geek and he guessed that you were writing a novel."

"He guessed that?"

"He's usually right when it comes to that stuff."

"...That son of a bitch." Lucy started blushing with embarrassment "Promise you won't tell anyone about that okay?"

"Why not?"

"Because I'm a horrible writer, if anyone read my stuff then I'd die of embarrassment."

"Hey chill out blondie, nobody's gonna read it."

"Yeah that doesn't really make me feel any better."

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Morning came, and the journey back to Magnolia continued as the sun shone over the skies above them.

Horologium had since been summoned to carry Lucy as she and Cana journeyed through a deep swamp ""_I don't know about this Cana, are you sure we're going the right way?" _she asks.

Cana just rolled her eyes ""I know for a fact that this path will take us back to Magnolia, so this is the way that we're going." I say back, annoyed that we're talking like this for whatever reason it may be. Look just have some faith, I can sniff out alcohol from miles away so sniffing out the way back home."

""_What does that make you then some type of dog or something, and what does smell have to do with direction?" _she asks quite haughtily." they reached the end of the swamp and the forest and started coming across a cliffside path.

"Why don't you just walk yourself for awhile like I am?"

""_Because I'm tired, that's why." _she groans exhaustedly.

"Oh for the love of-" Cana stopped when she heard a rustling in the bushes "Who's there, show yourself! **Magic Card: Summon Lightning!" **she fired off a bolt of lightning in the direction of the bushes, which promptly caused Natsu to appear from the bushes crying out in pain with a large burn mark across his ass "Uh…" she glanced over to see Lisanna and Happy a short distance away, the former trying not to laugh, though at the same time it was also conflicted by a mix of concern and embarrassment, the last of which being supported by the fact that her cheeks were burning red "I imagined this going differently."

""_Do all of you always just use violence as the answer for everything?" _she inquires quite exasperatedly."

"Aye!" Happy cheered for Natsu from the sidelines "Come on Natsu you can do it, burn her butt already the way that she burned yours!"

Lisanna glanced over at Lucy in order to answer the unspoken question "I know what you're going to ask, we were on our way back to the guild when he stopped to find a bathroom somewhere out here. It doesn't really make too much of a difference to him, but he wanted a little bit of privacy." she stifled a giggle "It's kind of cute when you think about it." she received an odd look and a semi stunned silence.

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17 minutes later…

After Natsu and Cana had calmed down from their comical spat, the two groups started talking about their recent experiences.

Lucy, now freed from Horologium, glanced over at Lisanna "So the three of you were on your way back from a job that you took on?"

Lisanna nodded "Yeah that's right, there's a shortcut through these woods that will get you back to Magnolia in no time."

"Huh."

Cana shot her a smirk "You see blondie, I told you we were going the right way."

"Yeah well if you've got such a great nose then how come you didn't know Natsu and the others were right in front of us?"

"First of all I said I could smell alcohol, second of all even if I could sniff out people this idiot is the last thing I would wanna smell?"

"Run that by me again." Natsu let out a comical snarl "I dare you."

"You're just mad that I burned your ass with my lightning spell."

"Yeah! It burns like hell and I can't even eat any fire off of it because there's no fire to eat off of my ass!"

"Yeah whatever, just head back to the guild and then you can try and burn me and start a whole guild brawl or whatever."

"...Fuck it, fine." he glanced over at Lisanna and Happy "Come on you guys we'd better get going if we don't want any trouble. Not like this anyway."

"Why do you say that?" asked Lucy.

"Because Erza's gonna be due back any day now." this left Cana looking somewhat terrified from the answer.

"Wait, you mean _the _Erza? Holy crap."

"Yep." Happy spoke up from where he was munching on a fish "She's the most powerful woman in all of Fairy Tail."

"Oh man I can't wait to meet her, but you know I've never even seen a picture of her in Sorcerer Weekly or anything. What's she like?"

"Downright terrifying." Natsu gave the simple answer "She's a wild animal, a vile beast or a full on fucking monster." he received a look from Lisanna "Fine I'll back off on the cursing." the look subsided "Anyway there's a pool going on back at the guild about whether or not she's actually human, I bet on no and Gray bet on no and then we punched each other. That was a fun day."

"Uh…"

"One thing we can agree on is that she's fucking terrifying." Cana noted flatly, receiving various nods of agreement "Maybe it's exaggerating but it's safe to say that she's intimidating as fuck and she has the power to back that up."

"You know even if Erza is able to kick down a single mountain it's still pretty scary so now it seems kind of redundant."

"Either way we should all get back before she does, I say we get moving-" Cana was promptly cut off by an explosion, and when the smoke cleared it revealed all of them to be buried in the dirt "What the hell?"

Natsu spat out a large amount of sand "Happy where the heck are you?"

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As it turns out, a bunch of guys had tied Happy up and were preparing to roast him over a campfire "Well it's about damn time we get some protein in us, no need for any stupid berries for us tonight. Meat is on the horizon my friends. Hey no need to freak out or be so tense tiny cat meal, you're gonna be in our bellies soon enough so you don't really have anything to be scared about."

"Actually I'm not shaking like this because I'm scared." Happy told them.

"Wait what?"

"I'm shaking like this because I have to use the bathroom really bad, I can't hold it in much longer and I bet you it's gonna make me taste really weird."

"Who gives a shit, now someone cook him already!"

"Wait what?"

"Meat!" the chicken guy prepared to roast Happy using fire magic "Alright, who wants there's well done?"

"Hey I wasn't kidding! It's gonna make me taste funny, I just know it will!"

"Hey hold it right there!" and who should appear from beyond the horizon but the rescue party in the form of Natsu, Lisanna, Lucy and Cana "Hey Happy, you okay little buddy?"

"Oh thank goodness, now I'm not gonna taste weird!"

"I don't get it but whatever. Anyway that's my little buddy that you're trying to roast there asshole, sorry but you guys are gonna have to make other plans for dinner."

Cana pulled out a few magic cards "You guys are wizards aren't you, so what guild are you idiots with?"

One of them let out a cloud scoff "I'm not telling, now get them!" and so all of them charged forward.

"Alright ladies, stand back and let the master show you how it's done. **Fire Dragon WING ATTACK!" **Natsu blitzed forward as he coated his arms in his flames.

"**Sand Bomb, go!" **one of them quickly caught Natsu in a sand prison.

A muffled "FUCK!" sounded from inside, followed by a significantly less muffled "Forget me I'm fine, go get Happy before he pisses himself!"

"Lucy go untie the cat with the bladder control issues!" Cana wasted no time in kicking out several of the enemy wizards in her path.

Lisanna and Lucy quickly went over to untie the cat "Don't worry Happy, we'll make sure no one eats you and you get to pee."

"MEAT!" the chicken guy prepared to burn them alive using his fire magic.

Cana quickly kicked the guy out "Looks like I'm having roast chicken tonight, so which one is next?"

The next guy was one with a crystal ball and a very anticlimactic personality "I have read all of your fortunes, you have a thunderous future ahead of you whereas in another world, the pink haired fire wizard will have captured the hearts of two women, one golden and shining like the sun and as white as the snow itself." (that's a reference to the Natsu/Lucy/Lisanna love triangle for those who don't get it)

"Where the fuck did that come from?" Cana wasted no time in kicking the guy out in a comical fashion "Well it doesn't matter now, so I say who gives a crap."

Now the only one left was the sand user "Where the hell did all of these brats come from anyway?"

"FAIRY TAIL ASSHOLE!" Natsu burst out of the sand prison "Thanks a lot dude, now I have a gut full of piss and sand and it's all because of you. Well, I'm gonna have a lot to piss out later so here it goes. **Fire Dragon IRON FIST!" **Natsu launched a Fire Dragon Slayer spell forward at full speed, resulting in a comically large explosion.

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17 minutes later…

Lisanna glanced back at where the evil wizards were tied up "I don't know Natsu, don't you think you went a little bit overboard?"

"Does it matter if I did?" Natsu gave a shrug "I mean I got the job done didn't I? And besides I'm the dad, and a dad has to protect his family right?" this caused both of them to blush a deep red.

"Well that's sickening levels of sweet." Cana glanced down at the captured wizards "So is there anything else we need to know?"

"Lulla…" one of them managed to croak out.

"Lulla, what the hell is a lulla?"

"Lullaby… is…"

"What the hell are you-" Cana was cut off by a shadow suddenly reaching out from under her and grabbing hold of the tree.

"Dammit they found us, I knew we hadn't gone far enough!" the wizards all suddenly got pulled into the ground along with the tree itself.

"Well that happened I guess."

"Who the hell was that?" asked Natsu.

"I don't know but they were definitely fast, I can't even sense their presence anymore. Call it a hunch but I have a bad feeling about this."

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At the same time, the citizens of Magnolia looked on in amazement as a young woman in armor walked through the streets in the direction of the Fairy Tail guild hall carrying a large horn with her.

**A/N:**

**One thing I've discovered doing this fic as well as my Naruto fic is that one of the benefits of having a large supporting cast is that, while a good number of them don't get anywhere near enough time to shine, you get to show off a lot more variety in terms of character and technique, hence why I added in characters like Cana and Lisanna.**

**In case it wasn't clear, Luke's subplot in this chapter is based on the plot of episode 225, Lightning Man. Just because he's one of the main characters of this fic doesn't mean he has to be the focus point of every single chapter. But I did want to use the opportunity to demonstrate some of the Lightning Dragon Slayer techniques he uses, such as the Lightning Dragon Roar and one of the original techniques I created for him: the Thunder Blade.**

**Adding onto my previous point, I wanted to give some other characters a chance to shine, hence why I decided to have Cana go with Lucy on the Duke Everlue job instead. Plus I get to show off some of Cana's new techniques I created for her, such as the Liquid Rifle, and I get to give the infamous Lucy Kick an early introduction to make up for the lack of a third party in the form of Happy this time around.**

**I added a few mentions of Natsu and Gray teaming up against Laxus in this chapter, that's a reference that I'll clear up later on. Let's just say one later arc is going to get a noteworthy overall.**


	3. Lullaby I

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**DoomMarine55: **Look, this is my story and this is what I've chosen to do, so if you don't like it then don't read it.

**Ragnas Bredvolts: **Thank you for reviewing, I'm glad to see you enjoyed the chapter. I'm glad someone caught the reference to the dreaded love triangle between Natsu, Lucy and Lisanna, especially since you share my views on the love triangle. For the record, Lucy does get Leo in the form of Loke, but Pisces belongs to Yukino. As for Luke and his sword, I saw Natsu with his scarf as a memento of Igneel and I decided to give Luke something like that as well, but I didn't know what at first. But then I looked back at an old Naruto video game I used to play as a kid, Dragon Blade Chronicles, and then I saw Erza cut down Irene in her dragon form using the sword enchanted by Wendy to have Dragon Slayer properties, so I figured why not give Luke a sword made from the scales of a Lightning dragon, which would allow him to channel his magic into the blade and use it to attack much more effectively. In regards to Luke fighting Laxus, while it would be interesting to see the two of them battle it out in the battle of Fairy Tail, that would be far too predictable, and besides I already have something in mind for that arc. And yes, I had a blast writing out Cana's character in the last chapter. I do have a few ideas for making her stronger, at least before she acquires Fairy Glitter in the Tenrou Island arc, but I'll get to that later on. Luke was meant to be more of the main character of the subplot rather than the overall chapter, with Cana being the main character in that regard. You have a good day as well, and I hope I continue to meet your expectations.

**StraxyX: **Glad to see you like it so far. Also, yes I know I need someone to edit my stories before I upload them.

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"_In a land far far away lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small and peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most people, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards and mages, and banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore, but there is a certain guild in a certain town that stands high above the rest of them, one from which countless legends have been born, a guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. This guild is known as Fairy Tail."_

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The sun was shining over the skies of Magnolia.

Luke observed from his place on the second level of the guild hall with a small smile as the daily routine played out with everyone in the guild'_Yep, everyone just chilling out and screwing around without a care in the world. I wish I could be like that, but these days I know that someone has to be on the lookout for any dark magic on the rise, and that's gotta be me for the time being. I swore on the scales of my father Kaminari, that I would stand by my family and protect them for as long as I was able to.'_

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Cana let out a sigh as she watched Natsu and Gray beating the crap out of each other "Honestly these guys make it so hard to just enjoy a peaceful drink for once."

"Well if you didn't drink all day then this wouldn't be a problem." Lucy pointed out dryly, only to be ignored.

"All the same I guess we should probably try to find another job, I'm running out of drinking money."

"Yeah well we'd be sitting pretty if we had taken that 2 million Jewel reward, and I can't let myself forget that my rent is gonna be due next week. I guess I'd better find a job of my own too." Lucy glanced over at the request board and glossed it over "Let's see here… Finding a magic bracelet, breaking a spell on a cursed cane, reading someone's love horoscope, hunting a volcano demon? For crying out loud, I had no idea wizard jobs could be so varied."

"Well let me know if you find one that catches your eye." Luke leapt down onto the first floor in front of her "The master is away at a conference with the other guild masters so I'm covering for him for the time being, see every once in awhile he gets together with the other guild masters to get drunk and talk about how things are going. It's kind of like the Magic Council but the difference is that these guys can back up the shit they talk. Hey Reedus can I borrow a light pen for a second?"

"Oui." Reedus, the painter guy, handed him a pen.

"Thanks man." Luke started writing in the air to demonstrate for Lucy "You see the council Era is the most powerful organization in the kingdom, it's only one step below the government. It has 10 members and it's their job to uphold all of the magic rules and regulations, and if a wizard breaks magic law then the council would try them. Then we have the different leagues of guild masters, those involve local guilds that collaborate on a regular basis. Below them we have the individual masters, they have to pass on the decrees made by the council and they also communicate with other guild masters on a regular basis. They're essentially the glue that holds all of us together, but that job gets to be pretty tough from time to time."

Lucy was left in surprise over the explanation "Wow, I never realized that all of the different magical guilds were interconnected like that."

"Yep, when we don't work towards common goals we all just fall apart at the seams. It's like being in one gigantic magic cult, step out of line and the guys in black show up." he threw the light pen at Natsu to stop him from scaring her "Just give it a rest Natsu, the last thing we need is for another member to piss themselves in public. We still haven't gotten the smell out after last time. But in all seriousness though the guys that Natsu were gonna reference when he was gonna scare the shit out of you do exist, they're known as the dark guilds. They chose not to join any of the leagues, they're mostly full of evil wizards who believe that power and revenge are everything in life and they usually cause all sorts of hell."

"Oh wow, that's complicated."

"You have no idea, so you gonna pick a job? Cana told me about how much ass you kicked last time, I'm kind of eager to see it for myself and see what happens when the entire team is together at full strength."

"Yeah thanks but no thanks, as far as I'm concerned I quit the team that booze riddled brunette psychopath is on. I mean it's not like you guys even wanted me, she just needed me the last time because I'm blonde."

"Hey I warned you that Cana can be manipulative as fuck, and besides that's not why I wanted you to be part of the team. I know potential when I see it and you've got it oozing out of your ass, it's just a matter of applying it."

This was when Gray chose to speak up "Hey Lucy I wouldn't worry about any of that shit if I were you, you'll get plenty of offers from other teams. But that being said, Luke isn't a bad dude to partner with all things considered. Better than Natsu at least."

"Gray I don't care if you don't wear a shirt, just put on some pants."

"Shit not again!"

"Douche." Natsu muttered, prompting Gray to get right up in his face.

"Did you just call me a douche you scaly asshole?"

"And what if I did, what the hell are you gonna do about it?"

"Cocky bastard!"

"At least I'm not a puss-" Natsu glanced over at Happy and Lisanna "A coward, I was totally gonna say a coward."

"Oh for fuck's sake." Cana let out a sigh and took a sip from her mug.

Loke took the chance to try and sweep Lucy off her feet "Tell you what Lucy, why don't you join the team of love with me later tonight, just the two of us."

Lucy was taken aback by this "Wait what now?"

"You're just so stunningly gorgeous, I have to keep my shades on whenever I look in your direction or I'll be blinded by your dazzling beauty."

"...And girls really fall for this?"

"What do you-" Loke's expression turned from suave to horrified when he noticed Lucy's set of celestial keys "Oh my god, you're not a celestial wizard are you?"

"What? Yeah I've got six with me right now."

"DAMN YOU TO HELL FATE, WHY DO YOU INSIST ON TOYING WITH MY HEART SO?! I'M SO SORRY MY DEAR, BUT YOU AND I CAN NEVER BE TOGETHER!" and on that increasingly dramatic note, Loke ran out of the guild hall crying in a comical fashion.

"What the hell got into him all of a sudden?"

"Who knows." Luke let out a sigh "Apparently Loke has some bad history with Celestial wizards, the main word going around is that he shacked up with one and it ended on a bad note for him."

"Well that's not surprising."

"Nor is what's about to happen next." Luke pushed her down onto the ground right before Natsu suddenly soared overhead "You know you guys really need some less annoying hobbies, or at least better places to fight it out and strangle each other."

"Hey Natsu started it, I'm just following through." Gray pointed out.

"And you're still naked."

"God dammit!"

"And I heard it from here Gray, you fired the first shot and that set off the typical chain of events this time."

"Oh come on dude!"

"Hey I'm the nice guy right now, be glad it's me and not Erza or you guys would be in for a world of hell-"

"I'VE GOT BAD NEWS!" Loke suddenly burst back into the guild hall "Oh man it's bad you guys, it's really really bad. It's Erza, she's on her way here!" this was met with various horrified gasps and screams of terror from everyone present.

"...Oh shit."

"Wow." Lucy muttered "Just mention Erza and the whole place starts to lose it."

"That's pretty common knowledge in the guild, since she's one of the few S-class wizards we have and incredibly intimidating I'm one of the few people in the guild that she doesn't scare the shit out of." Luke glanced over towards the door at the sound of footsteps "And judging by the horrifying stomping noises I'm guessing that's her."

"Eesh, from how scared everyone is of her you'd think she was some kind of evil demon or something."

"You're not far off."

With one terrifying footstep after another echoing throughout the guild hall, into the building stepped a woman with scarlet colored hair, clad in armor and carrying what looked like a massive horn, and even she spoke it was with an air of professionalism "I have returned. Where is Master Makarov?"

"And thus proves my point, anyway Erza the master is at a conference right now so I'm filling in for him."

"I see."

"So what's up with the comically oversized horn you've got hoisted above your head?"

"It's the horn of a monster that I defeated as part of my job request, the locals were so thankful that they decorated it and gave it to me as a souvenir. Do you have a problem with it?"

"I never said that I did. _And now she's gonna berate me for leaving the way that I did, any second now…'_

"So I see that you've returned from your travels. Were they beneficial?"

"You'll figure that out soon enough."

"Fair enough I suppose." Erza turned her intense gaze on everyone else "Now listen up all of you, while I was on the road I heard a few things. The word is that Fairy Tail is causing nothing but trouble as of late, Master Makarov may not care but I most certainly do. Cana, I see that you're cutting back on drinking so that's good. Vijeeter if you're going to dance then please take it outside, Wakaba you need to get rid of that filthy habit. Nab I suspected I would find you dawdling in front of the request board, just pick a job and be done with it!"

"Well it's about damn time someone said it."

"And as for you Luke…"

"Oh fuck." he was met with only a sigh of what sounded like a disappointment "Really, you're not even gonna try with me?"

"Honestly I don't even know where to begin with you, it's like nothing I say would even get through to you."

"Because unlike the others I'm not scared of you."

"Because I believed that you had more sense than that."

"You say that like you're the most sensible one in the entire guild, which means that you understand why I did what I did."

"I never stated that I didn't." she pinched the bridge of her nose and quickly steered the conversation to another topic "Are Natsu and Gray here as well?"

"Take a look over at the two idiots sweating in fear of you." Luke jabbed a thumber over towards where Natsu and Gray were fake hugging in order to ease her wrath "Yeah you tend to have an effect on everyone here except me."

"Well that would be a good thing. I'm quite pleased to see the two of them getting along after everything that's happened, of course it's only natural to see even the best of friends to lock horns every now and again."

"They're literally only doing this for the sake of you not hitting them and/ or maiming them in any way."

"What's gotten into them?" Lucy muttered.

"It might be the fact that they've spent years getting their asses handed to them by Erza over and over again on almost a daily basis for their constant fighting, what with Natsu trying to beat up everyone in sight and Gray's constant stripping, and even a little bit of Loke hitting on her to mix things up. But then again Loke almost always has that coming."

"Oh yeah I can totally see that happening."

"As you should."

Erza glanced back over at Luke "So you say that you're training was beneficial?"

"As I said literally less than 5 minutes ago, you'll find out soon enough."

"Well that will have to be sooner than you would've liked, I need you and those two over there to do me a favor." she pointed at Natsu and Gray.

"I'm listening."

"While I was travelling I overheard something that left me worried, normally I would consult the master before I take any course of action but he's not here at the moment and I believe this to be a matter of utmost urgency. You and those two are the strongest wizards here, if this is as serious as I believe it to be then I could really use your help."

Luke paused, then let out a small chuckle "The mighty Queen of the Fairies actually admits that she needs help, shit is about to hit the fan big time isn't it?"

"If not handled properly then innocent people will die."

"...Alright I'm in, but I wanna bring two people with me on this."

"One of them being Cana?"

"You know me well."

"So I do. Meet me at the train station first thing tomorrow morning, I'll explain the details then and there." and with that, Erza took her leave of the guild hall.

Luke glanced over at Natsu and Gray "The three of us and that psychopath on the same team huh, not gonna lie I didn't see that one coming. Play our cards right and this could be the most powerful team in the history of Fairy Tail. Anyway like you psychopaths heard I'm going with these three nutcases, Lisanna you're in charge until I get back."

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The next day came, and the sun was shining bright over the skies of Magnolia.

"GOD DAMMIT!" Natsu pretty much exploded "I hate this, teaming up with you is the worst idea in the history of ideas!"

"You think I don't know that." Gray let out a scoff "I don't know what the hell Erza was thinking by asking a loser like you to come along."

"Fine then why the hell don't you just take care of this shit yourself, I don't even wanna go anyway!"

"Sounds like a plan to me, then I'll get to watch her beat you senseless." and thus the argument went on.

Lucy just sat on a nearby bench with Plue in her lap and let out a sigh "You know what I'm just gonna and pretend we don't know them."

"That's usually what I do, at least Luke isn't a nutcase like them." Cana told her from where she was sitting next to her "All things considered Luke is more of a black sheep compared to the rest of the members of the guild."

"Because he's sane?"

"You said it not me, so what made you decide to come with all of us anyway?"

"Luke asked me to come with him to keep Natsu and Gray from trying to strangle each other when Erza isn't looking."

"You're not doing a good job."

"They're hopeless, why bother trying if you're not gonna get anywhere."

"Looks like we're the last ones to get here, did you guys wait too long?" this was when a new voice got their attention, scaring Natsu and Gray to the point where they were petrified with pure fear.

"No not really-" Lucy glanced over and her jaw dropped "What in the-?!"

Luke let out a sigh as he stood in front of them carrying a simple duffle bag over his shoulder, and he jerked a thumb towards where Erza was carrying a massive cart load of luggage "I don't think I need to say anything, but yes they all belong to her."

"Alright good buddy it's time for us to get moving!" Gray and Natsu were both fake hugging and pretending to be all buddy buddy out of fear of Erza.

"Add that to the list of weird shit you'll see when you're part of Fairy Tail."

"You may call it strange, but I personally prefer seeing the two of them get along as good friends should." Erza noted.

"And yet you have to scare them into doing it."

"It gets the job done and keeps everyone in order." Erza glanced over at Lucy "So what was your name again, I believe I saw you in the guild hall yesterday but I never had the chance to speak with you."

"Oh that's Lucy, she's the newest member of the guild. I actually brought her in myself around the time I came back to the guild. I brought her with me so that she could keep idiots 1 & 2 back there in check, that work for you?"

"The more the merrier in my opinion. Wait is that the girl that I heard about? I was told that she defeated a mercenary gorilla with her pinky finger, it will be great to have someone with her capabilities on board."

"Who the hell told you that?" he was met with a thumb jerked towards Cana "And she was drunk when she told you right?" he was met with silence "That's what I thought. Anyway Erza I agreed to this but I do have another request."

"And what would that be?"

"When all of this gets settled and we get back to the guild I want you to fight me, I need to be able to gauge how much progress I've made since that day. Back then I only fought you to a standstill, I'm hoping for an outcome more in my favor this time around."

"...You really think you can defeat me?"

"I think there's only one way to find out, and if I can't then that means that the year and a half I spent training was pretty much worthless."

"I wouldn't go that far, but in regards to your request I accept."

"Glad to hear it."

"Looks like the train is about to start boarding."

"Well in that case…" Luke walked over to a nearby plant and proceeded to hurl his guts out into it, earning disturbed looks from nearly everyone present "What? You can't hurl from motion sickness if you don't have anything in you to hurl." he glanced over "And yes Natsu one of us will fight you after that."

"Oh hell yeah!" Natsu pretty much exploded "I'M FIRED UP NOW!"

"Of course you are. Hey where's Happy?"

"Oh I had him stay back with Lisanna, with those two around I can't cut loose like how I normally would."

"Makes sense, I had Bolt hang back for the same reason."

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Soon enough, the 7 of them were riding on the train towards their destination.

Cana glanced over at where Natsu was lying on his own seat, pretty much useless from the motion sickness he was suffering "For crying out loud how pathetic can you get, one minute you're picking fights with pretty much everyone in sight and the next you're about as useless as I am when I'm drunk."

"It's gotta be tough on him getting from one place to the next." Lucy commented.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine." Erza assured her "Natsu come over here and sit with me."

'_I… I guess she wants me to move?' _Lucy promptly switched seats out of fear, which also allowed Erza to move Natsu over to her seat.

"Alright now just relax Natsu, this should make things easier for you." she promptly slugged him in the gut, causing him to pass out in her lap "There we are, that should make things a little bit easier for him."

"And it makes it easier to see that you're also giving into the insanity that seems to plague every single member of Fairy Tail." Luke pointed out dryly "But all joking aside Erza I think it's about time for you to fill us in on what the hell we're doing out here, what kind of crisis are we dealing with here?"

"Of course you're right, I have reason to believe that the Dark Guild known as Eisenwald is planning something big. I'm not sure what exactly but it has to do with a magic item they refer to as Lullaby."

"Lullaby huh?" Cana shared a glance with Lucy "That's the thing those assholes mentioned before."

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At the same time, some members of Eisenwald discussed how they had finally claimed Lullaby as their own, and the moment of truth, the moment in which they would finally achieve their goal, was at last at hand.

The guild masters wouldn't even know what hit them.

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Erza frowned in thought and eyed Cana for a moment "I see, so you mean you've faced members of Eisenwald before have you?"

"I'm not 100% sure that they were part of Eisenwald but I did hear them mention something about Lullaby before they got away." Cana told her.

"It sounds to me like they were members who dropped out of the guild and ended up going into hiding."

"Doesn't sound like they did too good of a job." Luke noted dryly "Sounds to me like they didn't want any part of what was coming and tried to bail, which means that whatever this thing is it's bad enough to scare even dark wizards."

"It's only a hypothesis, but whoever Cana and Lucy saw dragging off the wizards that were responsible for kidnapping Happy that day must have been Eisenwald, so it's obvious that they didn't want their plans to get out."

"So what do you think they're gonna try?"

"Perhaps I should start from the beginning, just the other day I was heading home after completing a job."

"With the comically oversized horn in hand."

"Yes. Anyway I stopped by a pub in Onibus that I knew was a gathering spot for local wizards, I overheard some men talking about how they had discovered the location of Lullaby but they were unable to use it because of a seal of some sort."

"Lullaby somehow sounds unnerving in this case, and the fact that someone had to seal away its power means that the kind of magic power it's packing has to be insane. But are you sure that the guys you saw at the pub were from Eisenwald?"

"I'm almost positive. I can't believe I was such a fool that day, I didn't recognize his name. They referred to him as Erigor the ace of the Eisenwald guild, he only accepts assasination requests and that's how he earned his title as Erigor the Reaper."

"The kind of guy that kills for money, sounds about right."

"When the council decided to outlaw assassination requests the members of Eisenwald decided that making money was more important than following the rules of the council, and as a result they were kicked out of their wizard league 6 years ago, but that didn't stop them. They've disobeyed the orders given to them and remained active to this day."

"And now Lucy's starting to sweat like a pig and her snowman pet is melting."

Erza slammed her fist down on Natsu's head "How could I have been so careless, if only I had recognized his name that day then I could've pulverized them and I could've forced them to reveal their scheme to me."

"Don't beat yourself up over that too much Erza, just think of how this could benefit us. This could be the chance we need to find the guys from Eisenwald and bring down their guild once and for all."

"Perhaps, but regardless I'm not so foolish or arrogant as to believe that I can take on an entire dark guild all by myself."

"I'm pretty sure you could, not unscated but still."

"Well either way, that's why I asked you and the others for help."

"So we're gonna storm the Eisenwald guild hall, sounds like a regular Tuesday for us."

And now Lucy was sweating even more out of pure fear "I shouldn't have come along."

"You said it not me, and would you mind sweating on Gray instead of me? At least he would be able to freeze it."

"...Good to know. Hey Erza if you don't mind me asking, what kind of magic do you usually practice?"

"She stains the battlefield with the blood, sweat, tears and occasional tears in a very badass fashion."

"What's so badass about making people bleed?"

"The way that she does it."

"Well personally I think Gray's magic is much more beautiful than mine." Erza took a bite of some strawberry cake.

"What you mean like this?" Gray promptly used his Ice Make magic to form the Fairy Tail guild emblem "I use a kind of magic called Ice Male."

Lucy blinked "Oh so now I understand why you and Natsu are always trying to strangle each other, he's fire and you're ice so you guys don't mix well."

"Huh, I never thought about that. Truth be told I just hate his guts because he's a cocky smartass who doesn't know when to shut up."

"Wait a second." Luke shot him a look "You never even thought about that? I figured that out in my first month at Fairy Tail, I just thought it was some unspoken thing that nobody talks about for some reason."

"Nope, just hate the jackass."

"...I quit with these people, I just do."

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Soon enough, the train ride came to an end and the group arrived at Onibus Station.

Luke glanced over at Erza as they made their way off the train "So you think the guys you saw from Eisenwald are still gonna be in this town?"

Erza let out a sigh "I have no idea, that's actually what we're here to find out."

"Couldn't hurt to check I guess, and if we do find them then we can just kick their asses like we do- Oh shit."

"What's the matter?"

"I think we left Natsu back on the train." Luke glanced back to see the train now far away in the distance "And there he goes."

"Dammit, I was so busy conversing with you that I forgot about him! I'm such a fool, it's simply common knowledge that Natsu hates all forms of transportation. This is all my fault, I need one of you to come and hit me for my penance!"

"Overkill as always, I missed you while I was gone Erza."

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Natsu had been left on the train, writing in agony over his motion sickness '_Somebody please just kill me now…'_

And that was when _he _revealed himself, that being a wizard by the name of Kageyama "Well lookie here, looks like we have ourselves a member of Fairy Tail. How's the guild treating you these days, is it actually worth sticking around?"

"What…?" Natsu promptly ended up with a foot implanted in his face.

"Don't think you can act all high and mighty just because you're in a legal guild Mr Fairy, you guys who just blindly follow the rules of the Magic Council, but you know what you look like to the rest of us? A bunch of worthless harmless little flies."

"Say what?!" Natsu bolted out of his seat and coated his fists with his own flames.

"Looks like I struck a nerve."

"Listen you son of a-" and then the motion sickness took over again and his flames were pretty much snuffed out.

"What kind of magic is that? How about I show you how it's done." Kageyama proceeded to use his Shadow magic to punch Natsu out "It's all about the follow through."

"That magic… That means you're the one who attacked those guys from before."

"It's just Shadow based magic, not that big of a thing but it's all about whether or not it's used properly." but then the train screeched to a halt, causing Kageyama to stumble and for a flute with a skull on it to fall out of his jacket.

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One of the train officers wasn't keen on finding out that Erza had stopped the train by pulling on the emergency break "What the hell do you think you're doing lady, you can't pull on the emergency break without permission."

Erza let out a sigh "It's for one of our comrades, I have to ask you to please understand the circumstances."

"What are you kidding me?"

"Now if you would be so kind I would like for you to take our luggage to the hotel while we retrieve said comrade."

"Do I look like a bellhop to you?!"

"You're wearing the uniform of one are you not?"

Luke let out a sigh as he looked on at the scene with a small fond smile "Say whatever you want about how insane everyone in Fairy Tail is, they grow on you pretty damn fast, and frankly I missed it."

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"Oh thank god, the train finally stopped." Natsu glanced down and noticed the skull flute lying in front of him "What the hell is that thing."

"Dammit, you weren't supposed to see that." Kageyama muttered.

"I've heard enough shit out of you, it's payback time! You say the people of Fairy Tail are just flies, well you're just a damn bug and nobody insults my guild on my watch! **Fire Dragon IRON FIST!" **he launched a fire enhanced fist forward.

"**Guard Shadow!" **Kageyama used his shadow magic to protect himself, though he was still blown back across the train car in the process "Lucky shot."

"Not bad for a little fly huh?"

"_Attention all passengers, our emergency stop was a false alarm and we will be departing again shortly."_

"...Oh shit, I've gotta get off this death trap!"

"Hold it right there!" Kageyama barked "There's no way in hell I'm letting you get away as easily as that, you're messing with the Eisenwald guild now."

"Oh so you're with Eisenwald are you? I'll show you what happens when people decide to insult Fairy Tail, how about we take this outside?" but then the train started moving, which sent his motion sickness back into effect.

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Luke bolted along the pathway following the train tracks '_Cana and the others are following using that Magic Mobile, but I know that even that won't be fast enough to catch Natsu before he does anything stupid.'_

"COMING OUT HOT IN STYLE!" Natsu suddenly got hurled out of the train window at full speed, slamming into Luke at full speed, ramming into him with a loud thud before he comically dropped to the ground.

"Okay that's gonna give me a migraine in the morning."

"Natsu, Luke!" Erza and the others showed up on the scene not long after that "Are you two alright?"

"Aside from sporting the potential migraine from this idiot slamming into me."

"Hey shut the hell up!" Natsu barked "Why the hell did you guys leave me on the train to begin with?!"

"I'm just thankful you weren't badly injured." Erza let out a sigh and promptly pulled him into an embrace, slamming his head against her armor "I apologize for me carelessness Natsu, please forgive me."

"Uh… it's okay. Well anyway I'm just kind of shaken up, I got attacked by some freak on the train."

"What did he look like?" asked Luke.

"I think it was that dude who dragged off the guys that tried to eat Happy, he said something about being with Eisenwald."

"YOU FOOL!" Erza smacked him straight across the face "That's exactly the person we're chasing after on this mission, why did you let him get away!"

"What the hell are you talking about, this is the first I'm hearing about it."

"I explained everything on the train ride over here, you should listen when people are talking to you!"

"Erza you realize that he didn't hear anything you said because you basically punched him out to keep him from spewing his guts." Luke pointed out dryly.

"...Oh yes right. Well never mind that, if he was one the same train that we were on then we should still be able to track him down."

"So what did this guy look like?" asked Cana.

"Well he didn't look like anybody that would come from a dark guild, but he did have this weird flute thing." Natsu told them "It looked like it had a skull on the end, except it had three eyes on it."

"A three eyed skull huh, well that's creepy."

"It gets worse." Lucy muttered "I'm pretty sure I've heard about that flute before "It's known as Lullaby the cursed song, it's a type of Death magic."

"A curse song like some kind of incantation?"

"I've only ever read about them in books before, but there are some deadly spells out there that are forbidden to be used by any wizards."

Luke nodded "I did some research on them myself, they're cursed Black Magic based spells that will kill the victims they're used on."

"Well if I'm right then Lullaby is one of the worst of them all. Originally it was a tool meant for casting simple death curses, it was dangerous but its power was limited until the evil black wizard known as Zeref transformed it into a demon flute, and now its song will kill hundreds if not thousands at once lulling it into an endless sleep."

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At the same time, Erigor and the men of Eisenwald hijacked the train, claiming it to be their property before Kageyama showed up on the train and presented the Lullaby to them, which prompted Erigor to order them to commence the operation.

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Erza bolted across the terrain using the Magic Mobile, using as much of her own magic as she could to drive at full speed "Come on come on, we have to hurry!"

Luke bolted alongside her on foot "Hey Erza you have to take it easy, if you use so much of your own power just getting there then you'll be useless when it's time to actually fight against these guys."

"I don't have any other choice but to press forward! We're running out of time, if Erigor were to get his hands on this Death magic then believe me when I tell you that far too many people will die."

"But I don't get it though, just what are they planning to do? It's not like they'd just go around killing for no reason, they would have to have some kind of plan."

"I know, but I just can't fathom what they intend just yet."

"I guess there's only one way to find out."

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At the same time, Makarov was attending the Guild Master conference in Clover Town when he received a message from Lisanna informing him of Luke, Erza and the others forming their new team, much to his horror mainly due to the destruction they would be able to cause.

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Kunugi Station was in chaos over the hijacking.

"Some guy with a scythe and a bunch of his lackeys took over the train!"

"I think I know who they are, they're the punks from that dark guild who have been hanging around town over the past few weeks."

Cana and the others listened to the conversation from atop a nearby cliffside "Hijacking a car or a boat would be one thing, why the hell would they go for a train? It can only follow the tracks it's on so it doesn't seem like a really good getaway method."

"True as that might be they do have speed going for them." Luke pointed out "Plus it's not like many people would expect them to use a train."

Gray nodded "So then I guess it's up to us to figure out where these Eisenwald guys are heading in such a big hurry and what they're planning to do."

"Gray put on some pants."

"God dammit!"

"Hey don't get mad at me, you're the stripper."

"Look the military has already been called into action so it should be a matter of time before someone catches them." Lucy pointed out.

"I hope you're right about that Lucy, I really do."

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Erigor wasted no time in doling out punishment on Kageyama "So let me see if I understand this correctly, you allowed one of the flies from Fairy Tail to see the Lullaby flute and then you let him get away? Is that true?!"

"But- But it's not that bad!" Kageyama protested in a very feeble manner "It's not like he knows anything about our plans sir, and even if he did there's no way he and his stupid guild would be able to stop us right?" he was answered by a scythe in between his legs.

"We can't afford to take any chances, but fortunately for us and for you we have a strategy in place."

"Right, you mean the thing at Oshibana Station."

"Right, but we can't have a bunch of flies buzzing around wherever they please, especially where they're not wanted, so I'm leaving it up to you to swat all of them away."

"I understand sir, you can count on me."

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Erza bolted through the city with the others stuffed into the back of the magic mobile "Come on, come on, come on!"

Luke bolted right by her side going on foot "Erza dial it back a few notches, you're going way too fast and at this rate you're gonna overload the SE plug!"

"There's no telling how many innocent people could die if Erigor manages to play Lullaby's song, if we're going to stop Eisenwald before it's too late then I can't afford to slow down no matter what the reason may be!"

"But at this point you're gonna drain yourself dry before the fight even starts!"

"If that's the case then I'll just have to rely on hand to hand combat, besides I have you and the others as backup."

"You say that like you thought this all the way through."

"I have. More or less."

"You haven't changed a bit Erza."

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Cana glanced over at Lucy "You know it's weird, I feel like there was something important I was supposed to tell you."

"Oh really, what was it?" asked Lucy.

"I dunno, I just know I wanted to tell it to you but if I forgot it then I guess it couldn't have been that important."

"Then why did you have to tell me about it to begin with?"

"How the hell should I know, I was kind of drunk at the time."

"I'm gonna be sick…" Natsu mumbled from his place on the floor.

"No that wasn't it."

"Must escape…" he hung himself out of the window.

"Hey take it easy, are you trying to fall out?"

"What do you think I'm aiming for?"

"Okay so it's not anything about her being sick? No. Hungry? For attention maybe, but that doesn't sound right."

"Hey guys take a look up ahead." Luke pointed to a large commotion in the distance "I think we just found our targets."

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A short distance away, in Oshibana Station…

"_Ladies and gentlemen please stand back, the station is currently closed due to a train suffering a derailment."_

"A derailment, what are you kidding me? I heard the station was taken over by a crap load of thugs!"

"_We ask that you please stand back for your own safety!"_

"Excuse me." a hand grabbed the station employee by the shoulder, this hand belonging to none other than Erza herself "What's going on inside?"

"Why the hell would I tell you lady?" he received a knee to the gut and promptly passed out as a result.

"What's going on inside?" she did the same to the next guy that didn't answer her, and the guy after that "What's going on inside? What's going on inside?!"

Luke just watched with what looked like an expression of disappointment "Yeah that about sums up what Erza's like when things don't go her way, she's got her own way of getting things done as counterproductive as they may be. Also, Gray put on some pants."

"The Eisenwald guild is inside, let's get moving."

"Way ahead of you, Lucy drag the pink lump until he can move on his own again. Lucky for us it shouldn't be too long, I hope. That doesn't sound as optimistic as I would've liked."

"I noticed." Lucy told him dryly.

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Soon enough, Erza was leading the others inside the train station "A small army unit stormed into the building earlier but they haven't come back out yet, I can only assume that they've been caught in a battle with the forces of Eisenwald."

"If by battle you mean slaughter then probably." Luke gestured to the group of bodies sprawled out across the hallway in front of them, and he quickly knelt down to confirm what they all feared "Yep, they're all dead."

"They were up against an entire guild of dark wizards."

"Who also don't give a shit about killing for fun by the looks of it."

A sinister chuckle ringing through the air halted them in their tracks, belonging to Erighor and the rest of Eisenwald standing in front of them "Welcome, step right into our parlor Fairy Tail flies."

Luke gave a quick glance upwards "Judging by the douce-like look on your face and the oversized toothpick you call an axe I'm guessing you're Erigor."

"Natsu's still out of commission between the train and magic mobile." Erza noted.

"And adding those with the effects of the super noogies you've been giving him we'll have to count him out for the time being."

Kageyama shot a dirty look at the immobile form of Natsu "You little son of a bitch, it's your fault I got in trouble with Erigor, now get up so I can kick your ass already."

"None of you scare us, now just tell us what you're planning to do with Lullaby and we can make this easy for you."

"Oh so you haven't heard?" Erigor let out a chuckle as he levitated into the air "Here's a little hint for you, what do all train stations have?"

'_So he uses wind based magic. _You're saying you're gonna use the station's speaker system in order to broadcast the song played by Lullaby?"

"Looks like we have a smart one with us. Thousands of nosy onlookers have flocked to the station to get a glimpse of the action. Who knows, if I raise the volume enough then I may be able to slaughter everyone in this entire city with my melody of death."

"These people have done nothing to deserve your wrath, if you have issues then take them out on me and I'll bare your hatred."

"How disgustingly noble of you. No this is meant to be a cleansing of all the fools out there who fail to appreciate the rights they hold so dear, who remain willfully ignorant to the plight of those who've had their rights stripped away. They've committed the sin of turning a blind eye to the injustice of the world, and therefore the reaper has come to punish them for their sins."

"You gave up your rights by choosing to become a dark guild, killing more innocent people is only gonna drive you further into a corner. You completely deserved to be kicked out of your wizard league, you just want to shift the blame."

"At this point trying to get back our rights means nothing to us, what we want is power and then we will be able to wash away the sins of the past and take control of what events take place in the future."

"You're nothing but power hungry fools."

"Believe whatever you want." Kageyama let out a chuckle "We're rolling in a brand new age of darkness, of course by the time we actually usher it in you flies won't have lived long enough to see it. **Knuckle Shadow!" **he prepared to attack them using his shadow magic.

Luke cut clean through the shadows using his dragon scale sword "Your first mistake was thinking we'd go down without a fight."

That was when Natsu finally got up "Alright now I'm all fired up back 100% and I'm ready to kick some ass, whose do I kick first?"

"Pretty much all of the assholes in front of us."

Erigor let out a chuckle '_The flies from Fairy Tail flew right into my trap, everything is going exactly according to plan. But I will not rest until they have heard the melody of death played by the Lullaby, and then we'll at last have revenge against those who wronged us.'_

"What you're looking at is the strongest team Fairy Tail has to offer, I hope you know what you're getting yourselves into."

"I leave them to you men, show them the terror of the dark guild Eisenwald!" and then Erigor disappeared from the scene.

"Natsu, Gray, Cana you guys go and track this guy down. The three of you together should be able to pound that guy into the ground no problem."

"Right, now come on you two idiots." Cana promptly grabbed Natsu and Gray by their separate collars (both of them still glaring at each other) and dragged them both away.

"Natsu and Gray are already a formidable combo, add Cana into the mix and they're pretty much unbeatable."

"I think we'll see about that!" one of the Eisenwald wizards named Rayule prepared to go after them "Just leave it to the great Rayule to take them out.

"Don't think I'm letting you get all of the fun, I owe that pink haired dumbass for our last encounter." Kageyama promptly disappeared into his shadow.

Luke glanced over at Lucy and Erza "Let's just finish off these guys and then we'll go after the others, they can handle themselves until then."

"Are you sure about that?" asked Lucy "I mean just the three of us against an entire army of wizards from a dark guild?"

"Lucy this is basically a Tuesday for us, trust me we can handle low level thugs like these no problem."

"Enough talk, now let's do this." Erza promptly used her Requip magic in order to summon one of her swords "Let me make this clear to all of you, if you insult the Fairy Tail guild in my presence again then I swear none of you will live to see tomorrow."

"And when Erza speaks she speaks for all of us." Luke promptly drew his dragon scale sword as well "You wanna go then let's go."

"We're not scared of you chumps!" a bunch of them drew their swords and charged at them at full speed "We've got tons of magic swordsmen in Eisenwald.

"Yeah well you don't have me and Erza now do you?" Luke wasted no time in cutting down a large number of swordsmen, with Erza doing the same to another group.

"We'll show you you arrogant little bastard!" a bunch of them started firing off blasts of pure magic energy.

"Luke stand back, I can handle them!" Erza used her Requip to summon a spear, as well as a set of dual swords, and quickly tore through the wizards attacking her.

"Looks like you've gotten a lot stronger yourself, you're able to Requip a lot faster than you were before."

"Wait so what exactly is Requip?"

"Magic weapons aren't that much different from the Celestial magic that you use, they use it to summon different weapons they keep stored in a separate pocket dimension and switching between those weapons is what people refer to as Requipping."

"Oh man, that's incredible!"

"That's nothing, you haven't seen anything yet. Erza's just getting warmed up, it's not a good idea to try and steal the spotlight from her."

"Yeah well I came with you guys for a reason, and now the time has come for me to kick some ass too! **Open gate of the Giant Crab, Cancer!" **Lucy pulled out one of her Celestial keys and summoned one of her spirits.

Within a matter of seconds Cancer appeared before them in all of his glory "You need me to fight these dudes for you baby?"

"Yeah, and take them down with style."

"I've never seen such a stupid haircut, you look like an idiot!" a bunch of guys all charged at him.

"Woah baby." Cancer wasted no time in cutting all of the dark wizards down, cutting apart their weapons as well as their hair "I hope you like your new style baby."

Lucy blinked "Kind of unnecessary but okay."

Luke nodded in approval "I knew I made the right call bringing you Lucy, pretty impressive work there."

"Oh thanks but it was no big deal."

"I must admit that it was quite impressive." Erza noted "However that crab spirit of yours, the way that he refers to you as baby rather insulting."

"Uh… duly noted I guess."

"There are still so many, and here I thought we took care of most of these fools. It may be annoying, but I'll wipe all of them out myself. **Requip!" **and so in what looked like a truly spectacular fashion, Erza used her Requip to swap out her suit of armor.

"Okay, her armor is disappearing and all of the evil guys are all going gaga over it. What am I looking at?"

"Something unique to Erza, at least as far as I know." Luke told her "See most requip users only have the ability to swap out or summon weapons but Erza is different, she's mastered the ability to swap out her various suits of armor that enhances her abilities and lets her use various different types of magic, whether it be sword magic or any type of elemental magic. It's a type of Requip known as the Knight, in this case her Heaven's Wheel Armor."

Sure enough, Erza finished her Requipping to reveal herself in her suit of armor known as Heaven's Wheel "Now dance for me my swords! **Circle Sword!" **she summoned a number of swords circled around her and used them to cut down the Eisenwald wizards with a single stroke of her blade.

"And that's what makes Erza one of the strongest Fairy Tail has to offer, I think it's safe to say that she's got this."

"Guess what you little bitch, you're dealing with me now!" one of them was stupid enough to charge at Erza at full speed, only to be cut down in an instant.

"She's called the Queen of the Fairies for a reason."

With almost all of the Eisenwald wizards down for the count defeated, Erza returned to her usual armored outfit "That should take care of them for the time being."

"You almost never fail to impress."

"Forget this, I'm out of here!" the last remaining Eisienwald wizard, some fat little troll by the name of Karacka, quickly bolted out of the room.

"You think he's gonna go track Erigor down?"

Erza nodded "That is what I would suspect, you should follow him."

"Way ahead of you, Lucy let's get moving." Luke quickly slung Lucy over his shoulder and took off running before she had time to protest about it "Just be sure you don't overexert yourself too much."

Once they were out of sight, Erza finally allowed herself to fall to one knee "It would seem you were right after all Luke, I overdid it on the magic mobile. Please all of you, just don't fail me now."

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Cana bolted through the train station with Natsu and Gray tagging along behind her "Look we don't have time for you two to start bitching about each other, the fact is that we have a job to do or people are gonna die."

"Yeah well it's still a stupid idea, anyone with half a brain cell knows that fire and ice just don't mix." Gray pointed out.

"You just thought of that like an hour ago, and besides it's why Luke had me tag along with you two idiots!"

"I don't need your help, I can handle Erigor all by myself!" Natsu and Gray started copying each other and then got up in each others' faces "Are you copying me?!"

"And I'm being ignored, will you two shut up for a second?!" she blasted them with one of her lightning cards and pointed ahead "There are two hallways ahead, the only way to figure out which one is the right one is that we'll have to split up."

"...Fine." Natsu and Gray looked at each other, nodded and each decided on which hallway they were gonna take, Natsu going down the right and Gray going down the left.

Cana on the other hand stuck with Natsu going on the right "Listen up you two, we're going up against an evil freak who's gonna unleash a spell that's gonna kill a lot of people. I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't screw this up."

"If by that you mean kick his ass then that was the idea." Natsu gave a cocky smirk "I have a bone to pick with that son of a bitch for screwing with Fairy Tail, I plan to burn him to a crisp and not stop until he says mercy."

"And I'm coming with you to make sure you don't punch out the wrong guy."

"One time, I did that one fucking time!"

"7 times."

"Whatever!" and so they took off down the right hallway.

"...You two better not die on me." Gray watched them go for a brief second before bolting down the left hallway, but it didn't take him long to notice one of the speakers on the wall and for the dots to connect "So that's his game, Erigor is gonna play the song from Lullaby through the speaker system, which means I know where he needs to be to make that happen."

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A few minutes later…

Suspecting where Erigor might be located, Gray made his way to the broadcast studio, only to find that Erigor wasn't there and he was instead confronted by Rayule.

During their confrontation, Rayule explained to Gray that it was a trap for him and the rest of the Fairy Tail wizards, and their real objective was the annual meeting of the Masters. With the Fairies out of the way, and the Masters not knowing what is happening, their plan would surely succeed.

Gray was understandably outraged by this and proceeded to defeat Rayule by using his ice magic to freeze him where he stood.

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At the same time, Erza made her way outside of the train station and informed the bystanders and station employees that they needed to evacuate for their own safety, only for her to end up meeting Erigor herself, learning that he created a wind barrier meant to trap everyone inside the train station so they couldn't interfere.

Erza attempted to escape, but she found herself unable to, and Erigor took the chance to escape soon afterwards.

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Kageyama followed Natsu and Cana down their hallway in secret, waiting for an opportunity to strike '_Looks like it's about time for me to make my move, no way they can stop us now.'_

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Luke made his way through the train station at full speed, with Lucy tagging a short distance behind, his mind racing '_I don't care who they are, if anyone messes with my friends or innocent people on my watch is gonna have to answer to me! I hope you guys are ready Eisenwald, I'm coming for you.'_

**A/N:**

**So yes, along with the original Team Natsu, Cana and Luke are now part of the team in this fic as of the Lullaby Arc, which will make the strongest team that much stronger. I did intend to add Lisanna into the team as well in this chapter, but I did need someone to run the guild in Luke and Makarov's absence, so I'll have her join in a later chapter. I mean yeah I could've had Macao be in charge, but we all know how that turned out.**

**I did consider making this entire arc just one chapter, but I didn't want to make it so long that the readers lose interest, so I'm splitting it into two chapters.**

**Now then, just for fun and inspired by Earth Dragon Arnighte, here's what I think of Fairy Tail power couples:**

**Natsu x Lucy (Not against it but I'm sick of people trying to shove it down my throat)**

**Natsu x Lisanna (Cute and I ship it, come at me bro)**

**Gray x Juvia (Well duh)**

**Gajeel x Levy (Hysterical but I still ship it)**

**Erza x Jellal (Awesome)**

**Lucy x Loke (Interesting and kind of funny, don't really think much of it though)**


	4. Lullaby II

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**BetaZackFan: **I have no idea where the pair of Lucy & Laxus came from, but I'm gonna go on record now and say that it's not going to happen in this fic. I already have a pairing I intend to use for Lucy in this fic, but it won't appear for quite some time.

**Ragnas Bredvolts: **No need to worry about commenting or reviewing, I say take as much time as you need to. I'm glad to see you enjoyed the overall chapter. Yes, I do usually have at least 10k words or so per chapter. I would have included the entire arc in this chapter, but then I estimate it would've been at least 18k words or so, and I feel that would've been too long of a chapter. As for Luke catching up with Erigor, it won't be anything too fancy like that due to the lack of flying cats, but I'll make up for it with the fight scene I intend to have between the two of them. As for your opinions on the pairings, I was kind of surprised to see your opinion on Jellal & Erza, but I understand how you feel. I wasn't the biggest fan of Jellal myself at first, but after the timeskip he started to grow on me. I'm glad to see you're more mature than the majority of the NaLu shippers I come across. You have a good day as well, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story overall.

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"_In a land far far away lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small and peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most people, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards and mages, and banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore, but there is a certain guild in a certain town that stands high above the rest of them, one from which countless legends have been born, a guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. This guild is known as Fairy Tail."_

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The Oshibana train station had been engulfed in a barrier of wind by Erigor of the Eisenwald guild, and the wizards of Fairy Tail trapped inside.

Erza wasted no time in tying up the defeated guild members and interrogating the ones that could still talk "Give me answers now, how do I undo the wind barrier Erigor set into motion? Answer me!"

The member currently being interrogated, a cocky jackass by the name of Byard, let out a chuckle "You can forget it red, I already told you that there's no undoing Erigor's barrier. You and your friends are trapped."

"You little-"

"Erza!" that was when Gray dropped down onto the scene "Listen Erza it's way worse than we thought it was!"

"What are you doing here, I thought you were with Natsu and Cana."

"We had to split up but never mind that now, we've got bigger problems! I just found out from one of the Eisenwald guys that their real target is Clover the next town up!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Erigor is heading towards the Guild Master conference as we speak, he's planning to use the song from Lullaby to kill the Guild Masters!"

"What?!" Erza promptly rounded on Byard "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Deal with that asshole later, we've gotta move now!"

"There's a problem with that, the station is surrounded by a Wind barrier that Erigor created to trap us in."

"Yeah I know, I noticed it on my way here and if we try to break through that thing then it will make mincemeat out of us."

"I've already tried that, it didn't go so well but that's not important. What is important is that we have to get out of here, we have to stop Erigor before he reaches the Guild Master conference up in Clover."

"So what the hell do we do?"

Erza pondered this for a moment "Wait a minute, I remember them talking about somebody by the name of Kageyama back at the pub. We have to find that man Gray, he was the one who broke the seal on Lullaby."

"A dispeller, you mean the kind of wizard that can break seals so he should be able to take down the Wind barrier."

"That's what I'm hoping, now let's start searching."

"Right." and so they both rushed off.

Byard was soon left alone "Karacka… come on man, how long are you gonna hide back there from us?"

Sure enough, Karacka emerged from a portal in the wall "I'm sorry but in my defense, those guys were really scary."

"It doesn't matter, just hurry up and find Kageyama before they do."

"No please don't make me Byrad, you know that I'm no good in a fight."

"Look just calm down, it's a simple job even you should be able to handle."

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Meanwhile, with Luke and Lucy…

Luke bolted through the halls at full speed, sniffing to find any traces of Karacka's scent, but to no avail "Dammit this is bad, I can't smell the guy anywhere."

"Shouldn't we just go back to Erza?" asked Lucy "I mean at this rate all we're doing is searching blindly."

"If you wanna get on the receiving end of a smackdown from Erza then I say go for it, but then again if we go back to Erza empty handed she'll try to beat us down for not satisfying her."

"...You know what let's just keep going."

"Calm down, you're with the one person who's not scared of Erza on some level. But that being said we should've tracked down some trace of him by now, I say we should head back and meet up with the others at least before Natsu starts blowing shit up." this was followed by various explosions in the distance "Too late."

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Meanwhile, in another hallway…

"ERIGOR!" sure enough, by now Natsu had lost his temper and started using his fire magic to blow the place up in hopes of luring Erigor out "GET THE HELL OUT HERE AND FIGHT ME ALREADY!"

Cana just slapped her face as she watched Natsu wreck stuff from a short distance away '_Just randomly blowing stuff up is one thing.' _she suddenly whipped around and quickly pulled out a few magic cards "Natsu give it a rest, we've got company."

Sure enough, Kageyama finally revealed himself before then "You know since the two of you aren't any threat to our plans I could just let you go and this wouldn't have to get messy, but then again where's the fun in that? **Knuckle Shadow!" **he used his shadow to deal Natsu a barrage of punches that he couldn't react to in time, sending him crashing into a wall "There, I've wanted to do that for awhile now. I suppose you Fairy Tail flies have had enough?"

Cana glanced back at Natsu's flailing form stuck in the wall and rolled her eyes "Say whatever you want dipshit, now you're dealing with a Fairy Tail wizard that you've successfully pissed off for real."

"Compared to?"

"Someone who's almost always angry."

"Fair enough, anyway I think I've got you figured out this time. That idiot eats fire to increase his power, a big trick like that shouldn't be hard to stamp out so how could you be that much different?"

"Tempting as it is to pound your ass into the ground we've got more important stuff to deal with right now, just tell us where Erigor is."

"Do you really think I'm just gonna tell you that? If you really wanna know then you're gonna have to beat it out of me yourself."

"I'm okay with that."

"So am I. **Knuckle Shadow!" **he prepared to attack Cana using his shadows.

"**Magic Card: Terra Shield!" **Cana quickly defended herself from the shadows by summoning a wall of earth "So I get to kick your ass and get the information that I need, sounds like this is a win to me and I don't even need to drink for that. Come at me jackass!" she started dodging and weaving her way around the shadow attacks with ease.

Kageyama was quick to lose his temper '_Alright not too bad I guess for some weakling Fairy chick, but I'm nowhere near done. _You can't run from me this time, not after you get a taste of this! **Snake Shadow!" **he unleashed a large barrage of shadow snakes "These bad boys will rip you to pieces!"

"We'll see about that! **Magic Card: Flamethrower!" **Cana held up a card and unleashed a powerful stream of fire from it, incinerating the shadows in a quick explosion.

"But that's impossible, how could she have defeated them in one shot?! How could she be so powerful, I didn't think wizards like this existed."

Cana promptly pulled out three more cards "So are you ready to talk or do I have to give you the same treatment I gave those things?"

"Oh god no no no, you're a monster!" and cue the explosion.

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Luke glanced up and let out a sigh "Well either Natsu is doing his thing or someone managed to piss off Cana, which is actually harder than you think. Either way, I think we know where to go next."

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The smoke cleared from the explosion to reveal Cana looking considerably put out "Well that pretty much sucked, I was actually trying not to wreck the place like Natsu would."

Natsu finally pulled himself out of the rubble and started eating some of the stray fire "You know you could've let me get in a few shots!"

"I could've but I didn't wanna, anyway let's just get Diorama over there."

"My name is Kageyama, I swear you're doing this on purpose." Kageyama grumbled from where he was embedded in the wall.

"With me it's just to screw with you, with Natsu it's just being an idiot. Anyway, just go ahead and tell me where Erigor is and we can make this easy." she was met with only a confident chuckle.

"Haven't you figured it out yet? Erigor is long gone you fool, he's not even in the station anymore."

"Wait what?"

"Cana! Natsu!" that was when Erza and Gray showed up on the scene "Do not harm that wizard, we need him alive."

"What are you talking about?" Cana paled when she saw Erza pull out a sword, and she promptly prepared to use Natsu as a meat shield "Whatever I did, please just accept this idiot as a sacrifice in my place!"

Erza promptly ignored her and proceeded to scare the shit out of Kageyama by embedding her sword in the wall mere nanometers away from his skull "Let me make this clear, you will dispel the wind barrier right now and you will do so without complaint. Do I make myself clear to you?"

"Alright fine, I'll dispel it once you get that sword away from my face-" Kageyama suddenly cut himself off when he received a hand through the chest, much to the shock of himself and everyone present "Karacka… why…?" and then he fell over, revealing the absolutely terrified form of Karacka.

"Kage! Dammit, he was our only way out of here." Erza quickly rushed to Kageyama's side to try and wake him up "Come on Kage, don't you dare die on us! We need your help, are you listening to me?!"

"Forget it Erza he's out cold, he can't hear us." Gray told her.

"Absolutely not, we can't accept that! Kage you're the only one of us who's able to dispel the wind barrier, just hang on!"

Natsu promptly rounded on Karacka in pure rage, with Cana not far behind "You've gotta be shitting me, how can you betray one of your comrades like that? He's a member of your guild, does loyalty mean nothing to you?! YOU SON OF A BITCH!" he promptly launched a fire fist at the wall, hitting Karacka dead on "Is that how you scumsuckers in dark guilds like to treat each other?"

"Please Kage, just stay with us! Come on, come on, come on!" Erza grabbed Kageyama by the shirt and started shaking him repeatedly, banging his head.

"Erza that's not gonna do anything, he's out cold." Cana told her.

"Well we can't just allow him to die like this, he's out only way out of here!"

"But there's no way he can use his magic in his condition!"

"He will if I force him to!"

Luke shared a look with Lucy from a few feet away "Okay, I think we're gonna need some context in order to understand what the hell is going on."

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At the same time, Erigor was making his way across Clover Canyon towards the Guild Master conference in Clover Town, preparing to take revenge on the ones he held responsible for losing his rights and his work.

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Luke's eyes hardened as he resisted the urge to grab his sword "So Erigor is gonna use Lullaby to kill the Guild Masters in some misguided quest for revenge? That means we have to take them down before they reach Clover Town."

"That's easier said than done." Erza pointed out "Erigor cut off any means we have of reaching Clover Town with this wind barrier and is heading there by air."

"I might be able to reach him on foot if I go at full speed, the same if you guys use your magic mobile, but the first thing we have to do is get onto the other side of this barrier."

"How are we gonna do that?" asked Cana, only to be answered by Natsu attempting to bust through the barrier.

"Well I think it's pretty clear that trying to bust through it by normal means is pretty much useless. I do have one thing that may be able to bust us through, but considering the sheer amount of power I would have to use it might end up destroying the entire train station in the process." Luke breathed a deep sigh "But I think it's worth the risk. Makarov was the one who gave us a home when we didn't have any, he's been like a parental figure to all of us and if we just let him die now then we're no better than those bastards from Eisenwald." Luke glanced over to see Natsu attempt to bust through the barrier again, only to get blown away "Plus if I don't accidentally destroy the train station then Natsu probably will."

"...Wait a second." Cana glanced over at Lucy and inspiration struck "Lucy we can use one of your spirits! Back when we were dealing with that Duke Everlue guy I got pulled from one place to another through the spirit world."

"Well yeah but normal people should suffocate to death if they tried that, there's almost no oxygen in their world. Besides a celestial wizard can only open a gate wherever it is they're standing." Lucy pointed out.

"Which means that we would need another celestial wizard to be able to open it on the other side of the barrier."

"Not to mention the fact that the very act of a human entering the Spirit World is a serious breach of contract, I didn't care when you did it because I was freaked the fuck out and it wasn't my key to begin with. That was the key that belonged to Duke Everlue."

"Everlue huh…" and then inspiration struck again "Oh crap I just remembered!"

"Remembered what?"

"The thing I was trying to tell you on the way here, take a look!" Cana reached into her pocket and pulled out a golden celestial key.

"How the hell did you get your hands on Virgo's key, I thought you would've learned not to steal things from people!"

"Hey I never stole a damn thing, Virgo asked me to give it to you."

"Then why didn't you?"

"I was drunk at the time!"

Luke glanced over at Gray and let out a sigh "This is what life is like for us on a normal day, just let that sink in."

"I try not to think about it." Gray muttered.

"Also Gray, put on some pants."

"God dammit!"

"This is my life, being raised by a dragon and surrounded by insanity pretty much on a daily basis. Anyway Cana, is there any reason you're bringing this up now?"

"Well apparently Virgo's contract with that Everlue guy was broken as soon as the guy got arrested." explained Cana "Before we all left town that day she came up to me and told me that she wanted to sign a new contract with Lucy."

"And you never said anything before because you were so drunk it took you until now to remember it?"

"Yep."

"...Okay, I believe it. But what does that have to do with the current situation?"

"Luke you weren't here so you wouldn't know, but Virgo and that jackass Everlue had the ability to tunnel underground and drill holes and stuff she should be able to dig through the ground and get us to the other side of the wind barrier." she was met with various jaw dropped looks from the others.

"And it's official, Cana you're a drunken genius."

"I have my moments."

"And so do I." Lucy was handed the key and promptly did her thing "**I call upon thee in the world of the Celestial Spirits, and now I beckon you to my side at once, now pass through the gate! Open gate of the maiden, Virgo!" **she used the key to open the gate.

From within the gate appeared a young woman with pink hair, blue eyes and shackles around her wrists, clad in a maids outfit, and she bowed to Lucy "You summoned me mistress, what can I do for you?" her appearance left everyone present taken aback.

"...Okay so who are you exactly?"

"I am Virgo of the 12 Zodiac spirits."

Cana failed to acknowledge any differences in her appearance "Hey what's up bubble gum, man you look great."

"Thank you milady, I apologize for any trouble that I may have caused you during our last encounter."

"Are you kidding me!" Lucy pretty much exploded "How the hell do you look like a totally different person?!"

"That's simply because I'm a very loyal spirit who will do anything to please her wizard, so I try to take on whatever form I believe my wizard will find most appealing."

Cana gave a shrug "I don't know, I kind of liked it when you were all big and tough looking like before."

"Did you really? Well then…" she turned back to her gigantic form "I can turn back if this is what you prefer."

"Don't listen to her!" Lucy spoke for pretty much everyone else "I'm your wizard and I like the other form better!" this prompted Virgo to transform back.

"As you wish mistress."

"Alright listen, I'm afraid we don't have much time so can we work out the details on the contract later?"

"Of course, whatever you would like mistress?" her eyes were set squarely on the whip attached to Lucy's waist.

"Do you really have to call me mistress?"

"Would you prefer it if I were to call you queen?"

"No."

"What about princess?"

"Oh yeah that's more like it actually."

"Excellent, princess it is then."

"Oh lord." Luke let out a sigh "Not to be rude but we do have a lot of lives that we have to save before the day is done so if you wouldn't mind?"

"Oh yes of course sir, now…" Virgo wasted no time in using her magic to dig an underground tunnel at remarkable speeds.

"Well hot damn look at her go, nice going Lucy. Now then let's get moving." Cana glanced over and noticed Luke picking up the wounded form of Kageyama "Okay I'm gonna need some context right now."

Luke let out a sigh "Okay look, I know he's one of our enemies but it just wouldn't feel right if we were to leave him here to die like that. These are the kinds of choices that separate us from people like the guys from Eisenwald."

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Soon enough, Cana and the others all climbed out of the tunnel on the other side of the wind barrier, now outside of the train station "Looks like we made it out, we'd better hurry up and head towards Clover."

Lucy was dealing with her own problems at the moment "Oh man this wind is crazy!"

Virgo was quick to take action "Worry not princess, I shall keep your panties from showing!" she held down Lucy's skirt while letting hers fly upwards in the wind, giving Natsu (beaten into the ground, keep that in mind) a full view.

"Just worry about your own panties!"

Kageyama let out a bitter chuckle from his place on the ground "It's no use, you'll never be able to catch up to Erigor. You don't have a hope in hell of stopping us, we've already won."

That was when Cana noticed something "Wait hold on a second, where's Luke?"

"He beat down the pink one, I salute him for that, and then he went on ahead while you guys were crawling out of that hole."

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Erigor flew across the Clover Canyon at full speed, seeing Clover Town beginning to fill his vision '_I can see the town up ahead, just a little bit further and then we'll have our revenge on those who wronged us! _Yes I can just picture their corpses littering the ground and-"

"**Lightning Dragon Jaw!" **a lightning enhanced smash attack slammed Erigor square in the spine before he could react, sending him hurtling down into the canyon below, courtesy of none other than Luke himself as he landed on the train tracks with a loud thud "Huh, not gonna lie I didn't think I'd be able to catch up to him that fast on foot. Well anyway it doesn't matter, now is when things are about to get serious."

"Great, the last thing I need right now." Erigor suddenly flew back up from the ravine and landed on the tracks in front of Luke "You're one of those pesky flies from Fairy Tail, what the hell do you think you're doing here?"

"I thought that would be obvious." Luke drew his dragon scale sword and quickly dropped into a stance "There's no way in hell I'm letting you get past me, if you wanna get to the guild masters then you'll have to kill me first."

"That I'm more than happy to do."

"You say that like you can."

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At the same time, the rest of the group was driving along the train tracks across the Clover Canyon at full speed (Natsu being out of commission due to his motion sickness).

Kageyama glanced over at the others "So tell me, why exactly are you guys bringing me along with you?"

"Because it's pretty obvious that you might bleed out." Cana pointed out dryly "And since everyone left town you're gonna have to see one in Clover, it wouldn't kill you to show some gratitude."

"But I don't understand, why exactly are you helping me like this? We're enemies aren't we?" he received a few glares "Oh wait I get it, you're taking me hostage so that you can try and make a deal with Erigor. Well you can forget it, he couldn't give less of a shit about me or any of his men as long as he gets what he wants."

"Well you're one hell of a downer." Cana promptly downed a bottle of booze "You know there's a whole lot more to this world than just life and death you know."

"Like what?"

"That's up to you, but how about instead of brooding try and look for some of the positive things in life. It could do you and your buddies from Eisenwald some real good."

"...You're unbearably naive."

"No I'm slightly drunk, there's a difference you know." this was followed by the vehicle suddenly shaking due to a bump in the road, causing Cana to slam into Kageyama's face, ass first.

"Ow."

"Hey!"

"It's okay, everything is fine now!" Erza called from up front.

"You know you should watch where you put that thing."

"You mean my face?" Kageyama rubbed the bruise he now had on his nose "And for that matter could your ass be any more firm?"

"I choose to take that as a compliment."

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Erza found it becoming more difficult to focus '_I can feel my vision getting more blurry by the second, I must have used more magic energy than I thought. It's up to you now Luke, you have to stop Erigor. Don't let us down, we're counting on you.'_

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Luke readied himself for the fight that was coming "I hope you're ready Reaper, I'm gonna show you why no one messes with my guild."

"So what?" Erigor let out a scoff "You were able to break through my wind barrier, that just proves you to be that much more of a nuisance just like all of the other little flies. Now get out of my way if you don't want to die." he unleashed a small blast of wind.

Luke stood his ground with noticeable ease "Do you really think that's gonna be enough to take me down?" he blitzed above the blast of wind and brought down his dragon scale sword at remarkable speeds.

Erigor found himself forced on the defensive and quickly took to the air '_So along with lightning magic he appears to have some skill in swordsmanship, it would appear that I underestimated the famous Thunderclap of Fairy Tail after all. This might actually prove to be a challenge for me.'_

"So are you gonna try and play dirty or are you gonna come down here and face me like a real man- Oh my lord now Elfman is rubbing off on me."

"Don't get too cocky you little pest! **Storm Bringer!" **Erigor proceeded to unleash his Storm Bringer technique, trapping Luke inside a massive tornado that dealt him a considerable number of cuts and sending him flying down into the abyss below "Let's see if the famous Thunderclap can get himself out of this one."

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Luke wasted no time in jamming his sword into the side of the canyon wall to stop himself from falling "Well that pretty much sucked, looks like he's stronger than I thought he would be. The question is, how can I take him down without causing too much property damage. What was it that the master told me? Oh yeah, he said that once I learn how to communicate with the lightning inside my body properly I'll be able to will it to do what I want it to do, and once I master than then nothing will be able to beat it. Well it's worth a shot I guess, I've never used it before but there's a first time for everything. And even though there's no one around to actually heat this, 10 things Natsu says on his wedding night."

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Erigor glanced down at the abyss "That's one less fly in the world, and that alone makes the world a better place-" was cut off by a bolt of lightning shooting up from within the abyss, nearly electrocuting him in the process.

From the lightning bolt emerged Luke as he landed back on the track "Not gonna lie, that was closer than I would've liked."

"But… But that's impossible!"

'_Thanks for the heads up master, I think I get what you were trying to tell me now. _You know I'm pretty sure there's some kind of lightning based pun here, but for the life of me I just can't figure it out."

"You're resilient if nothing else but it doesn't matter, your lightning and swordsmanship are powerless against me!"

"I think we'll see about that. **Lightning Dragon IRON FIST!" **Luke launched a blast of lightning from his fist.

"**Storm Wall!" **Erigor wasted no time in using his Storm Wall technique to defend himself from the lightning '_I can't believe this little bastard, no one's managed to push me this far in battle before! Is this what all Fairy Tail wizards are like? _I will admit that your abilities are quite remarkable, but that being said I'm afraid you're still no match for me. Enough of this chase like a cat and mouse, the time has come for me to get serious."

"By all means go ahead, I'm ready when you are."

"**Storm Mail!" **Erigor summoned a powerful cyclone that wrapped around his body like a suit of wind armor "Here I come!" he charged at Luke at full speed.

Luke brought down his sword on Erigor, only for it to bounced off of the surface and for him to be blown back a short distance.

"What's the matter little fly, you can't handle a little bit of breeze?"

"I can handle it just fine, see for yourself!" Luke blitzed in front of Erigor and brought down his sword again, only for it to be knocked out of his grip '_Okay this isn't what I expected. What's this guy's wind made of? I mean I know wind but it feels like it's as hard as iron. Speaking of which I should probably stop by Phantom Lord later and see how Mr Shoo Bee Doo Ba is holding up these days.'_

"Just as I suspected, without your swords and your lightning you're totally helpless, which means that right now I have the upper hand." Erigor pushed Luke back a short distance with a quick blast of wind "Unfortunately for you the winds of my Storm Mail blow outwardly, if you get too close then your lightning will fizzle out of existence and leave you completely powerless against me. Lightning has no hope of overpowering my wind, it's time for you to realize that you worthless little fly!"

'_Well now I feel like I'm standing in a typhoon.'_

"And now it's high time for me to blow your lightning clear out of the sky for good! **Storm Shred!" **Erigor unleashed a powerful barrage of wind blades from within his Storm Mail wind armor.

Luke was able to dodge and wave his way around the wind blades, but he received a few gashes across his arms and legs in the process '_Dammit I can't even get close enough to this guy to land a punch, let alone find a way to break through his wind armor. If I do go all out then it would just mean blowing up the bridge, and then we'd never be able to get to Clover!'_

"You starting to feel the frustration get to you? No need to be too hard on yourself, you never had a chance against me. But you don't have to worry, I'm going to put an end to this battle right here and now! My soaring phoenix magic rips everything in its path to shreds, now you will feel its wrath! Burn in hell Fairy Tail fly! **Emera Baram!" **he hit Luke dead on with a powerful and concentrated blast of wind blades, blowing him back a great distance with even more cuts across his body "Well well well, his body is still in one piece after that attack. Not many of my victims have that luxury. Not too shabby for a Fairy Tail fly but is fate is the same as all of those who came before him, after I play a melody on the Lullaby for those old wretched guild masters they'll be joining you in the depths of Hell-"

"Alright alright, sheesh you homicidal maniac types are all the same. You can preach about what you want for as long as you want, but really you just love to hear the sound of your own voices don't you?" Luke pulled himself back to his feet cracked his neck "All you talk about is that damned flute, if you wanna kill the guild masters then you're gonna have to kill me first in order to do it."

"You arrogant little wretch, how the hell are you still standing?"

"Nakama power asshole, that's how. But in all seriousness, I trained for a few months under a guy who uses eight different types of magic, one of them being wind so I know how to take it down. Now come on, let's see if you've got what it takes." he grabbed his dragon scale sword and charged.

"I told you before you're wasting your time!" Erigor simply used his wind armor in order to push back against the force of Luke's sword "You think a meager sword wielded by a pathetic fly is enough to take me down?"

"Maybe not the sword alone, but what about a sword made from dragon scales coated with a dragon's lightning?" Luke channeled some of his lightning magic into the blade of the sword and pushed further.

'_He's using a sword of dragon scales and Lightning based Dragon Slayer magic?! But that's impossible, no one used that ancient type of magic anymore, where could he have learned it from?!' _Erigor was quick to notice another issue '_Now his lightning is somehow burning away my Storm Mail!'_

"As fun as this has been I'm done screwing around, I have a bunch of asses to kick and a lot of guild masters to save before the day is done, so bye now. **Lightning… Dragon… ROAR!" **with a mighty roar, Luke unleashed a powerful blast of lightning from his mouth, engulfing Erigor in a matter of seconds and blowing him clear across the horizon.

'_So it's true… a Dragon Slayer… they legends are true, and they really do exist…' _Erigor ended up embedded in the cliffside in a matter of seconds.

Luke powered himself down and breathed out a heavy sigh "Add that to the list of reasons why you don't want to piss off someone from Fairy Tail. _But on the bright side, the fact that I was able to take down someone like him without that much of a problem means that these past 18 months of training actually have paid off at least somewhat. Lucky me I didn't have to go all out or I could've blown away this entire canyon, and that's the last thing that Fairy Tail needs on its ass. But at least now I know I can protect them.' _he failed to notice the Lullaby flute glowing ominously.

"Luke!" that was when Cana and the others finally showed up on the scene in their magic mobile.

"About time you guys showed up, and how ironic it must be that you showed up after I beat down the reaper guy."

"Looks like you've grown a lot stronger in your time away." Erza gave him a small smile "I really am proud of you Luke." but then she stumbled slightly, only to be caught by Luke before she could fall to the ground.

"I told you not to overdo it on that thing and look where it got you."

"Sensible as always, you haven't changed a bit Luke."

"The same could be said about all of you guys."

Kageyama looked on at the scene in disbelief '_No freaking way, Erigor never loses yet this guy took him down and he barely looks worse for wear.' _he glanced down and noticed Lullaby on the ground nearby.

"This guy wasn't exactly packing a lot of power behind that scythe but he did have a few tricks up his sleeve that I found it hard to weave my way around, but on the bright side I took him down without causing too much damage. Plus I kept my clothes on, too bad Gray can't say the same."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Gray shot him a look.

"It means put on some pants."

Erza let out a chuckle "You almost never fail to impress Luke, thanks to you all of the guild masters will be safe now. While we're here I think we should go ahead and stop by the Guild Master conference to tell them what happened and ask them how we should properly dispose of the Lullaby flute."

"I could just fry it into oblivion now and save us a lot of trouble, but then again there's no telling what kind of side effects that would cause so-" Luke was promptly cut off by the magic mobile soaring overhead and Lullaby being swiped away, and his expression dulled "Oh you've gotta be kidding me."

Kageyama barked out a laugh "Yeah that's right, the Lullaby belongs to me now! You pathetic flies shouldn't have let your guard down!" and he disappeared along the train tracks in the direction of Clover.

"Well that's just typical, people don't know how to show gratitude for us saving their lives like that and- No you know what, fuck it let's just go after him."

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Nightfall came, and the moon was now shining brightly over the night sky.

Kageyama looked down on the meeting hall from a hill above '_Surely they'll be able to hear the song of Lullaby from here. Finally, the time has come.' _he jumped when he started to hear something.

As it turns out, it was actually just Makarov reading some porn nearby "Looks like we've got some hot little numbers in this week's issue, man young wizarding ladies are so much more powerful now than they were back in my day, not to mention sexier. Oh who am I kidding I don't have time for this, I need to catch up to those fools before they destroy an entire town!" then he whipped around and saw Kageyama "Oh no it's not what it looks like, I was doing some research on female wizards! It was innocent and I have no reason to be ashamed-"

"I don't care if you're reading porn or not." Kageyama let out a sigh "Look we've all done it at some point or another."

"...You've been hurt badly haven't you boy, you shouldn't be walking around the woods at night in your condition."

"Yes sir I know. _Wait hold on a second, this old pervy idiot is Makarov the master of the Fairy Tail guild. Why the hell do I keep running into these flies? _Excuse me sir, I don't suppose you would care to hear a song? You see they wouldn't let me play my flute while I was in the hospital, and it would mean a lot to be able to play for someone again."

"That's one creepy looking flute you've got there."

"Yeah I know, but it does have a beautiful sound."

"...Well I should be going, but then again I guess one song couldn't hurt."

'_And just like that we win. _Oh thank you sir, be sure to listen carefully okay sir?"

"Yeah yeah."

"Thank you. _This is it, finally our moment is at hand.' _Kageyama prepared to play the song from the Lullaby, but stopped as he reflected on the things that everyone said to him earlier, whether they be from Eisenwald or Fairy Tail.

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"There he is, just hang on master!" Erza and the others prepared to charge onto the scene and subdue Kageyama.

However, Luke held out an arm to stop them "Hold on a second guys, I think it's safe to say the master's got this."

"But-"

"Either I stop you or the master of Blue Pegasus over there has to stop you and I don't think we're ready emotionally to deal with that guy."

"Well aren't you boys so adorable." Master Bob of the Blue Pegasus guild wasted no time in taking a liking to Natsu and Gray.

"Too late."

"Hey can you guys keep it down?" Master Goldmine of the Quatro Cerberus guild got their attention "We're just about to get to the good part."

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Makarov looked like he was growing impatient "Well come on young man, I don't have all day here."

"R-Right." Kageyama prepared to play the Lullaby but stopped again '_I can do this, I just have to play one song on this stupid thing and that will change everything.'_

"You know nothing's going to change." now _that _got his attention "You cannot change the fact that those who are weak will forever remain weak, now maybe it's just me but I don't think that's a bad thing. I mean we are humans after all, creatures that are weak by nature. Our insecurities are the reasons that guilds even exist to begin with, and they're why we have friends. When we're surrounded by people we know we can trust, it's easier to look towards the future with smiles on our faces. Think of it this way: If we're clumsy then we may stumble and bump into things, but as long as we have faith in the future we can continue to march forward. Our inner strength can emerge on its own, but we have to choose such a path and pledge to live our lives to the fullest. Don't let that stupid flute get in the way."

"...You're right." with those simple words Kageyama dropped the flute, and then dropped to his knees "I surrender."

"I knew you would make the right decision."

"Lucky for us you did." Luke dropped down onto the scene along with the others "Nice work master, way to stick it to the guy."

"What the- How did you kids end up in Clover?"

"Long story that I don't wanna go into right now. Anyway way to take the guy using the patented Magic Tongue technique."

"There is no Magic Tongue technique, I just spoke from my heart and my many, many years of experience."

"Well either way I guess all we had to do was wait for you to talk your way out of another one right?"

That was when an ominous black cloud started to emerge from Lullaby, followed by an evil and malicious laughter "**I've grown tired of you cowardly wizards and your antics!"**

"And now this is happening."

"**I can hold back no longer! I shall now come forth and devour you myself!" **and as a magic circle covered the night sky, the Lullaby appeared before them in its true form, in the form of a massive demon that towered over the mountains "**And now I shall feast upon your pitiful souls!"**

"Yeah this somehow seems about right for us."

"What the hell is that thing?!" Kageyama pretty much exploded "Erigor never said anything about a monster!"

"He probably didn't know, but regardless of that we're dealing with one of the demons from the Book of Zeref."

"That's what Lullaby looks like in its true form." Goldmine told him "It's a type of forbidden black magic, living magic, which is something that Zeref was known for."

"Yeah Zeref, as in the ancient and most evil wizard that's ever existed in this world."

"He lived 400 years ago and had power beyond compare, but even in my worst nightmare I never thought of seeing one of his demons or his dark legacy appear before us like this."

"Yeah well now his legacy is drooling over us."

"**Now then, which of these delectable souls shall I dine on first?"**

"How about you try and take me on?" Luke glanced back towards the others "Alright guys listen up, Cana I want you and the others to get everyone somewhere safe."

"What the hell are you gonna do then?" asked Cana.

"What do you think? I'm gonna take this thing on by myself."

"What are you crazy, there's no way I'm-"

"Cana!" his sharp tone shut her up "I need you and the others to take everyone and get them somewhere safe, with any luck I'll take this thing down and be right behind you."

"**You speak as if you could possibly hope to defeat me boy. However, if you wish for a demonstration of my power then I shall grant your wish!" **Lullaby breathed out a quick energy blast at a nearby mountain, engulfing it in an explosion. When the smoke cleared, the mountain had been decimated.

"Yeah your power is nothing to scoff at. But look, if you wanna eat then just take me and let the others go."

"**I have no need for pathetic ordinary humans, however I do prefer the taste of a wizard with great magical power, as all of your companions have. I shall devour you first, and then I shall consume all of those present!"**

"I think we'll see about that."

"Luke." Erza quickly got his attention "Do you really believe that you can defeat this creature on your own?"

"I think we're about to find out, but I have to ask you to let me do this. Listen Erza, I know that teamwork and friendship and things like that are all important parts of being in a guild, but after what happened to Mira that day I vowed that I would get strong enough so that none of the people that I care about ever have to die in front of me again. That means that I have to do certain things on my own. This is a bridge that I need to cross right now and cross alone no matter how dangerous it may be, if I can't work my way to the other side then not only will I have failed to protect all of you, but that means that all of the training I've done, all that I've gone through will have been meaningless. So as your guildmate and as your friend, I'm asking this of you. Please, let me do this."

"...If you truly believe that this is something that you have to do then I won't take that away from you. I'll grant you this chance, but know that if I feel that you're going to lose then we won't hesitate to jump in." Erza shot a quick glare at Natsu, Gray and Lucy and motioned for all of them to back away as she did the same.

"You know that includes you too."

Cana breathed a sigh "You're being a reckless idiot just like always."

"And?"

"...Go up to that thing and wreck it's shit." and then she retreated back with Erza and the rest of them.

"With any luck, that's the plan."

"**You shall be devoured!" **Lullaby let out a monstrous roar that shook the entire landscape, causing great pain to the ears of almost everyone present.

Luke simply drew his dragon scale sword and dropped into a stance '_That thing is pretty much murdering the eardrums of everyone present, which means I'm gonna be feeling that pretty soon, so I'll have to finish this thing fast. _Alright big guy, I'm coming for you!" and so he charged into the fray "**Lightning Dragon… ROAR!" **he breathed out a powerful blast of lightning, causing the Lullaby to roar in agony.

"**You insignificant wretch!" **Lullaby attempted to incinerate him with a mouth blast.

Luke ran up Lullaby's arm and slashed it across the face "How's that for insignificant, or for that matter how's this! **Lightning Dragon… IRON FIST!" **he unleashed a lightning enhanced fist aimed at Lullaby's face, sending it stumbling back "And now for the follow up! **Dragon Sword Style: Thunderous Blade Dance!" **he unleashed a swift barrage of blade slashes on Lullaby, striking it across its face and torso and causing it to cry out in pain.

"**You arrogant little wretch, you are making me very angry!" **Lullaby tried to swat him away in a rage.

Luke leapt over the attack with ease "I'm nowhere near done with you yet! **Dragon Sword Style: Thunder Burst!" **he fired a blast of lightning from the blade of his sword, the blast hitting Lullaby dead on.

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Kageyama could only look on in disbelief "That's incredible, how the hell could one wizard be so powerful?"

"Luke really is something special." Cana noted with a small fond smile "He's already so strong now, and he's gonna keep on getting even stronger."

"But how could he-" Kageyama was cut off by Lullaby letting out a loud roar, forcing him and the others to cover their ears "This can't be good, this must be its song."

"What gave that away genius, the horrible shrieking or the fact that all of the plant life around us is dying because Lullaby is sucking the life out of them?!"

"**Just one note is all that I need to play and your souls will belong to me!" **with a mighty furious roar, Lullaby prepare to unleash its melody of death… only for a tiny whistling noise to come out of it "**What?!"**

"Okay, what the heck is going on right now?"

"**I don't understand! Why can't I play my melody of death?!"**

"I'll give you one guess." Luke landed back on the ground in front of everyone "All of my lightning and sword based attacks drilled so many holes through you it basically turned you into swiss cheese and it totally screwed up your sound. All of that build up, talk about one hell of a let down. Then again, I never found flutes that interesting to begin with."

"**HOW DARE YOU MOCK ME!" **Lullaby furiously kicked a nearby mountain out of pure frustration, and then it proceeded to aim a blast at Cana and the others.

"Gray! Shield! Now!"

"On it, everyone get back! **Ice Make: Shield!" **Gray quickly used his Ice Make magic to create a shield to protect everyone from the explosion, projecting the explosion upwards at the same time in the process.

"I guess I underestimated how much your Ice Make magic has improved."

"Yeah I've had a lot of practice."

Lucy glanced over at Cana "So what's Ice Make magic exactly?"

"It's a type of Maker magic." Cana told her "People who use Maker magic can give magic energy a tangible form, but there's another type of magic that can destroy it."

"**I WILL KILL YOU ALL!"**

"I'll tell you about that after we enjoy the show."

"**YOU WILL ALL BE DEVOURED!"**

"I think we'll have to agree to disagree on that one." Luke leaped high into the air and raised one hand above his head, lightning gathering in the skies above "So are you ready to see what I can really do?"

"**You're not human! You're a monster!"**

"Like you have any room to talk! I swore an oath to protect my guild and all of those that I hold dear, and that's what I intend to do. Now you'll see what happens when someone messes with my friends as I strike you down with lightning guided down from the heavens above! **Dragon Slayer Secret Art: DIVINE THUNDERCLAP!" **he used his hand to guide the lightning downwards in order to strike Lullaby, lighting up the night sky with the explosion that followed.

Makarov looked on in approval "Well done my boy, very well done. _You've grown strong haven't you Luke, both in body and in mind, to be able to defeat a demon created by Zeref the way that you have.'_

Kageyama looked on in what seemed like disbelief "I can't believe it, how the hell is he so powerful? Is every wizard in Fairy Tail as powerful as this guy?"

"Don't be so quick to jump to conclusions." Luke made his way over to the group and let out a sigh as he put his dragon scale sword back in its sheath "A wizard is only as strong as the team he chooses and the friends he's sworn to protect. But yeah, almost all of the people in Fairy Tail are pretty awesome." he was promptly smothered by it the incoming barrage that was Natsu and the others from Fairy Tail "Yeah yeah I know, Natsu you want me to fight you and Erza you're gonna yell at me and hit me for being so reckless. It's what I expect from you guys these days, and frankly I wouldn't have it any other way. But hold on a second okay?"

'_They may be a bunch of reckless fools but their power is unbelievable, they're way stronger than I could ever be.'_

"Hey just throwing this out there, we'd better get you to a doctor or something before the Blue Pegasus master tries to get his hands on you. Seriously, you can feel his stubble when he tries to glomp you." Luke gave a quick shudder.

Goldmine gave a small smile and a quick nod of approval "I can't exactly say I know for sure what just happened, but I think it's obvious that we owe a big round of thanks to you and the rest of the Fairy Tail guild."

"I wouldn't go that far with it, I just did what had to be done."

"Well regardless, one thing remains certain. You went completely overboard." he pointed to the massive crater where the conference hall once stood.

"Well to be fair you guys deal with Fairy Tail a lot, you should know what to expect from us by now." he received a few glares "That's not gonna work on you is it?"

"Nope."

"Figures." Luke glanced over and noticed Erza chasing after Makarov's spirit after it had comically emerged from his body due to an apparent heart attack caused by seeing the destruction he had caused "Well I'm pretty sure I'm gonna pay for that one at some point later on." he was met with lots of angry shouting.

Goldmine let out a simple chuckle "Well I guess it's safe to say that kids really do take after their parents."

Bob nodded "Yes I know, they remind me of us when we were young wizards in the days of our prime."

Kageyama let out a chuckle "Back in ancient times you mean?"

"You know Kage, when I was younger I looked just like you."

"...Come again?"

"Yes, we had so much fun back in those old days. We were always a mischievous bunch of little kids, so the council was always angry with us for one reason or another." he showed Kageyama a picture "You see that stud wearing the aubergine suit? That would be me."

"You've gotta be freaking kidding!"

"I wasn't lying when I said I looked just like you."

"So you mean when I'm your age I'm gonna be bald and fat?!"

"So what do you think, though?" asked Goldmine "I mean now that you've seen what it's like to be part of a legitimate magical guild, you have to realize that they're a lot more fun than being in one of those dark guilds and they have better pay." this was met with Kageyama's spirit comically emerging from his body "And now something's coming out of him."

Luke reached down and picked up the now powerless Lullaby flute, and with a quick surge of his lightning magic he incinerated it into nothing "Well that takes care of today's monster attack, but who knows what tomorrow will bring?"

"I can think of what tonight is gonna bring." Cana pointed to the angry mob about to chase all of them for the destruction of the conference hall.

"...Oh crap. RUN!"

**A/N:**

**And thus the strongest team in Fairy Tail has completed its first mission together, with its strongest member destroying Lullaby in style. For the record, like with the canon Team Natsu, which is now going to be referred to as Team Dragon, the current roster will be expanded, adding a few new members later on.**

**Divine Thunderclap is an original Lightning Dragon Slayer spell that I created for another story, but decided to use for this one. For this technique to work, the user guides lightning down from the skies above and uses it to attack, rather than just their own lightning, in order to use it.**

**Just so you know, next chapter is going to be a sort of interlude between the Lullaby arc and the Galuna Island arc, to sort of calm things down after everything that happened. But don't worry, I have something in mind to keep you all from getting bored.**


	5. Luke vs Erza

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**TheCarlosInferno: **Pairing Laxus with Mira is my initial thought actually, but if I do go through with that then it won't happen for quite some time, considering Mira is dead (as far as everyone believes), and Laxus… well I have plans for him later on. I won't spoil anything, but one arc will get a sizeable overhaul.

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"_In a land far far away lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small and peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most people, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards and mages, and banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore, but there is a certain guild in a certain town that stands high above the rest of them, one from which countless legends have been born, a guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. This guild is known as Fairy Tail."_

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Following the events that took place with Eisenwald, the Magic Council took some time to discuss the increasing number of dark guilds and contemplate ways to deal with the problem before it could get further out of hand.

Siegrain on the other hand took the opportunity to piss off the other council members by stating that if Fairy Tail hadn't taken care of Eisenwald and prevented their plans, it would've been on the heads of the council. Of course, several members of the council were irritated by this and took the opportunity to direct the conversation to where they could complain about the amount of destruction caused by Fairy Tail.

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The sun was shining brightly over the skies of Magnolia.

Luke looked out of the window of his apartment at the city below, deep in thought while he was contemplating the recent events '_Eisenwald attempt to use the Lullaby spell created by Zeref in order to kill the Guild Masters, and that ended up being some seriously big news that ended up making all of the papers and had anyone who was anyone talking about it. Looking back, I never would've imagined myself being stuck in the spotlight like this. Unlike two certain jackasses, one pink and one black haired, I'm not gonna let it go to my head. It still makes my heart race like crazy when I think about what we've gone through for the past few days. From what I heard, the authorities caught most of the members of Eisenwald that were involved. They even ended up taking in Kageyama, but he surrendered willingly so that's reassuring somewhat. But what really concerns me is that they still haven't been able to track down Erigor, even after the smackdown I laid on him he was able to get away and now he might show up at Fairy Tail looking to get some revenge. But all things considered I'm not too worried about that, a good number of the people here would be able to whoop his ass without too much difficulty. Plus I have Cana and the others backing me up if I get in over my head too much, not to mention my little buddy Bolt. Being back at the guild after all that time feels great, and it feels nice knowing that everyone hasn't changed a bit in the time I've been gone. I guess it's like the old saying goes, the more things change, the more things stay the same.' _he breathed out a deep sigh '_You know as much fun it is saving the world and all that, sometimes it feels good just to be able to relax at home.'_

"I don't know what the hell Cana was talking about, this place isn't that much of a dump for 120,000 Jewel a month."

'_...Until your guildmates barge in because they have no sense of shame or privacy.' _Luke turned around and let out a sigh "Gray you know my rule, you're not allowed to strip in my apartment under any circumstances."

"Hey hold on a second man, I have a perfectly good explanation for that."

"Which is?"

"I was naked when I got here."

"Uh huh."

"It's true." Bolt came into the room holding what looked like a bucket of chicken wings over his head "He just showed up at the window in his underwear."

"I don't doubt that, I also don't care. Gray do I have to remind you of what happened the last time you showed up in my place naked? You and Natsu wrecked the place, and now I'm banned from 30% of the buildings in the city."

"Hey I said I was sorry."

"No you didn't, you blamed it on Natsu and bailed once Erza showed up."

"...Oh yeah. That was a fun day."

"Not for me."

"Whatever, and you've bounced back from that haven't you? At least none of your stuff got wrecked back then, not even those god awful red cowboy boots."

"Hey that's uncalled for man, those are nice boots and frankly I totally pull them off."

"Bullshit and you know it. Hey tiny cat with a snarky sense of humor, if I were to say that Luke could never pull something off then what would I be talking about?"

"Oh you really have to try and turn my own cat against me? Well forget it, Bolt and I have a bond that's years in the making, there's no way he would side with you."

"His red cowboy boots." Bolt gave the immediate answer.

"...Traitor."

"Don't blame the snarky cat, he just knows what's what." Gray pointed out.

"Don't give me that shit, I can pull those boots off and you both know that for a fact. You want me to prove it to you?"

"No."

"Good, I will." Luke made his way over to his closet, threw some random stuff all over the place, and then he eventually dug out a pair of red cowboy boots and tried them on, his expression increasingly smug "Pulling. Them. Off."

"No you're not."

"Fuck you."

"I just speak the truth."

"You speak your opinion, that doesn't mean it's actually true."

"What are you gonna do, wear them until you find someone who actually likes those stupid things? I walked right into that one."

"Yes, yes you did. What are you doing here anyway?"

"Oh yeah right, we figured that you would've forgotten about today so I came here in order to remind you."

"About what?"

"What do you think? Remember the other day before all of that Eisenwald crap when you up and challenged Erza back at the train station?"

"Oh yeah. That. Crap."

"Yeah Erza sent me to get you so we could get this underway, need I remind you of what happened the last time anyone disappointed Erza?"

"I'm pretty sure that was you and Natsu."

"...Bite me, let's just go."

"Yeah yeah, just let me get dressed."

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20 minutes later…

Soon enough, Luke found himself face to face with Erza outside of the Fairy Tail guild hall, with a massive crowd surrounding the two of them '_I should've just stayed in bed.'_

That was when Lucy suddenly forced her way through the crowd "Wait you were actually serious about that, I thought you were kidding! They're actually going through with this whole thing?"

"Oh hey Lucy, how's it going." Lisanna waved "And yeah, both of them are pretty serious about this."

"You've gotta be kidding me!"

Elfman let out a chuckle "Yeah well if the two of them want to call themselves real men then I say they'd better go through with it."

"Erza isn't a man." Lisanna pointed out.

"Yeah but you've gotta admit that she's pretty damn manly."

Lucy showed some other concerns "Aren't you guys worried that this kind of fight is gonna tear our strongest team apart?"

"What are you talking about, what strongest team?" asked Bolt.

"What else, I mean you, Luke, Natsu, Erza and Cana. You guys are the five strongest wizards in the entire guild."

"We are? Yeah in some stupid fantasy, what idiot fed you that line?"

"Well excuse me for humoring the new girl." Luke grumbled loud enough for them to hear, causing Bolt to cringe.

"...Oh. Well anyway yeah Gray is pretty tough, Natsu is, well a reckless smartass who doesn't know how to hold back, and Cana is pretty tough herself, but none of the three of them are even close to being considered the strongest in the guild. There are guys in Fairy Tail that are way stronger than all of them combined, from what I've heard Natsu and Gray found that one out the hard way a while back."

"Do I want to know?"

"Nope, but anyway calling Erza the strongest woman in the guild is actually a pretty safe bet all things considered. As for the strongest guy, Luke is definitely a contender that much is a pretty solid guarantee, but when it comes down to it it would have to be him, Laxus or Mystogan, and that's not even counting the Master or Gildarts. Anyway what Luke meant before was that all of us work well together and have the best chemistry in all of Fairy Tail."

"And by chemistry you mean they like to strangle each other?"

"That's only in cases like Natsu and Gray, or me and Happy."

"AYE!" Happy suddenly charged at him in a comical rage "There's only room for one flying cat in this town-"

"Aye." Bolt ducked under the attempted lunge, which promptly sent Happy flying into the morning sky and out of sight "I don't know about you but I'm pretty psyched to see how this fight is gonna turn out, neither of them are pushovers and no way either of them are gonna go down without a fight."

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Erza glanced over at Luke and gave a small smile "I can't remember the last time the two of us squared off like this."

"We were both just little kids back then so it doesn't really count, today's gonna be the day we settle things once and for all." Luke promptly drew his dragon scale sword "Only one of us can come out on top."

"Well don't think I intend to go easy on you Luke. As a matter of fact, I have the perfect armor for an occasion such as this. **Requip!" **she promptly flashed into a new gold and blue colored suit of armor complete with a double headed spear.

"Your rarely seen yet still formidable Lightning Empress Armor, not a bad choice considering the current circumstances. Yeah my lightning attacks will only be about ⅔ as effective as they would originally be, of course you have to keep in mind that as a Lightning Dragon Slayer I have the ability to eat lightning at will."

"I am aware, and it's also a good reason for you not to hold back against me. Also Cana, I know you're making a pool on who's gonna win so put down 50 on Erza." he was met with only a middle finger "You never change."

"Some things never do."

Makarov was quick to make the call "Let the first round begin!"

Erza wasted no time and charged at Luke as she fired a blast of lightning from the tip of her spear.

"Not good enough!" Luke ducked under the blast of lightning and aimed a kick at Erza's head, only for it to be blocked by the spear, so he retreated a short distance "Now then… **Lightning Dragon… ROAR!" **he breathed out a quick lightning enhanced roar.

Erza leapt over the roar, resulting in a few members of the crowd, and prepared to bring down her spear.

Luke prepared to counter her spear with his dragon scale sword, only to be stopped by the sound of a gong "Okay, what now?"

As it turns out, the one that had rang the gong was a frog in a robe "This fight has officially been declared forfeit. May I have your attention please?"

"You already got it with the obnoxiously loud gong."

"I have come here on behalf of the Magic Council."

"And now I'm being ignored. Two things though. One, not to judge but I'm pretty sure I'm one of the few people who noticed that you're a frog. Two, why are you here exactly?"

"As a result of the incident with the dark guild Eisenwald, a member of your guild has been charged with 11 counts of criminal property damage. Luke Drako the Thunderclap, I am placing you under arrest."

"...Alright fine, just answer me one question. What do you think of the boots?"

"Correction, 11 counts of criminal property damage and 1 count of poor taste in fashion."

"Fuck!"

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Later, back at the guildhall…

After Luke had been arrested, the mood in the guild hall had become sour at best, and things were eerily quiet. Well, except for…

"COME ON YOU GUYS THIS ISN'T FAIR!" Natsu was now trapped in the form of a tiny angry salamander and trapped underneath a plastic cup "LET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE ALREADY!"

"Come on Natsu, you need to try to calm down." Lisanna told him, but she pretty much went unheard.

"COME ON THIS ISN'T FAIR, JUST LET ME OUT!"

"If we do then you'll go on a rampage."

"I'll be good I swear, just change me back to the way that I was before!"

"Natsu anyone here knows that the second we turn you back, you'll run off to break Luke out and torch the place."

"Give me a break, I couldn't care less what happens to that asshole!"

"Natsu even if you wanted to help him it's not like we can face off with the Magic Council itself." Erza pointed out.

"But don't those sons of bitches on the council realize that Luke did what he had to do to save the lives of the Guild Masters from the bad guys and their evil death flute?!"

"Natsu if the Magic Councils decides you to be guilty then that's all there is to it, they don't care what you have to say."

"I just don't get it." Cana muttered "I mean we've blown up a lot of stuff in the past and they never made that big of a deal out of it, it just doesn't make any sense to me. You think there might be some other reason behind this?"

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Meanwhile, in the building that houses the Fiore Branch of the Magic Council…

At the same time, Luke was being led down the halls of the Magic Council Fiore Branch HQ towards the trial that awaited him, but he stopped when he noticed someone in front of him, and he let out a sigh "Just like you to show up just to try and make yourself look cool Siegrain."

Sure enough, before him stood Siegrain of the Magic Council, prompting the frog messenger to bow to him "It's been awhile hasn't it Luke, a few weeks give or take?"

"About three weeks or so."

"You don't have anything to be concerned about with me my friend, I'm only here in spirit after all. I'm sending this projection to you from Era, in fact all of the arrogant wrinkled old faces in the courtroom will be projections as well."

"For people who claim to hate Fairy Tail as much as they do, they don't even give enough of a damn to come and face the one member they can get in chains in person?"

"You know as well as I do that such a matter is quite trivial really, but yes they do bark a lot more than they can bite. Still though, I'm glad to see you're being civil with me. It's quite a shame that Erza can't be as level headed as you."

"I don't know what sort of history you have with her but the fact of the matter is that you defend my guild from the rest of those blowhards on the council in exchange for me taking down a few dark guilds here and there, that's enough for me to give you the benefit of the doubt at least for the moment."

"Glad to hear it. You know the elders believe that the destruction in Clover will end up falling into their laps, and the only way for them to avoid that is to place the blame on someone else entirely. To put it simply, you're their scapegoat."

"Yeah that doesn't surprise me in the slightest."

"Nor should it really. But with all of that out of the way it's time for the other matter I wish to discuss with you." he put a hand on Luke's shoulder, but both of them grimaced and he quickly took it off "Tell Erza that I send her my regards, and that she must not let a word slip about you know what, or she knows what in this case, for both of our sakes. You know better than to ask for details of course."

"I know."

"Good. Now then if you'll excuse me I must join my colleagues on the council, I'll be seeing you shortly on the other side." and with that, Siegrain disappeared.

'_I have a feeling we'll be seeing each other sooner than you think.'_

The frog messenger nervously looked up at Luke "Oh wow, you sure do know some very important people."

"I never did trust that guy, but he approached me a few months into my 18 months training trip and we made a deal. In exchange for me eliminating a few dark guilds at his request, he would defend my guild from the rest of the Magic Council. It seemed only fair to me." Luke prepared to continue onwards, but then paised "Oh crap."

"Is something the matter?"

"I forgot to ask him if he liked the boots!"

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Siegrain made his way through the halls of Era, his mind focused on his goals '_I've worked very hard to get as far as I have Luke, and I must make sure that you and Erza do not stand in my way now.'_

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Soon enough, Luke was faced with the members of the Magic Council, or rather magic projections of the Magic Council because they didn't give enough of a damn to show up there in person '_Well this sucks.'_

The frog messenger quickly got the trial underway with the bang of a gavel "This courtroom will now come to order, before us is the defendant Luke Drako. If you would be so kind as to take the stand Mr Drako."

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Meanwhile, back at Fairy Tail…

Cana finally ran out of patience (and booze) and bolted to her feet "This is just a complete load of bullshit, we should be there to testify!"

"Absolutely not, we're not going to court." Makarov told her firmly.

"Why the hell not? We all know Luke is innocent, we can't just sit around on our asses and let them lock her up!"

"Even if we left this very second there's no way we'd make it in time."

"But-"

"DAMMIT LET ME THE HELL OUT!" Natsu once again exploded from where he was trapped underneath his plastic cup "I'VE BEEN STUCK UNDERNEATH THIS STUPID GLASS FOR HOURS, COME ON IT'S GETTING HARD TO BREATHE IN HERE AND I GOTTA PEE DAMMIT! COME ON AND LET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE ALREADY!"

"Are you sure that you want to be let out?" Makarov was met with silence, and he gained a confident smirk "What's the matter? It looks to me like you've lost the fire in your belly haven't you? Alright fine, just hold on." he fired an energy blast, destroying the cup and revealing who was _really _inside it "Macao?!"

Sure enough, Macao now lay on the floor receiving looks of disbelief from everyone in the guild hall "Oh crap."

In case of Erza however, it was more anger than disbelief "That was you?!"

"Yeah, sorry about this you guys but I kind of owed Natsu a favor. I turned myself into a salamander so that everybody would think that I was him."

"Do you know where he went? Oh damn, he went after Luke didn't he?"

"Yeah, I'm afraid so."

"That imbecile, he's probably going to try and fight the entire Magic Council!"

"Would everyone please just calm down?" Makarov promptly shut them up "The only choice we have now is to wait and see what happens."

"And pray that Luke doesn't let him do anything too stupid."

"That too."

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The members of the Magic Council looked down on Luke with one shared expression (the only exception being Siegrain), that being disdain "Luke Drako of the Fairy Tail guild, you stand before the council to answer to charges stemming from the incident involving the dark guild known as Eisenwald. These charges include extensive damage to Oshibana Station, damage to the Reeyushika Gorge Railway Bridge, and the complete destruction of the Clover Town meeting hall. There are 11 charges of property damage against you, as well as 1 charge of poor taste in fashion."

"Hold on a second." Luke shot a glare at the frog messenger "You actually filed a charge against me for that? I thought you were just blind of good boots when you see them."

"Silence! According to eyewitness reports, the perpetrator is described as a young man with brown hair, glasses and a sword strapped to his side with the Fairy Tail guild emblem on his left arm."

"Who also happens to pull off a very expensive set of Red Cowboy Boots."

"Silence! And no you don't."

"Son of a-" Luke was cut off by an explosion behind him.

"What in the world is this?!"

"...Do I dare look?" he did, and his expression dulled.

As it turns out, it was Natsu wearing a red colored quarter zip and a pair of Luke's glasses, flailing around in a comical fashion "I'm the quarter zip wearing Dragon Slayer you old fuckers have been looking for, if you have a problem with the way me and my guild do things then you can shove it! I'm Luke the Dragon Slayer and I'll shove my sword up your asses before you even know what hit you!"

"Oh god dammit."

"If you thought I was destructive before well you haven't seen anything yet, wait until you see what happens when I get really angry!" and so he proceeded to destroy half of the courtroom during his comical tantrum, much to the horror of most of those present, the annoyance of Luke and the clear amusement of Siegrain "Do you old fucks seriously think that the stuff that I destroyed is more important than the lives of the Guild Masters? Well?!"

"And you wonder why Gray constantly tries to strangle you."

The council members didn't hesitate in making the call "Take them away."

"You know the usual routine, just send the bill to Fairy Tail."

Natsu comically rounded on him now "What the hell are you doing Luke, don't apologize to these wrinkled old fuckers! Oh shit I mean- I am Luke, hear me roar!"

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20 minutes later, in a certain prison cell…

Luke levelled a glare on Natsu with what appeared to be a mix of anger and unyielding annoyance "I don't think there's a word even begin to describe how much of a migraine you give me."

"Hey what the hell did I do?" Natsu grumbled.

"You mean aside from destroying half of the courtroom for pretty much no good reason? The trial was just a formality for show you idiot."

"Are you serious?"

"It's a gigantic glorified spectacle, the council is just using me as an example to remind everyone that if you break the law then there are consequences. It's just a reason to help them maintain order in the world of magic."

"Wait a second… you mean this is all for show?"

"That's what I just said, they probably would've just found me guilty, slapped me on the wrist and sent me home, but thanks to you we're stuck in a jail cell for the night. Not to mention you basically torched one of my favorite quarter-zips for no good reason."

"I'm sorry."

"...Forget it, I know your heart was in the right place." and yet he promptly kicked Natsu in the side of his head "But seriously, don't to anything THAT stupid again okay?"

"I will make no such promise."

"Can you at least tell me if you like my boots?"

"Did you get them from a dragon like I did my scarf?"

"No."

"Then they look ridiculous."

"Says the cocky little bastard with pink hair who is the reason we have to spend the night in a jail cell."

"To save you."

"We just went over this, you weren't saving me."

"Agree to disagree."

Luke forced himself to suppress the blood curdling scream that he felt building up inside of his throat.

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The next morning, back at the Fairy Tail guild hall…

"YES!" Natsu let out a roar at the top of his lungs "Who the hell would've thought that fresh air could smell so sweet, I'm gonna breathe it in all day!"

"Shut up." Cana promptly took a sip from her mug of booze, only for her to be ignored "At least you didn't have to spend years in jail because of that idiot."

"I think I've been through enough punishment being forced to spend a night alone in a cell with him." Luke told her dryly.

"Still though I can't believe that arrest and trial were just a fucking stunt, all of that booze wasted over me worrying about you for nothing."

"Yeah well that can't be helped, they didn't want me as a sacrificial lamb so much as they wanted a scapegoat."

"...Okay I'm pretty sure there's a pun in there about your jokes being cold, but I just don't care enough to try and think about that."

"And I just feel drained after spending a night with him." he proceeded to down a large mug of coffee "And now I feel better, truth be told I think I've had as much exposure to Natsu as I can stand for awhile."

"Speaking of fiery redheads, are you gonna finish going toe to toe with Erza or what?"

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that."

"Screw that!" Natsu suddenly popped up in front of them "I say screw Erza, how about you and me go at it instead?"

"I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now."

"Yeah nice try, I'm not letting you off the hook that easy!" Natsu coated one of his fists in flames and charged at Luke "**Fire Dragon-"**

"Boot to the head." Luke swiftly buried a fist in Natsu's gut, causing him to comically fall to the ground "So is that gonna be enough to satisfy you for now?" he was met with only a tiny pained squeal "And I have my answer, thank the great god above for that."

Bolt wrote down a talley on some random white board "And with that the current score between the two of them is Luke 17, Natsu 0."

"That you know of." Luke glanced over and noticed Makarov nodding off a bit "What's the matter with you Master?"

"It's nothing I'm fine, just a bit sleepy." Makarov grumbled.

"I'm guessing that means he's coming."

"Yes." Makarov strained to keep awake, whereas everyone else in the guild suddenly dropped to the ground and fell asleep one by one.

Luke on the other hand, completely unaffected by this, just leapt up onto the second floor of the guild hall and leapt back to the ground "You know if you cover your face then this just seems really redundant Mystogan."

Sure enough, before him appeared a figure wearing a dark blue cloak, his arms and legs covered in bandages, a dark blue bandana with a silver forehead protector, and a green mask covering everything except his eyes, and he stopped when he locked eyes with Luke "I see that you've returned. You do appear to be stronger than before."

"And you're showing more face than the last time I saw you."

"Certain… circumstances transpired that prompted a change."

"That about sums up why I left without any context." he handed Mystogan the job request "That should keep you gone for at least a few weeks."

"My thanks."

"Be sure to lift the sleep spell before you. Actually leave it on Natsu for awhile, I don't need him trying to fight me again today."

"As you wish. Oh and by the way, you pull off those boots. Five. Four. Three. Two. One." and with each step out of the guild hall he counted down further until everyone in the guild hall started to come around. That is to say, everyone except for Natsu started to come around.

"...Yes! Finally, someone gets it!"

Cana opened her eyes and let out a sigh "Let me take a wild guess, Mystogan was here again?"

"Pretty much yeah, and he likes the boots." he received a bunch of dull looks "Oh come on, I p

"What a douche, does he really have to put us to sleep every time he comes here?"

"I'm sure he has his reasons?"

"So who is this Mystogan guy?" asked Lucy.

"Well for one he's one of the contenders for the strongest wizard in Fairy Tail, that is unless you count Gildarts, and for some reason I've chosen not to ask he doesn't want anyone to see what he looks like, which is ironic considering he wears really concealing clothes, so whenever he comes to take a job he casts a sleeping spell on the place."

"That's kind of creepy."

"Don't think too much into that, he might come off as a bit unnerving some of the time but his loyalty to Fairy Tail is unshakable. Aside from the master over there, I'm the only one who's ever gotten to see what he actually looks like. Regardless, I'm sure that he has his reasons, I choose to respect that and I think you should too."

"Fine by me I guess. So who exactly is the strongest wizard in the guild?"

"Not counting Master Makarov, that would have to be Gildarts but the old guy hasn't been around in a few years or so. As for the second place spot, that's a lot more of a tough call to be honest."

"Oh really, so who then?"

"Don't ask him, he'll just cut himself out because he's way too modest." Cana told her "He's one of the contenders for the second top dog around here, the others being Erza and Mystogan as I think you already know."

"You're forgetting Laxus too." Luke pointed out "As much of a douche as he might be he's still insanely powerful."

"...Yeah, about that."

"What?"

"Nothing, just forget it."

"If you say so."

"HEY!" Natsu suddenly bolted to his feet "Hey Luke, you and me right here and right now, let's go at it full on Dragon Slayer style!"

"Dammit Mystogan, you had to welch on that didn't you? Look Natsu, I thought I had already made it clear to you that I'm not interested in fighting you." he promptly leapt back up to the second level "Besides, if you can't even get up to this level then you don't have a hope in hell of beating me in a fight."

"I think we'll see about that you lightning douche!" Natsu promptly charged up towards him in a blind rage, only to end up getting struck with a bolt of lightning, causing his charred husk to fall to the ground in a comical fashion.

"Like I literally just said less than ten seconds ago, you're not allowed on the second floor. Not yet at least." he leapt back down onto the first floor.

Lucy blinked several times before finally finding her voice again "Uh… so what was that about exactly?"

"Natsu is the kind of guy who needs life lessons to slug him in the crotch before they start to take effect with him."

"No I figured that out pretty fast, I mean why can't Natsu go up on the second floor? What's that about?"

"That area of the guild hall is reserved for advanced members of the guild, the jobs listed up on the request board up there make the ones down here look like a walk in the park. They're what people refer to as S class quests, they're jobs so dangerous that one wrong move could seal your fate. But at the same time, with that risk comes a higher reward in the form of a hell of a lot more money. Master Makarov hand picks the wizards he believes to be capable of handling jobs like these, and there are only five people in the entire guild, among them being Mystogan, Erza and yours truly. I wouldn't worry about that too much if I were you Lucy, as far as I'm concerned there's no amount of money that could be worth it if you have to throw your life away."

"Yeah no kidding."

"Yeah. Well anyway, frying Natsu and punching him out a few times kind of fired me up no pun intended, so I think I know what I have to do. Hey Erza, you wanna go finish that fight from yesterday?"

Erza stared at him for a moment, then shrugged "Okay why not."

"Great, let's take it somewhere outside the city. We don't need to destroy the town in an all out brawl."

"Right, not again."

"What do you mean again?"

"Let's just say that the Harvest Festival last year was very eventful, but for all of the wrong reasons." and so they left on that note.

Lucy on the other hand made her way out of the guild hall with her mind drifting '_Oh man, I can't believe I just met Mystogan. That is so cool, I can't believe how many famous wizards are in Fairy Tail! But Luke seems different from the rest of them, he's so powerful and yet he's not fight happy or crazy like the rest of them. At least I know I have one sane person in the guild I can talk to. Plus I think I'm starting to figure out how everyone is ranked in the guild, which means that I have to start to work my way to the top.'_

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Within an hour, Erza and Luke had relocated to a large training ground located outside of the city limits, located at the foot of Mount Ivor to be exact "This should be far enough from the city that we can go all out without concerning anyone about collateral damage."

"Looks like you've thought this through." Luke noted "I hope you're ready for this Erza, just keep in mind that guild mate or not I have no intention of holding back against you."

"I would expect nothing less from you, but know that the feeling is mutual."

"Glad to hear it."

"Now then, if you'll allow me. **Requip!" **Erza promptly requipped into her Lightning Empress Armor, complete with her Lightning Spear.

"Like we already established, you attack with and defend against lightning but I can literally eat lightning, and that also means that I have that much more reason not to hold back. So you mind if I make the first move?"

"By all means, go right ahead."

"All I have to hear. **Lightning Dragon… ROAR!" **Luke let out a roar, and with it came a powerful blast of lightning.

Erza readied herself and used her spear to cut clean through the roar, and then she unleashed a lightning blast of her own from the tip of her spear.

Luke didn't hesitate in devouring the lightning in its entirety, easily swallowing all of it in a single gulp "It's times like that I really love being a Dragon Slayer."

"If long distance attacks won't work, then I suppose I'll simply have to settle for close combat instead." Erza promptly charged forward with her spear raised.

"**Lightning Dragon… IRON FIST!" **Luke burst forward at full speed and countered Erza's spear with a lightning enhanced fist, the two attacks colliding in an explosion that sent both of them skidding backwards from the impact.

"Your mastery over your magic has improved even more significantly, I'm impressed."

"I made a few connections to help me with that, and I created a few techniques myself, this one for example. **Lightning Dragon… SURGE!" **he raised his hand and fired a blast of lightning from overhead.

With a mighty roar, Erza swung her spear at the attack, and despite being pushed back a short distance, she managed to counter the blast and quickly fired off one of her own.

Luke leapt out of the way of the attack, circled around Erza and promptly unleashed a second Lightning Dragon Surge attack at point blank range, engulfing her in an explosion.

Erza blitzed through the resulting smoke and dealt Luke a solid kick to the torso, knocking him off his feet, only to be forced to retreat in order to dodge a stray slash from a certain sword made of dragon scales, but not before she fired off another quick blast of lightning, resulting in an explosion.

When the smoke cleared, Luke emerged unharmed and simply brushed off some dust and dirt from his shirt "So are you done trying to steal my shtick yet?"

"I knew you could consume lightning based attacks, but to not even be scratched and to fend off my attacks so easily was definitely unexpected."

"You don't get to be an S class mage without knowing that practice makes perfect, and you'll have more success trying to teach Gray not to strip than defeating me with my own elemental magic."

"I see."

"Hey you had to try."

"So I did."

"Looks like in terms of using lightning based magic the two of us are at a stalemate though, you can't hurt me and I can't hurt you like this. What do you say we go ahead and try to change things up?"

"As you wish then. **Requip!" **Erza flashed into a new set of red and orange armor complete with a crimson colored sword.

"Switching to your Flame Empress Armor, and by extension switching from lightning to fire magic. The question is, how good are you with that armor?"

"I'm so glad you asked." Erza blitzed in front of Luke and slashed at him with her crimson sword, the blade coated in flames and the blast that followed sending him skidding backwards a short distance.

"So along with elemental magic we're going for swordsmanship skills. Works for me, I say let's do it." Luke promptly drew his dragon scale sword and burst forward with his sword aimed at her.

Erza ducked underneath the attack, but couldn't prepare for what came next.

"**Lightning Dragon… ROAR!" **as he soared overhead, Luke attempted to attack Erza with a roar at point blank range.

"**Flame Empress: Soaring Flame Blade!" **Erza used her flaming sword to attack Luke with a powerful blast of fire, engulfing him while also propelling herself into the air.

Luke dispelled the fire with a quick burst of electricity and burst upwards towards Erza at full speed "**Lightning Dragon TALON!" **he launched a lightning enhanced kick aimed at Erza's head.

Erza blocked the attack with her flame sword on instinct, resulting in a small shockwave from the collision, and she quickly dodged a swift barrage of slashes from Luke and his dragon scale sword and counted with her own sword before dealing Luke a swift kick to the head, sending him hurtling back towards the ground.

Luke stopped himself after skidding for a short distance "So what's your next move?"

"You're about to find out! **Flame Empress: Soaring Flame Blade!" **Erza followed up with another Soaring Flame Blade attack, engulfing him in an explosion. She then proceeded to return to the ground and look through the smoke that followed '_I can't see or detect him yet, but I know that an attack like that one will only slow him down.'_

Sure enough, when the smoke cleared Luke still stood there, mostly unharmed but with a few burns and scratches "You've got a lot of variety going for you, and your mastery is pretty impressive."

"The same for you, that's one of my more powerful attacks but you're just brushing it off without too much difficulty."

"I guess that means it's time for us to step it up a little bit."

"Does this mean that you're at the absolute peak of your power yet?"

"Not yet, if you want that then you'll have to earn it. Members of Fairy Tail we may be we have different goals for wanting to get stronger, I may not know what yours is but you know damn well what mine is. I can't change what happened back then, but at the very least I can make sure that it never happens again by getting strong enough to protect everyone. And once I do, well then maybe I'll finally be able to see my father Kaminari again."

"I see. I understand how you feel about that situation more than I'm willing to inform you the details of, but you can know that I do understand. As of right now I can't imagine my life without any of my comrades here in Fairy Tail. As your friend and comrade, I'll do everything in my power to help you achieve those goals, and the first step to that is pushing you to your very limit right here and right now. **Requip!" **with a flash she requipped into a new black set of armor complete with a set of wings and a sword.

"Your Black Wing Armor, lets you summon a sword and two battle axes and increases your attack power. You're really getting fired up now aren't you?"

"You're about to find out just how much!" Erza promptly charged towards Luke, meeting him in an explosive collision and attempting to slash him across the face.

Luke dodged the slash and began firing off a barrage of sword slashes of his own from his dragon scale sword, resulting in the two of them trading even blows until their blades collided with a blinding flash, until he broke away "**Dragon Sword Style: THUNDER BURST!" **he blitzed back towards Erza at full speed with a barrage of lightning enhanced sword slashes of his own.

Erza blocked and dodged almost every slash of the sword, albeit receiving a few cuts and light wounds here and there "**Moon Flash!" **she fired off a barrage of slashes from her own sword at full speed.

Luke dodged and blocked every sword slash being aimed at him "Is that all you've got Queen of the Fairies?"

"Why don't you see for yourself! **Requip!" **Erza blitzed behind Luke as she requipped into her Heaven's Wheel Armor and dealt him a sharp slash across the chest faster than he was able to react "Now dance for me my swords! **Circle Sword!" **she summoned a wheel of swords and hurled them all at Luke at once.

"**Lightning Dragon… HEAVENWARD HALBERD!" **Luke summoned a large halberd made of lightning magic and hurled it at Erza, disintegrating all of her Heaven's Wheel swords as a result.

"**Heaven's Wheel: Pentagram Sword!" **Erza blitzed out of the path of the attack before it was able to hit her, then blitzed towards Luke while he was still recovering from his attack and dealt him a swift barrage of slashes in the shape of a star.

Despite taking the full force of the attack, Luke grabbed Erza's sword on the final stroke and slashed her clear across the chest before she could get away, sending her hurtling backwards a great distance.

"**Requip!" **Erza ignored the fact that her armor was damaged and she was bleeding and requipped back into her Black Wing Armor, and then charged at Luke at full speed.

Luke quickly shook off the barrage of slashes he took in time to block Erza's swords using his own "Alright I think it's safe to say that's enough screwing around, it's time for the two of us to end this. Come at me with your strongest armor and I'll give you one of my most powerful attacks, sound good?"

"You never back down from a challenge do you?"

"What the hell do you think? Of course not, now quit holding out on me and come at me with everything you've got!"

"If you want my everything then fine, you'll have it! **REQUIP!" **with a mighty roar and a massive burst of magic power, Erza requipped herself in a flash of light. When the light subsided, Erza stood there clad in a new pink suit of armor complete with a matching set of swords "So this is it, this is me at my maximum right now."

"Armadura Fairy, this armor bears the name of our guild to symbolize your pride in being a member of Fairy Tail, and it also may be the strongest armor you have in your arsenal at the moment."

"You have my strongest Luke, now the time has come for me to see yours. Return what's being given to you."

"If that's what you want then that's what you'll get. **Thunder Drive!" **Luke was suddenly engulfed in a golden colored aura, his body crackling with electricity "My Thunder Drive technique, increases all of my abilities by a pretty wide margin. There, you've got what you wanted, now come at me."

"As you wish!" Erza charged at Luke at full speed, resulting in a blinding clash as she quickly slashed Luke across his chest using both swords.

Luke dealt Erza a horizontal slash across her torso and kicked her in the gut, sending her skidding backwards "Come on, let's finish this already. Our strongest attacks, right here and right now."

"Agreed." Erza un-requipped one of her swords and gripped the other one with both of her hands, green energy flowing into the blade "For the pride of Fairy Tail!"

Luke gripped his left arm using his right hand, a large ball of electricity crackling into life in his palm "**Dragon Slayer Secret Art…"**

"**FAIRY BURST!" **Erza charged forward with her sword pointed at Luke, energy radiating off the blade.

"**ROARING THUNDER!" **Luke charged forward and let his blast of lightning collide with the Fairy Burst attack, resulting in a massive light and explosion that covered the entire mountain range as a result. When everything had settled down, Luke's Thunder Drive technique had subsided and he was panting slightly "Had enough?"

With a strained roar, Erza attempted to slash at Luke once more in one final desperate attack, but only a second later her armor shattered as she lost consciousness and fell to the ground.

Luke caught her before she could hit the ground and gave a small smile "I guess it's safe to say we've both gotten a lot stronger since the last time we faced off, but this isn't anywhere close to our limit. We're gonna keep pushing each other and go even further beyond."

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Soon enough, Erza had regained consciousness, and now that she was back in her usual Heart Kreuz Armor with some bandages across her torso, she and Luke were calmly making their way through the night covered streets of Magnolia, and she shot Luke a small smile "You know, on some level I do believe that I should be disappointed in myself for this loss, but with you it's somehow different. Congratulations on your victory Luke, I must admit that I haven't been in a fight like that in a good long while."

"Yeah tell me about it." Luke let out a sigh "You're called the Fairy Queen for a reason, you had me on the ropes at a few points there. No wonder Natsu and Gray are scared into shitting themselves of you."

"It takes a lot of hard work and dedication, the same with anything in life that is actually worth accomplishing. I intend to train hard from here on out, because this isn't the last time we'll face each other in battle."

"Name the time and the place and I'll be there and ready for a rematch." and they sealed the deal with a handshake.

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Morning came, and the sun had long since risen over the skies of Magnolia.

Luke made his way into the guild hall with a mug of coffee in hand "Hey have any of you guys seen Bolt? He never came back to the apartment last night."

"That makes two problems we have to deal with now." Cana let out "I showed up this morning to take a job request but it turns out that one of the S class quests has gone missing."

"...Oh shit."

**A/N:**

**The main highlight of this chapter is something that I've been looking forward to, which is the battle between Luke and Erza. I got to show some of Luke's power during his battle with the Lullaby last chapter, but this is what happens when two of the strongest wizards in Fairy Tail get serious, what with Luke's mastery over his Lightning Dragon Slayer magic against Erza and a few of her different sets of armor, such as her Lightning Empress, Flame Empress, Heaven's Wheel, Black Wing and Armadura Fairy armors, the last of which probably being my favorite of all of them.**

**The use of the Red Cowboy Boots gag is a reference to How I Met Your Mother, based around the boots in question worn by the main character Ted. I just thought it would be fun to add in, and have Luke act as some comedy relief rather than him just being the serious one all the time, even if he is a lot more quiet and grounded than the rest of the main cast. I may continue this in later chapters, depending on how it's received.**

**Thunder Drive is essentially Luke's version of the White Drive and Shadow Drive techniques used by Sting and Rogue, increasing his offensive capabilities. It's also meant to indirectly foreshadow a certain secret about Luke and his Dragon Slayer magic. It will be revealed in a later arc.**


	6. Galuna Island I

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**TheCarlosInferno: **Introducing another OC Dragon Slayer in this fic is something that I had never actually considered when I started this fic, but after going over what we discussed about this a few times, I came up with some ideas that I think will produce some interesting results.

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"_In a land far far away lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small and peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most people, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards and mages, and banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore, but there is a certain guild in a certain town that stands high above the rest of them, one from which countless legends have been born, a guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. This guild is known as Fairy Tail."_

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Morning came, and the sun had long since risen over the skies of Magnolia.

Luke made his way into the guild hall with a mug of coffee in hand "Hey have any of you guys seen Bolt? He never came back to the apartment last night."

"That makes two problems we have to deal with now." Cana let out a sigh "I showed up this morning to take a job request but it turns out that one of the S class quests has gone missing."

"...Oh shit."

"Yeah."

"So to sum up, my talking cat with wings is missing and so is one of the S class quests, and I'm noticing a distinct lack of Natsu trying to fight me and/ or Gray."

"Yep."

"Yeah, I've got a bad feeling about this."

"As you should." Freed spoke up from his place at the bar "Two small feline creatures came up and ripped it off the board before sunrise, I only noticed because I was here helping to clean things up from the night before."

"So Bolt and Happy snatched it?"

"That is what I said yes, and such a thing is a serious breach of the rules. Such a thing requires a high level of punishment does it not?"

"Anything else you know?"

"I do believe that I saw two figures, one pink and one gold accompanying them out of town this morning."

"And you chose not to go after them?"

"I believed that it was the proper course of action to inform everyone else rather than take matters into my own hands. Besides, I had never dreamt that Natsu would actually go so far as to break the rules of the guild."

"I figured it would happen at some point, just not like this. So which job did they take off with anyway?"

"To my knowledge, I believe that it was lifting the curse on Galuna Island."

"Son of a bitch, and Natsu just went way up on the stupidity meter. I don't suppose you'd be willing to go down there and drag them back before they get themselves killed?"

"I understand your reasoning, however based on my previous experience with Natsu I highly doubt that I would be capable of bringing him back by force."

"And by that you mean I'm the only one in the guild who could."

This was all the prompting Gray needed to get out of his seat "Yeah no offense Luke but I'll have to disagree with you there."

"And there we go. Fine go get them, but take Lisanna with you since she's probably the only person who could talk Natsu down. I need some coffee in me before I can do anything in the morning in the first place."

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Meanwhile, in the port town of Hargeon…

Lucy looked around the port town of Hargeon with fond nostalgia "Wow this really brings back a lot of memories, it seems like only yesterday when I met Luke and Bolt here for the very first time."

"It practically was yesterday." Bolt pointed out "You don't have to get all mushy, if you do then you're gonna sound like an old hag or something." he was silenced by a comical glare.

"Ignoring you, let's just go and find a boat that will take us to Galuna."

"Might not wanna mention a boat though."

"Why?"

"Well…"

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Natsu pretty much exploded almost on cue "To hell with the boat, why can't we all just swim for it."

"That's why. Seriously, if you think this is crazy then just wait until you actually see this jackass in action."

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Unfortunately, getting a boat to take them to Galuna Island turned out to be easier said than done, case and point.

"Galuna Island? No way in hell, not for a million Jewel! Around here it's bad luck to even mention that name!"

"Yeah sorry guys, but I don't think anyone around these parts would be willing to take you out there. That island out there is cursed, so unless you've got a death wish I'd stay the hell away from there."

"I don't know why you'd want to go there in the first place, but no sailor worth his salt is gonna take you to Galuna Island. Not even pirates will go near that place."

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1 montage of rejections later…

Lucy let out a sigh of rejection "Well that just about sucks."

Natsu gave a huge shit eating grin "It looks to me like we're gonna be swimming there after all, lucky us."

"You mean lucky you, and we're not swimming!"

"Why the hell not?"

"First of all, you're the only one with that problem. Second of all, out in the ocean is all sorts of insane stuff that you'd have to be on crack to think that I'd face."

"Third of all, you'd have to get past the two of us." a new voice cut in, freaking out the party and causing them to whip around and find Gray and Lisanna standing behind them "About time you noticed us, we've been standing here watching the two of you arguing for like ten minutes at least."

"What the hell are you guys doing here?" asked Natsu.

"Everyone back at the guild found out about what you guys are doing, and Luke asked the two of us to bring you back." Lisanna told him.

"But why? It's not like we're in danger yet."

"That's not the point Natsu, I'm trying to make sure that the dad doesn't do anything that will get himself or our baby hurt."

"You guys have kind of a weird relationship." Lucy commented.

Bolt gave a shrug "Don't worry about it too much, it's actually not as kinky as it sounds out loud."

"That's not what I was thinking."

"It's an inside joke, like how Alzack is such a sucker with his feelings for Bisca, or how Wakaba is actually married."

"Seriously?"

Getting back on track, Natsu was being as much of a stubborn jackass as usual "Look I don't care what anyone says, mom or otherwise, I'm going on this S class quests."

"And I wanted to drown you but Lisanna threatened to do Erza levels of terrifying things to me if I did." Gray told him flatly "Just come back to the guild and you might avoid being kicked out of the guild."

"Kicked out?!" Lucy was immediately terrified.

"Well Luke vouched for you with the Master, and seeing how he's the only one in the guild that doesn't willingly wreck shit for fun you'll probably just get off with a slap on the wrist or something like that."

"Blonde chick with fake boobs be damned, I'm doing this quest!" Natsu barked, ignoring the death glare he received from Lucy.

"Even I know that you're way out of your league here, just come home already before you do anything else stupid. Erza already knows about this, just imagine how angry she'll be when she sees you."

"...Oh shit."

Happy wasted no time in hiding behind Lisanna "Please Lisanna you've gotta save me, I told them that this whole thing was a bad idea but they forced me to come along with them!"

"Oh you're not getting out of this you little bastard!" Bolt caught Happy in a full nelson and pulled him to the ground.

Natsu was still being stubborn "I have to prove my power to Luke and all of those bigshot jackasses who don't get how strong I am, so I'm doing this and I don't care what any of you say."

Gray wasn't having any of it "Look we got orders to bring you guys back to the guild, I'll drag your ass back to the guild if I have to. Don't make me have to kick your ass. Actually, on second thought I really want to so go ahead." he summoned some ice.

"I'd like to see you try!" Natsu summoned some of his flames.

"Magic users?" the last sailor of the previous montage of rejections was quick to take notice of this "Excuse me, but are the four of you wizards?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Have you come to lift the curse that's been placed on Galuna Island?"

"It's why we came here in the first place."

"...You know what screw it, get in."

"Wait are you serious?"

"Not a chance in hell-" Gray was cut off by a comical kick to the crotch by Natsu while his guard was down and thrown into the boat.

"Alright that takes care of that, we're ready when you are."

"Are you sure about this?" asked Lisanna "I mean did you have to hit him like that?"

"Well it's not like we can let him go back to the guild hall and bring someone else like Erza back with him, it's pretty obvious she'll be the one they bring next."

"And what about me?"

"Well you're coming with us obviously, aren't you?" they locked eyes in what seemed like a touching moment.

"...You know it's never fair when you use the puppy dog eyes."

"Dog?!" Happy croaked from where he was held in a chokehold by Bolt.

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Nightfall came, and the moon was shining brightly over the skies.

Lucy looked around at the seasick form of Natsu and the eerily calm waters surrounding them and shuddered "Okay, now I'm starting to get scared."

"Yeah well look on the bright side." Gray told her from his position tied up at the far end of the boat "At least you're not tied up with ropes riding up your-"

"Okay okay, don't need to hear that."

"And I don't need to live it, and yet here we are." Gray rounded on the fisherman next "And for the record man, this is your fault too. Why did you decide to let us on in the first place?"

"The name is Bobo, and if you must know I actually used to be a citizen of a tribe living on Galuna Island." the fisherman, now known as Bobo, told him "But I had to flee, I just couldn't take it anymore. I should warn all of you now, tragedy befalls anyone who steps foot on the island. There's no avoiding it, that is unless you're able to lift the curse." he lifted his cloak to reveal, much to the horror of the others, his demonic looking left arm "This horrible curse of a demon."

"Dammit man, what the hell happened to your arm? Is that part of the curse?"

"...We're almost at Galuna Island, off in the distance. You'd best prepare yourself?"

Lucy glanced over at the island and noticed something "Wait a second, why is the top of the mountain glowing like that?" she glanced back at the others, only to find that Bobo had suddenly disappeared "What the heck?! Where did he go, did he fall out or something? It's like he just disappeared into thin air! How the heck is that even possible?"

"Um, hey you guys?" Lisanna pointed to where a tsunami was about to swallow all of them and their boat.

"TSUNAMI!"

"Easy you guys we can't panic right now, just hang on." Bolt told her.

"Can't you and Happy just grab onto the boat and fly us out of this?!"

"What do I look like to you, a bodybuilder?!" and then they all got washed away by the tsunami in a comical fashion.

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Morning came, and the sun was shining brightly over the daytime skies.

Lucy opened her eyes and found herself and the others all sprawled out along the beach surrounded by bits and pieces of their broken boat "Ow, my head… Where are we right now anyway?"

"I think we made it to the island." Lisanna helped Lucy to her feet "At least I think this is the place."

"I guess we're lucky that wave washed us ashore."

"I'm not so sure if I would call it lucky though."

"I can't help but wonder what happened to the guy who brought us here though, right after he told us about the curse he just vanished."

"Screw that!" Natsu suddenly bolted upright "I say the hell with all of that creepy stuff for now, let's just go exploring! Who's with me?"

"We've only been here for like all of 30 seconds and you've already forgotten about the mission at hand."

"The what?"

"That's what I thought." Lucy pulled out a map and motioned for all of them to come and take a look at it "From what I gather there's only one village on this entire island, and the chief of the village is the one who originally put in the request to Fairy Tail, so I guess we need to try and track him down."

"Oh yeah, that."

"Not so fast you guys." Gray pulled himself to his feet.

"Look Stripper just give it up, there's no way you're taking us back to the guild now that our boat got destroyed."

"Well duh I already know that, I'm going with you guys."

"...Say what?"

"There's no way in hell I'm gonna let a clown like you, two chicks and two talking cats with wings make S class before I do, and if you got kicked out then the guild would end up being pretty boring. Sure Gramps is gonna be pissed, but if we pull this off then he can't stay mad at us for long. Now let's get moving."

"Oh hell yeah, now we're talking!"

"Enough talking, let's just do this."

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Nightfall came.

Gray and the others found a massive wooden gate with a large "KEEP OUT" sign hanging in front of it "Well it looks like we found the village, now what the heck do we do?"

"Check out the gate, when they say keep out they really mean it." Natsu muttered "So what now then?"

"Just get their attention I guess. Hey is anyone in there, we came here to help you!" he received no reply.

"I say we bust in."

"That's not the answer for everything you moron."

"Who goes there?!" a few shadowy figures poked their heads out from over the other side of the fence "Identify yourselves!"

"We're wizards from the Fairy Tail guild and we came here in response to the job request you guys sent out."

"Why weren't we notified when you accepted our request?"

'_Right, because the idiot took it without permission. _Sorry about that, it was probably just some kind of mixup with the paperwork."

"Then let us see your guild marks right now!"

"Alright then, show them posing style." so they did, posing as they showed off their guild marks on their right pec, right shoulder, right hand and left shoulder (Gray, Natsu, Lucy and Lisanna respectively "Good enough for you guys?"

"Holy crap it's you guys, you're really here!" and so they opened the gate to the village.

Bolt glanced up at the gate "Wow, it's like we're walking into the mouth of a giant monster in some old horror movie!"

"It's like you're trying to freak me out on purpose." Lucy grumbled.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail chica." Bolt glanced ahead and noticed all of the villagers wearing very concealing cloaks "And now it looks like we're walking into a cult."

One of the shorter ones stepped forward, this one holding a cane and his face partially visible, in contrast to the others "My name is Moka and I am the chief of this village, on behalf of my people I welcome all of you here. But now putting aside all pleasantries, there's something I need all of you to see. Now my people, show them the curse that has been inflicted upon all of us for all this time!" he had them remove their cloaks as he did as well, revealing all of their demonic features.

"Woah, damn this is just like what happened to the boat guy."

"So you see where the problem lies."

"Yeah, with your sideburns."

"Yes- No not that you wretched feline, I was trying to show you what happened to my right arm!"

"I know, but to be fair your sideburns are horrible."

"...Ignoring that, everyone on this island has suffered horrible disfigurements as a result of this curse and not even the animals have been spared."

"Okay, so if you don't mind me asking what exactly makes you think this is a result of the curse anyway? For all any of us know, it could just be some kind of infectious disease."

"We've already consulted with dozens of doctors young feline, but they all reached the same conclusion that there is no such disease in existence. You see, our symptoms began around the same time the moon fell under an evil spell."

"What kind of spell exactly sir?" asked Lisanna.

"Since ancient times this island has absorbed the light of the moon, causing it to glow almost as beautifully as the moon itself. However, several years ago the color of the moon began to change and an eerie purple glow was cast upon the island."

"So then the moon turned purple?" asked Natsu.

"Indeed it did young man."

"Hey you guys check it out!" Happy and Bolt pointed up at the moon above them glowing the aforementioned purple "It's coming out from behind the clouds, wow that really looks super creepy and ominous."

"That would be the curse. You must all stand back, the change is about to begin." and with lots of groaning in what seemed like agonizing pain, all of the villagers took on what seemed like purely demonic transformations, much to the horror of the Fairy Tail group "I must apologize if our appearance frightens any of you."

"It's not that scary, it's just really confusing." Gray assured them.

"Oh man…" Natsu on the other hand had comical stars in his eyes "You guys look so freaking awesome, I mean you all have horns and other stuff and I'm so jealous!"

"...I know what you're thinking and yes, he's being totally serious."

"It's awesome!"

"Natsu come on, you have to be more sensitive about this." Lisanna scolded him "They don't want to look like this, and that's why they asked for help."

"Wait seriously? Oh, well then sorry you guys, I guess we're gonna help you out then. That's why we're here right?"

"Yes."

"Okay just checking."

"And that's why she's here." Gray muttered.

Moka quickly got the conversation back on track "Anyway as all of you have now witnessed, whenever the purple moon shows its face in the sky everyone in the village takes on a horrific demonic form. If it isn't a curse then what else could it possibly be? We'll return to normal once the morning comes and the sun has risen, however there are some poor souls who can no longer switch back to their human forms for they have lost their minds."

"That's horrible." Lisanna muttered.

"The fate for them, these unfortunate souls in the grip of madness, we've no choice but to put them to death so that they can find peace in the next world." this left Lisanna and everyone else horrified by the revelation.

"But… But what if they actually do change back to normal one day."

"If we wait for that to happen then the monsters will surely kill all of us, we've tried capturing them but they've always broken free. It's of no use." tears fell down his face "Once it takes hold there is no way to save them, and I should know because I myself was forced to kill my own son due to this." he held up a picture.

"Oh my gosh."

"But… But that's the man from the boat." Lucy muttered "We just saw him yesterday-" she was silenced by a head shake from Lisanna "But…"

"Lucy, now I understand why he suddenly disappeared on us like that. He was killed by the others, but his soul wasn't able to find peace."

"You mean… a ghost?"

"Yeah."

"Please." Moka bowed to them, with the rest of the villagers doing the same "Please we all beg of you, lift the curse from our island. If this goes on much longer then we all may fall victim to it as well, we will all die."

"We're not going to let that happen." Natsu tried not to snarl "We can fix this and we will fix this, I promise."

"There… There is only one way this wretched curse can be lifted, the wretched moon that haunts all of us so must be wiped from the sky!"

"...Awesome."

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A little bit of time passed, and the group settled down in a hut in the village for the night before they would start their job in the morning.

Bolt glanced out at the moon from the window of the hut "Eesh, I never knew the moon could turn out to be Erza levels of creepy and unsettling."

"Hurry up and close the window." Lucy hissed "You heard what the chief said before, we have to stay out of the moonlight! I don't know if you care or not, but I have no intention of taking the risk of turning into some freaky looking monster!"

"...Too easy."'

"I don't know about this job you guys." Gray muttered "I mean do these people really think we can destroy the moon?"

Natsu lit up in a very disturbing way "I wonder how many punches it's gonna take to destroy that son of a bitch, you think I can handle it?"

"It's a wonder how the hell we handle you, come on man that's just stupid even by your standards. There's not a wizard alive who's strong enough to pull off some crap like that."

"Hey ice hole that's the job we were hired to do isn't it? We can't take a job and then back out of it like that, that would just make Fairy Tail look bad."

"Well what they're asking just can't be done, how the hell do you think you're gonna get to the moon anyway?"

"How do you think, I'm gonna fly up there with Happy."

"...I walked right into that one."

Lucy frowned in thought for a moment "Okay so we obviously can't destroy the moon, but if we do some investigating then we might be able to find a different way to lift the curse from the island and the villagers."

"Whatever lets you sleep at night." and then he started stripping down to his boxers "I say you do whatever the hell you want, but after the day that I've had I need a little bit of shuteye right about now."

"Please don't take off any more clothes than that."

"This time it's actually on purpose."

"Alright then, our investigation is starting tomorrow morning and I'm gonna go ahead and hit the sack." and Natsu promptly did just that.

"Yeah that sounds like a pretty decent plan to me." and so Gray followed his lead.

"I think I'm going to get some sleep too." and then Lisanna did as well.

Lucy was the only one left awake, with one thought on her mind '_How the heck does anyone sleep through the likes of the beast and the perv snoring like a bunch of pigs? Lisanna, you pretty much look like a saint in comparison, dealing with these two idiots and the two smartass cats like a real pro.'_

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Morning came, and the sun was just rising over the skies of Galuna Island.

Natsu and Gray were still feeling a certain extent of burnout from being awake as early as they were "Oh god it's so early, I never get up as early as this."

"The two of you kept me up for half the night with your snoring." Lucy pointed out dryly "I'm not complaining, so I say you two have no right to whine now let's get going."

"Yeah yeah."

"Good, now then. **Open, Gate of the Clock Constellation, Horologium!" **she used a silver colored Celestial Key and opened the gate.

"You mean that clock dude Cana mentioned before?"

Sure enough, Horologium appeared before them in all of his clock like glory "The time is now 7:48."

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Soon enough, Natsu and the others were wandering their way through the dense jungles of Galuna Island "So do you guys really think we'll be able to find another way to lift the curse on the island or something?"

"I don't think we really have any other choices." Lisanna told him "The people in the village may think that the moon is cursed, but the idea of destroying it seems kind of crazy. Not just because it's impossible either, but because doing something like that might have some serious consequences that could hurt a lot of people."

"Oh crap you're right, if we didn't have the moon then the tides would get all crazy and at night the sky would be pitch black!"

"Along with all sorts of other natural disasters."

"And no fish!" Happy's expression was one of horror "Without it salmon could go extinct, and fish would be blind at night!"

"Well I don't know if I would call that a natural disaster Happy."

""_Would you all please just keep it down? We don't have any idea what's lurking out here so we shouldn't draw any attention to ourselves." _the lady demands impatiently." this was Horologium actually speaking for Lucy while she was inside of him.

"You know you really oughta walk on your own." Gray pointed out "I mean do you just summon spirits like this guy because you don't feel like doing it yourself or what?"

""_Listen you guys this curse is seriously freaking me out, we have no idea what we're up against and I'm honestly kind of scared."_ she says nervously."

"You decided to come along with Natsu and the cats didn't you?"

"Oh hell yeah!" Natsu pumped a fire fist "This is totally awesome, as far as I'm concerned S class quests kick serious ass!"

"And for all we know, I could probably just freeze that stupid curse before it gets too out of hand to begin with."

""_...You guys are both idiots."_ she retorts disparagingly."

"Yeah well-" Gray's retort was cut off by a loud stomping noise, prompting them to turn around and pretty much freak out at the sight of a giant mousing wearing a maid uniform looking over the lot of them "Holy shit that thing is huge! And insert easy joke about Natsu and his small IQ here."

""_What the heck are you guys waiting for? Beat it up already!"_ she yells frantically."

"Alright alright I'm on it, just chill out. **Ice Make: Shield!" **Gray proceeded to create a shield out of ice, only to be met with a horrible noxious gas from the mouse as a result, causing him to cringe, with Natsu and Lisanna doing the same.

""_Oh no, what's the matter? And why are the cats climbing inside here with me?!"_ she yells despairingly." and only seconds later Horologium himself disappeared as well, leaving Lucy and the two cats at the mercy of the fumes.

"A giant rat getting the best of two flying cats, what the hell are the freaking odds?"

Lisanna quickly tried to snap Natsu out of the stupor he had been left in "Come on Natsu you've gotta get up, it's coming for us!"

"New plan, grab the idiot and get back!" Gray motioned for all of them to get back while he charged at the mouse in the maid costume "**Ice Make: Floor!" **he quickly covered the ground beneath them in a thick layer of ice, causing the mouse to slide and fall on its ass.

Bolt glanced up at Gray "You know you could've done that in the first place and saved us a lot of hijinks."

"Shut up you snarky little cat!"

"Hey guys check it out." Lucy pointed to a nearby building "There's some kind of building over there, I think we should go and hide while we have the chance."

"I say we kick its ass while we have the chance instead!" Natsu and Gray then started beating the crap out of the unconscious mouse.

"The two of you are just exhausting."

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A few minutes later, inside the Temple of the Moon…

Lucy and the others looked around the inside of the temple in awe "This place is massive but it's falling apart, you have to wonder just how old this place really is."

"Hey what are those things?" Natsu glanced up at some carvings on the walls above them.

"Those are some kind of lunar based drawings. It makes sense after all, from what I've heard Galuna Island actually used to be called the Island of the Moon. I mean a moon island and a moon curse combined with weird moon symbols, you've really gotta wonder what all of this means."

"Dammit this place is a wreck, I mean this place doesn't even seem like it's safe to walk on anyway." he started stomping on it for emphasis.

"Well don't go stomping on it you idiot or-" Lucy was promptly cut off when the floor beneath them suddenly shattered and they started falling down into a deep cavern "Natsu you idiot look what you did!"

"How the hell is this my fault?!"

"You stomped on the floor and shattered it!"

"...Oh yeah."

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One comically long fall later…

Natsu pulled himself out of the rubble and comically gasped for air "Hey is everyone okay after all of that?"

"You tell me you flame brained jackass!" Gray rounded on him "I think we'd all be better if you hadn't blown out the floor from your sheer stupidity! Here's a thought for you, if you bother to pull your head out of your ass and think before you act then maybe you wouldn't cause so much pointless destruction."

"Blah blah blah, hey Happy you think you can fly us out of here?"

"No sorry guys, it's too high up."

"So where are we anyway?"

"It looks to me like we're underneath the temple." Lisanna told him "Actually I might be able to use my Animal Soul to get us out of here."

"What exactly is Animal Soul?" asked Lucy.

"Oh you see, me and my brother Elfman both have the ability to use Take Over magic, but mine is more centered around the features of animals that I've encountered." she promptly summoned a pair of wings "For example, I should be able to use my wings to fly us out of here-"

"Holy crap it's a secret cave, this is so totally awesome! I say we go check it out while we've got the chance!" and then Natsu and Happy suddenly rushed off.

"...As long as Natsu and Happy don't end up doing something like that."

"Should we go and get them?" asked Lucy.

"I know how to do this, just let me calm him down."

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Natsu and Happy rounded a corner but stopped in their tracks in awe at the sight that was waiting for them "Holy crap."

"Hey Natsu, Happy, wait up!" Lisanna and the others came up after them "What is it, is something wrong?"

"Maybe, we found something and I don't think it's too good. I think we can punch it pretty good though."

"What the heck are you-" Gray froze in pure horror at what they were seeing, in the form of a massive demonic creature frozen in a block of ice "No… No way… that's impossible… It just can't be… That's Deliora… but how… how could this happen? Why is it here? What the hell is it doing on Galuna Island?!"

"Wait a second, Gray you've seen this thing before?"

"What the hell is it doing here?!"

"Gray get a grip for a second, you having a stroke isn't gonna do anything except probably make me laugh. Now what do we need to know about this thing before I burn it?"

"You can't… That thing is Deliora, the Demon of Destruction."

"The Demon of Construction?"

"The Demon of Destruction you idiot, this is no time for you being an idiot! But why the hell is it here of all places? This doesn't make any sense!"

"How the hell should I-" Natsu suddenly whipped around at the sound of footsteps "Someone is coming."

"Don't just stand there, hide!" Lucy quickly dragged everyone to a hiding spot nearby so they wouldn't be seen.

Within seconds two figures by the names of Yuka and Toby made their way into the area, appearing to be aware of the presence of Gray and the others "The voices seem to be coming from down here, honestly I hate being awake during the day. So tell me Toby, were you exposed to the Moon Drip as well? After all you do have those pointy ears."

"Dammit you jackass, I already told you that these are a fashion statement!" Toby barked, and I mean literally barked.

"Lighten up, I was just teasing you."

"I don't have to be such an ass about it."

"And you don't have to be so sensitive about it."

Lucy frowned in thought '_The Moon Drip huh, could that be the name of the curse that affected everyone on the island?'_

"Oh great, now what?" Yuka glanced back and let out a groan.

Next onto the scene came a tall young woman with pink hair "Yuka, Toby, something terrible has happened."

"What is it now Sherry?"

"It's Angelica, she's been attacked and now I'm sad because of it."

"Say what?!" Toby barked like a literal dog "You mean you're moping around because some jackass beat up your stupid pet rat?!"

"She is not a rat, she's a brave hunter prowling the jungle to protect all of us. She is the true embodiment of live."

Lucy cringed at what they were hearing "I don't even know who these people are but talk about a bunch of freaks, especially the chick with a pet rat."

"Judging by the scents I'm picking up from these guys, I'd say they're not from the island either." Natsu noted.

"And it doesn't look like they're cursed like the villagers are."

"Intruders you say?" Yuka raised an eyebrow that drew their attention back to the conversation at hand.

Sherry nodded "Yes and it's almost time for us to begin collecting moonlight again, oh this makes me so sad. This news will surely displease our Cold Emperor, we should get rid of them before he finds out about it. Yes, we must find them before the moon's first light."

"I agree."

"Since they've seen Deliora we can't allow them to live, we'll give all of them the gift of eternal rest. We will give them love."

"You realize you're talking about death right?" Toby pointed out, only to be met with the sound of a clacking noise.

"What was that?"

"Over there, come on!" and so they all rushed off in the direction they heard the noise coming from.

Lucy glanced over to see Bolt flying back towards them "Nice work cat."

"Oh please, that was nothing." Bolt let out a snort "Do you have any idea how many crazed feminists have tried to kill me? A lot, to put it simply I had to learn how to draw people's attention away from me."

"Nice. I think."

"Dammit." Natsu grumbled "I say we should've grabbed them and beaten some answers out of them while we had the chance to."

"Not yet, first we have to do some investigating."

"Damn, this job keeps getting more and more complicated. Who the hell is this Cold Emperor guy anyway?"

"Deliora…" Gray muttered "I still don't get what the hell anyone would ever want with the likes of that thing, and how the hell were they ever even able to find it?"

"Was it hidden away somewhere?" asked Lisanna.

"It was sealed away inside a glacier on the Northern Continent. A full decade ago this immortal demon ravaged Ishvar, a lot of people got killed as a result, including my parents. The woman who taught me how to use my magic, my master Ur, she sacrificed everything in order to seal it away." he clenched his fist to the point where it was bleeding "I don't know if it has anything to do with the curse on this island, but I do know that it doesn't belong here. This Cold Emperor guy, we have to find out who he is because if they tarnished the legacy of my master then I'm gonna make them beg for death!"

"Dude as much as I love watching you lose it this is kind of unnerving, are you even sure this is the demon your master sealed away?" asked Natsu.

"There's no doubt about it, I could never forget the face of that thing."

"So then why and how would this thing be transported all the way from the northern continent to Galuna Island?" asked Lucy "Do you think this demon is the source of the curse on the island and the villagers?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if it did, it may be sealed away in a gigantic chunk of ice but that thing is still alive and kicking."

"Works for me!" Natsu promptly summoned a ball of fire "How about you let me have a go at that thing, I'm not afraid of some stupid demon!"

"Natsu you do realize that brute force isn't the only way to solve a problem." Lucy pointed out dryly.

"So what, a little bit of fire oughta do the trick-" Natsu was promptly silenced by a fist to the face from Gray, sending him crashing to the ground.

'_Holy crap, Gray just punched out Natsu! Then again, this wouldn't be the first time he's done something like that.'_

"God dammit what the hell was that for Gray, what's wrong with you?!"

"Shut it." Gray let out an outright snarl "The last thing any of us need or want is for you or your flames to get anywhere near that thing, if that ice melts and Deliora gets revived then there's no way we'd be able to take the thing down."

"Oh get real, do you really think a huge chunk of ice would be that easy to melt?"

"...No I guess not."

"Well duh."

Lisanna and Lucy made their way over to Gray "Hey are you alright?"

"I'm the one that got hit for no reason, tell this icy prick to watch his temper!"

"Natsu please, Gray is obviously hurting right now."

Gray let out a sigh "Many years ago, my master Ur cast a spell called the Iced Shell on this demon here, enclosing it in a gigantic block of ice that can't be melted. It's so strong that even the most powerful flames have no effect on it, if they knew that the ice could be melted then why the hell did they bring it here?"

"Well maybe they didn't know." Lucy offered "They might have brought it here to try and melt it somehow."

"But why the hell would they do that?!" his sharp and angry tone left Lucy considerably freaked out.

"I don't really have any clue." this calmed him down somewhat.

"I just don't get it, who would bring Deliora here, and more importantly why would they bring it here?"

"We need answers." was Natsu's simple response "I say we go and track those guys down and get some."

"Not a chance, we're gonna stay here and wait."

"Wait for what?"

"What else, for the moon to come out."

"The moon?! But it's the middle of the afternoon! Screw that man, if I have to hang out here then I'll die of boredom!"

"Then you'll be doing all of us a favor."

"But Gray why does the moon even matter?" asked Lucy.

"Call it a hunch but I have a feeling that the curse on this island and Deliora are somehow connected to the moon, and I heard those guys we saw earlier say something about collecting moonlight."

"Yeah we all heard that one, I guess that means that waiting until nightfall is the only way we're going to figure out what's going on."

"NO WAY IN HELL I'M WAITING, WE'VE GOT WORK TO DO!" Natsu exploded in a comical fashion, followed by him dropping to the ground snoring.

"...Well that worked faster than I was hoping it would."

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The waiting quickly turned out to be extremely slow going.

Lucy looked down at the snoring form of Natsu "It must be nice being him, he doesn't have to worry about anything except for eating, fighting and sleeping."

Lisanna gave a small smile "Well that's Natsu for you, and that's just part of his charm."

"I have to admit I am a little bit jealous though." she glanced over at the other fight loving jackass.

Gray sat close to Deliora, brooding over past memories '_Ur… back then I was always way too reckless and impatient, I let my obsession cloud my judgement.'_

"Oh man, I know I agreed to wait but this is just so boring. Oh wait, I know!" Lucy pulled out a silver Celestial Key "**Open, Gate of the Heart Constellation! Lyra!" **and she used the key to open the gate.

From within said gate emerged what looked like a young girl with a harp "Oh wow, I haven't seen you in forever Lucy!"

"Hey Lyra, been awhile."

"Say, how come you never call on me anymore? It's not fair, I would love to help you out but you ignore me you meanie."

"Meanie huh? You're the one who told me you were only available three days a month weren't you?"

"Are you sure about that?"

"Great, another one with some seriously fucked up quirks." Bolt muttered, earning a few glares that he quickly brushed off.

"So what would you like to hear me sing, any requests?"

"Nope, do whatever you want." Lucy assured her.

"Alright! Now listen up Lucy, I think I've got a song that you and your new friends are gonna love!"

"Yeah I bet, you see guys Lyra has the most beautiful singing voice. Just a few notes will leave you almost totally at peace."

Sure enough, Lyra began to sing as she played her harp, quickly soothing the others "**Words are born into the air, and quickly fade out in the wind. But they find their way inside you, where they live on forever more. When the skies are dark and full of rain, look inside your heart. Light, so warm and all aglow, shining just like the sun. You can see just how much you've grown, how strong you are. A path will open up to you, and it starts from the day that you first heard those words."**

While soothing to some, the lyrics forced Gray to further reminisce about his time when he was training under as a kid, and a single tear flowed down his cheek '_Ur…'_

Lucy was quick to notice this "Hey Gray what's the matter?"

"It's nothing, I'm fine."

"But you seem upset. Then again, one of Lyra's talents is being able to sing certain songs that relate to what her audience is feeling. Her song really got to you didn't it?"

"I told you I'm fine."

"Hey Lyra, maybe you should sing something a little bit more upbeat."

"You should've said that in the first place."

"I think we should just skip the song." Gray muttered "We need to be quiet, we don't want to be found out."

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More time passed, and everyone else had fallen asleep, at least until a tremor caused the cave to start shaking.

Gray and the others were quickly woken by said tremors "What the hell is all the noise about, is it night yet?" he glanced up to see a beam of light shining down from the ceiling "Guys we have a beam of light shining down from the ceiling, this isn't gonna be good! But why the hell is it purple? It must be moonlight."

"Okay this is obviously getting super freaky." Bolt pointed out "Especially considering it's shining on Deliora, and I don't think that's a coincidence."

"Let's get moving, we've gotta find out where the hell this light is coming from." and so they all rushed off.

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It didn't take Gray and the others long to get back to where they were before in the old temple and discovered the Magic Circle summoning the moonlight "Why the hell would someone cast a Magic Circle inside this old temple of all places?"

"I say let's find out." Natsu took the lead on the next charge as they made their way up the stairs and out into an area with open night sky.

What they found was what looked like a number of cultists chanting over the beam of moonlight raining down on the temple "Zeram, sen, dioluna…"

Natsu and the others quickly hid "What the hell are they doing?"

"Zeram, sen, dioluna, koo-nah, koo-rah-kah…"

"Looks to me like those robed freaks are chanting some kind of spell in order to collect the light from the moon and shine it on the demon down there, but why?"

"I think I've heard of this before." Lisanna muttered "It's a Belianese spell called the Moon Drip, so that means that I know what they're trying to do."

"You mind filling us in on this?"

"They're using the Moon Drip spell to melt the ice surrounding Deliora, they're trying to bring it back to life."

"What?!" Gray let out an outright snarl "But they can't, the ice used in the Iced Shell spell can't be melted."

"I hate to say it but that's not entirely true, while the Iced Shell is powerful it can be melted using the Moon Drip. Focused energy from the moon can break any magical spell."

"But those idiots, they've never even seen what Deliora is really capable of!"

"I think this means that what the villagers believe is a curse on them might actually be side effects of the Moon Drip, concentrated moon energy can contaminate one's body. The people in the village must have been exposed to way too much of it."

"I'll make them pay for that." Natsu let out a snarl and prepared to charge at them, only to be stopped by Lisanna grabbing him by the shoulder "What?"

"Someone else is coming this way."

Sure enough, a new figure appeared on the scene clad in a cloak with a metal helmet that concealed his face, followed by Yuka, Toby and Sherry "Do the three of you have anything to inform me of?"

"Other than being such a waste of a day, no." Yuka grumbled to himself "I lost so much precious sleep for nothing, we searched all day for those intruders but never found any trace of any of them."

"Maybe there weren't any!" Toby barked.

Sherry glanced over at the masked figure "I'm afraid I have some sad news to report my Cold Emperor sir, we thought we had some intruders during the day but it seems that they got away from us somehow. I cannot speak of love in this situation."

The Cold Emperor frowned "Intruders you say?"

Natsu and the others studied him from afar "So that guy is their leader huh? Look at that jackass, he's just trying to act all high and mighty and wearing that stupid looking mask."

"I don't know, I think it looks kind of cool." Lisanna commented, receiving various odd looks as a result "What?"

The Cold Emperor glanced over at Sherry "So tell me, has Deliora been awakened yet?"

"Not yet sir, it should be either later tonight or tomorrow at the latest." Sherry told him.

"I see."

"Which one dammit?!" Toby barked.

"My time has almost come upon us, if you see any of those intruders again then dispose of them using any means you deem necessary. I don't want or need anyone to get in my way."

"It must have been some of the villagers." Sherry noted "After all, they're the only other people on this island."

"Then destroy the village if you have to."

"What?" Natsu let out a quiet snarl "But the villagers didn't have anything to do with this, we've gotta take these guys down."

"It's such a shame too, I was hoping to avoid any unnecessary bloodshed but I suppose that in life there are times when difficult decisions have to be made and I've come too far to give up now."

Gray was left frozen in place, staring at the Cold Emperor in true horror "That voice… no, it can't be…"

"ALRIGHT THAT'S IT!" Natsu bolted out of his hiding place and let out a roar and a blast of fire "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS SNEAKING AROUND BULLSHIT! It's not any of the villagers, we're the intruders you're after!"

"Oh for crying out loud." Lucy muttered "I guess that means there's no turning back now is there?"

"There never is." Lisanna told her "But then again, that's part of what makes Fairy Tail so enjoyable, whether it be good or bad."

Sherry focused her gaze on the guild mark on Natsu's shoulder "I know that mark, they've come from the Fairy Tail guild."

"This is interesting." Yuka noted "The villagers must have gone to one of the magical guilds for help."

"Don't worry about any of them, just go and eradicate the village." the Cold Emperor repeated his order "It doesn't matter if it's deliberate or not, anyone who stands in the way of my goal is considered my enemy."

"Bullshit!" Gray and Natsu both charged at him in a rage "You stop this crazy bullshit ceremony right now!" he quickly attacked with a blast of ice.

The Cold Emperor dodged the attack with ease and countered with a blast of ice of his own, cancelling out Gray's attack in the process.

"So you're an Ice Make user too huh?" Gray let out an outright snarl "I guessed that it was you when I heard your voice… Lyon. How the hell could you do this, do you have any idea exactly what you're doing?"

"Oh so it is you Gray, it's been quite a while hasn't it?"

"Why the hell would you revive Deliora of all things?"

"To think that you were one of the wizards from Fairy Tail called to this island to help those poor villagers, did you come knowing you would find me here or is this just a mere coincidence? No matter, it doesn't make any difference to me."

"An acquaintance of yours Cold Emperor?" asked Yuka.

"Just do as I ordered you to, I can handle the intruders on my own."

"Yes sir!" and so they left.

"I don't need their help to deal with the likes of you."

"Hey, get back here dammit!" Natsu charged after them in a comical rage.

"Natsu you idiot stop, don't go near him!" Gray barked, but he was ignored.

"**Ice Make: Diamond Cage!" **the Cold Emperor, now identified as Lyon, quickly used an ice spell to trap Natsu in a block of ice, causing him to cry out in pain.

"Bolt, Happy, get Lucy and Lisanna out of here!"

"We're on it, just kick his ass!" Bolt grabbed Lucy and took off, with Happy grabbing Lisanna and following his lead.

Gray took the opportunity to attack Lyon with a blast of ice, only for it to be countered by Lyon's ice shield '_Dammit!'_

Natsu on the other hand was trapped in a block of ice "Dammit I can't move, get me out of this thing!"

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Lisanna looked down at Natsu's comically frozen form "We can't just leave Natsu frozen like that, we have to go back for him!"

"He was hit with a type of ice magic that instantly freezes the air, if we had stuck around any longer then we probably would've ended up frozen too."

"But we can't just leave him, we have to save him!"

"But we have to save the village!" Happy had tears brimming in his eyes "Who's gonna do that if we've all been turned into ice?"

"Happy…"

"Look, Natsu might be an idiot but he's tough as iron." Bolt told her "He can burn his way through a stupid chunk of ice any day. Besides, he's the dad to you and Happy so he's gotta protect you guys right?"

"Yeah, yeah he is." Lisanna wiped away a tear.

"Look just let those two idiots do their job, we have our own job to do."

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Lyon looked down on Gray and Natsu "So you distracted me long enough for the girls and the cats to escape, I should commend you for your chivalry but such things are ultimately pointless in the end. There's no way the four of them can stop my minions."

"Save it." Natsu snarled "Don't underestimate the power of wizards from Fairy Tail! Now!"

"Yeah yeah I get it." Gray promptly dealt Natsu a swift kick, sending him tumbling down the side of the temple.

"Hey dammit Gray, what the hell is the big idea?!" and then Natsu completely tumbled off the scene.

"About time I got the chance to shut him up, now it's just you and me."

"I see you're as reckless as you've always been." Lyon noted "He was one of your allies was he not?"

"You and I both know that with one spell you could blow that ice up and him with it."

"So then you chose to send him safely out of the range of my magic, that was actually quite a clever move."

"I don't understand why you're trying to pull this superior act with me Lyon, because you're not my superior! We're not Ur's students anymore!"

"I'm well aware of that fact, painfully aware." Lyon removed his helmet, revealing his head of white spiky hair "Our beloved teacher is no longer of this world."

"Her final act was sealing that monster away, are you really so callous that you would try to destroy the legacy our master left behind?"

"Don't try to lie to yourself Gray, we both know you're the one that killed Ur and yet you don't seem to feel any sense of guilt. How cruel of you."

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Natsu pulled himself out of the ground in a comical rage "Gray you son of a bitch, I swear you're gonna pay for this." he quickly tried to melt the ice using his flames, only to quickly run into a problem "Dammit my fire power isn't making a dent in this ice, what the hell is the deal with this stuff? No forget that, I've gotta get back to the village. I'll just have to run the old fashioned way I guess." he tried that, but quickly ran into a problem in the form of his arms, legs and head being the only things free of the large chunk of ice "God dammit, this is a lot harder than I thought it would be!"

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The battle between Gray and Lyon had begun, weapon based Ice Make magic against animal based Ice Make magic, but after a lengthy battle Lyon ended up coming out as the victor between the two.

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Meanwhile, on a pirate ship off the coast…

Luke glanced around at the unconscious bodies of the pirates littering the ship "A little bit much don't you think?"

"It gets us to where we need to go, and besides you know what has to be done when someone breaks the rules of the guild." Erza barely even bothered to look at him from where her gaze was positioned on the open seas.

"How do you think I feel, my cat is one of the ones who did it."

The captain nervously glanced back from his position at the steering wheel "So why do the two of you want to go to Galuna Island again? It's quite scary you know."

"Just keep steering, once we get there you and your crew can go."

"How about this, if you drop us off somewhere then you can have the boat. Please I'm begging the two of you, I've heard that this island is cursed and anyone who steps foot on its soil turns into a demon!"

"I'm not afraid of taking that chance."

"But why do the two if you have to go there in the first place?"

"Two reasons. One, my cat is there and up to something insanely stupid."

"...Okay."

Erza's expression darkened considerably "Two, as S class mages of the Fairy Tail guild we cannot just let it slide when they break the rules no matter who it might be, and that is all we can tell you.

Despite the clear intimidation, the soldiers were gawking at Erza with hearts in their eyes "She's so cool and so hot too, hey we'll help you catch these guys if you want!"

"I appreciate the offer but myself and Luke are the only ones necessary in retrieving our comrades." that left them in heartbroken comical stupors.

"You know just what to say don't you." Luke let out a chuckle.

"I've had many years of practice, how else does one get anywhere in life."

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"_What the hell is the matter with you Gray? Don't tell me you're giving up that easily."_

Gray opened his eyes, finding his vision having grown blurry, but he found an ice covered figure looming over him '_Ur… is that you?'_

"Get up already Gray." as it turns out it was just Natsu, still trapped in the block of ice "Well you officially look like shit, he beat the crap out of you didn't he?"

"Natsu… what the hell are you doing here?"

"I couldn't remember how to get to the village so I climbed back up to look for it. Anyway I see the place now so come on, let's get moving." he grabbed Gray by the back of his shirt "You good for the trip?"

"Yeah, yeah I can walk. What about Lyon, where is he?"

"I don't have a damn clue, by the time I made it all the way back up here everybody else was already gone." Natsu promptly slung Gray over his ice covered shoulders "Alright now hold on, we've gotta hurry and get back to the village before your buddy and his friends do." and so he started walking.

Gray spent a few minutes reflecting on past memories, recent or otherwise '_Ur… you said before that Deliora was out of my league, and looking back now I realize how much of a fool I was that day. _Hey Natsu?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't believe in you. I'm no better to be honest." tears began streaming down his face.

"Dammit you idiot just come on, quit feeling sorry for yourself just because you lost one stupid fight. You're a member of Fairy Tail aren't you? People in Fairy Tail don't just call it quits when times are tough, that means you just put the bad shit behind you and keep moving forward! Oh god dammit."

"What?"

"Now that I'm carrying your icy ass it's even harder to run while I'm stuck in this thing. You're seriously packing on the pounds these days."

"Oh like you're one to talk, I've seen what you eat."

"And what the hell do I eat?"

"Anything and everything!"

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By this point, Lucy and Lisanna had made their back to the village and informed them of the situation "Listen up everyone, the people who caused the curse that transformed you are planning an attack of the village. They're planning to destroy the village and kill all of us but we have a plan, we'll capture them and lock them up until they tell us how to change all of you back to your normal selves."

"You sure that's actually gonna work?" asked Bolt.

"Unless you have a better idea this is what we're going with."

"Well the only thing is that those three are all wizards, catching people like that isn't exactly gonna be a walk in the park."

"You're right, and the four of us are the only ones we have right now that actually can fight people like that."

"So how do we go about that then?"

Lucy pondered for a moment, before inspiration finally struck "I just had a brilliant idea."

"Is this gonna be some kind of plan where me or Happy get used as bait?"

"You'll see soon enough."

That was when Moke came up to them "What are all of you doing out here?"

"Listen sir we don't have a lot of time right now, the enemy is going to attack the village any second."

"What enemy?"

"The ones that are responsible for the curse that transformed you and your people, they've been hiding in the old temple in the jungle."

"I don't care who's in the temple, why haven't you destroyed the moon?!"

"Oh right , that. Well you see, it wasn't the moon who did this to all of you exactly but now we know exactly who did." Lisanna told him

"You lie! Just do as I ask of you!" he had to be held back by a few of the villagers.

"Sir please we just need you to calm down."

"Get your hands off me you fools, don't listen to her, she doesn't have any clue what she's talking about!" and he was promptly dragged away.

"Uh… okay."

"Don't mind him, he doesn't really mean any of that." one of the villagers assured them "He's just upset about everything that's happened. He's been like this since Bobo died."

"The poor man."

"Yes."

"Well if it helps, we know how to trap the enemy." Lucy told him.

"We'll be happy to help if you need us."

"I'm the greatest Celestial Wizard that Fairy Tail has right now and Lisanna is a super tough Anima Soul magic user, so why don't you just leave this to us. You don't have to worry, this will be a piece of cake. _Oh my god I've always wanted to say something like that.'_

"You seem like you're getting a little bit overconfident." Lisanna pointed out.

"**Open, Gate of the Maiden: Virgo!"**

With the use of a key and the opening of a gate, Virgo appeared before them "You summoned me princess, what can I do for you?"

"Listen up Virgo, we don't have a lot of time."

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A few minutes later…

Virgo popped back up in front of Lucy and the others "As you requested princess, I have completed the task."

Lucy nodded in approval "Good work Virgo, my plan is gonna work perfectly."

"I'm not so sure about that."

"What did you just say?"

"Hey Loony." Bolt got her attention.

"Yeah what do you want?"

"I hate to be that guy, not that it's accidental in the slightest, but I'm pretty sure you're an ego driven lunatic."

"Oh gee, thanks for the encouragement."

"Lucy your trap is the oldest trick in the book, no one smarter than Natsu would actually fall for that trap."

"Oh come on don't be ridiculous, a pitfall trap will get them every time."

"You can tell what it is just by looking at it." Lisanna pointed out.

"Yeah well it doesn't even matter because there's only one way to get in and out of the village to begin with, that means that the enemy is gonna have to go over it if they want to get in."

"I still don't think there's any way they'll actually fall for that." Bolt pointed out.

"Oh come on, I actually come up with my own plan and you just diss me like that?"

"I call it like it is, do you not even know me by now?"

"Screw it, go ahead and doubt me as much as you want and then you'll see."

"Miss Lucy get ready, it looks like there's someone heading this way!" one of the villagers called out to her.

"That has to be them, open the gate!"

"Right!" they opened the gate to the village.

"Now come to mama-"

"Hey you guys, are you okay?" as it turns out it was just Natsu carrying Gray, totally unaware of what was going on.

"...Oh crap oh crap oh crap! No Natsu stay back, don't come any closer!"

"Wait what?"

"Natsu stop, it's a trap!" Lisanna cried out to him.

"Oh, why didn't you just say so." so he stopped right before he hit the trap.

"Oh that's a relief, for a second there I thought-"

"What's with the grass on the ground here?" and so like an idiot he stepped on it and fell into the trap with a loud thud.

"Natsu!"

"Well I'll be damned, he actually fell for it." Bolt commented "Maybe I really should stop doubting you."

"Very funny asshats but we don't have any time to play some stupid pranks on each other for shits and giggles.

"Hey don't look at me or Lisanna or the other cat, the blonde was the one who decided to set the trap."

"I should've known dammit!"

"Yeah tell me about it, anyway are you okay down there? You still good to kick some ass when the time comes?"

"Well I'm fine, but Gray is down for the count."

"The guy in the stupid mask beat him down that badly?"

"...Oh hey cool check it out, that huge chunk of ice is gone. I guess it broke when I fell into this stupid trap."

"See?" Lucy let out a nervous chuckle "I told you the pitfall trap would work, at least it got him out of that stupid chunk of ice."

Lisanna gave a sheepish grin "Actually Lucy, I'm pretty sure it was because Natsu left the user's range of magic."

"Don't care, I'm free!" Natsu leapt out of the trap and set Gray down on the ground "So how come Lyon and his lackeys haven't made it here yet?"

"That actually is a pretty good question, they left for the village before you did but you got here first. I wonder what could be taking them so long."

"Yeah I know, and with Gray and that giant ice cube weighing me down I was pretty slow to begin with."

Lucy decided to make the call "Okay guys back to the plan I came up with, hurry up and cover that hole again!"

"No one's stupid enough to fall for that."

"Oh shut up!"

"Hey guys look overhead!" Happy pointed to what he was seeing flying overhead "It's some kind of giant flying rat, and it's carrying a huge bucket!"

"Hold on, what?! But now my pitfall trap is totally pointless!"

"You say that like it wasn't already." Bolt pointed out.

"Shut it!"

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Sherry glanced down at the village and let out a sigh "I didn't realize that the double poison jelly would take so long to prepare."

"Well we did time it perfectly." Yuka pointed out "Those wizards were able to make it back to the village."

"We cannot rest until the demon Deliora has been revived by the Cold Emperor, anyone who dares to stand in our way must be dealt with by any means necessary." and from the bucket fell but a single drop, plummeting down towards the village below.

"Even if that includes death."

"Especially then."

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Lucy glanced up and saw the jelly falling towards her "What is that, some type of jelly or something?"

"Get down!" Lisanna suddenly pulled Lucy out of the way before the jelly could touch her, leaving it to dissolve into the ground "That smell, whatever that stuff is it's really dangerous without a doubt."

"And you mean the gigantic rat has a whole bucket full of the stuff and they're gonna dump it all over the village? I shouldn't have said that out loud should I?"

"No, no you shouldn't have." Bolt pointed to where the villagers were freaking out.

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Yuka looked down on the villagers with complete and total disdain "Absolutely hideous, who would've thought that the Moon Drip could turn people into these beasts?"

"The look like the demon children of Deliora." Sherry muttered "Angelica, would you like to do the honors?" she was met with a squeal as Angelica poured the jelly down over the village in order to ensure its destruction.

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Lucy pretty much lost her shit when she saw this "How the heck are we gonna protect ourselves from acid jelly?!"

"Alright listen up!" Natsu suddenly barked at them "Lucy, Lisanna, I want the two of you to get everyone in the center of the village! Happy, you ready to fly little buddy?"

"Aye sir!" Happy sprouted his wings, grabbed onto Natsu and the two of them quickly soared overhead as the villagers followed his instructions.

Moka however, was being particularly stubborn "I'm not going, I refuse to leave the grave of my son!"

"Wait what?"

"Just ignore him, let's do this little buddy!" Natsu coated both of his arms in his flames "The flames of my right hand combined with the flames of my left, you put them together and they really fire things up! **Fire Dragon Brilliant Flame!" **he hurled a two handed blast of fire upwards at the incoming wave of jelly, dispersing the wave in a fiery explosion and causing it to blow, but at the same time also causing a drop of the stuff to rain down on Moka while he was still at Bobo's grave.

Fortunately, the smoke cleared to reveal that Virgo had saved him at the last second "Tell me princess, do you wish to punish him for disobeying your instructions?"

"Yeah I think we'll pass on that." Lucy and the others glanced around at where the village once stood, now replaced by a large corroded crater "Oh man that could've gone better, I mean he just destroyed the entire village!"

"Well the important thing is that no one got hurt." Lisanna assured her.

Moka was more awed by something he considered to be more important "Bobo's grave, it's still standing…"

At least it was, until it got kicked down as Sherry, Yuka and Toby waltzed their way towards the villagers "The Cold Emperor ordered us to eradicate the village and its people, we were trying to show all of you a sense of mercy by making your deaths quick and painless, but since that clearly didn't work we'll now have to resort to bloodshed."

"According to my analysis, we have to deal with 50 villagers and 3 wizards." Yuka noted "I doubt this should take us more than 15 minutes or so."

"Get ready you two." Natsu got into a stance that readied himself for a fight "People where we come from know not to screw with Fairy Tail, you ready to find out why?"

"How dare you show such disrespect…" practically snarling with rage, Moka had to be held back by a few of the villagers "How dare they kick over Bobo's grave, when I get my hands on you you won't know which ways are up and down!"

"Okay do you guys wanna get the old guy somewhere that's actually not here?" Natsu jerked a thumb and the other villagers dragged the chief away despite his screaming.

"Hold on a second…" Gray pulled himself to his feet.

"Oh so you're awake."

"Yeah, now let me help."

"Let me think about it. Thinking, thinking, thinking, not a chance in hell. We don't need any help from you."

"Natsu, don't do this to me man-" he was met with a fist to the gut.

"Just lie down and get some rest already."

"One day… I'll shove that fist… right up your…" and then he passed out, only to be gently placed on the ground by Natsu.

"And that's what we call tough love, you're lucky Lisanna is here or I'd aim lower."

Lisanna glanced over at Lucy and gave a small smile "That's what he considers tough love, he knows that Gray is in no condition to fight so he's being as gentle as he can be. He's a little bit rough around the edges, but deep down and Gray really do care about each other." she looked over to one of the villagers "Can you and the others look after him for us?"

"Not a problem Miss Lisanna, he's in good hands." one of them picked up Gray and slung him over his shoulder "Alright you guys, let's get moving." and so they left.

Sherry gave a malicious grin "We're not leaving this place until every single person in this village is dead. Angelica?" this prompted Angelica to start flying away using her tail as a rotor like a helicopter.

"There's no way we're gonna let you get away with this!" it was only after Lucy finished her brief tirade that she realized her brief lapse in judgement "Oh crap, I got too excited and grabbed onto her toe!"

"Well that confirms it, this bitch be crazy." Bolt noted dryly.

"Leave the people from the village alone, they didn't do anything to deserve this you crazy sons of bitches and actual bitches!"

Sherry glanced back "What exactly does she think she's doing?"

"Hey what's the matter, are you ticklish?" and then Lucy started tickling Angelica.

"You can try as much as you like, it's not going to work." and yet it did "Or maybe it will- Wait no Angelica you have to fight it, keep spinning your tail!" and yet she didn't and they started falling "We're going down!"

"Yes I did it- Why the heck did I do that?!" and they crashed somewhere in the jungle a fair distance away, causing everyone in the village to sweatdrop at the scene.

Yuka let out a sigh "Well that's just great, now he's going to be ticked."

"I DON'T HAVE ANY TICKS YOU DOUCHE!" Toby barked at him.

"I wasn't talking about you."

"So do you think Loony made it?" asked Natsu "That big rat might have crushed her when they landed.

"If that's the case then she's probably a goner." Happy let out a sigh "I'll go and check on her for you."

"Thanks little buddy, just be careful."

"Got it." and so he flew off in search of Lucy.

"As for me and Lisanna, well I say the two of us stay here and take care of them. **Fire Dragon Roar!" **he breathed a blast of fire in Yuka's face.

"**Animal Soul: Cat!" **Lisanna activated her Animal Soul: Cat form, allowing her physical strength to be increased to the point where a few slashes from her new claws could send the likes of Toby flying away in an instant.

"Point for team NaLi, whatever the hell that means but Luke has a t-shirt with that on it hanging in his closet!"

When the smoke cleared, it revealed that Yuka had shielded himself from the flames "A wizard with the ability to breathe fire. I see, so you must be the Salamander of Fairy Tail I've been hearing so much about."

"You got that right, now what of it?"

"You know we used to be members of a famous guild ourselves, so it wouldn't be wise for you to just blow us off so casually. In fact this is the same guild that houses Iron Rock Jura of the Ten Wizard Saints, surely you've heard of the guild known as Lamia Scale." he was met with a blast of fire aimed at his face "Hey cut it out you imbecile, you should listen when people are talking to you."

"Give me one good reason to, do you really think I give a damn what guild you came from or who the other members are?"

"You should."

"Well he's right, what matters is what you're doing here not where you come from." Lisanna told him firmly "We came here to help the villagers and you're putting them in danger, which means that we have to stop you."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah it is." Natsu summoned flames in his fist "And that gives me more than enough reason to kick your ass."

"...New plan. Hey Toby just stand back and deal with the cat girl, I've got this one handled so you don't need to get involved.

"CAT GIRL!" Toby pounced at Lisanna, which led to a comical cartoon style brawl that led them out of the area, leaving only Natsu and Yuka.

"**Wave!" **Yuka fired from his hand what looked like a blast of magic energy.

"I'll tear that thing apart!" Natsu prepared to unleash a blast of fire, only to be forced to quickly roll out of the path of the attack.

"Oops, I guess you weren't ready for that one then."

"**Fire Dragon Roar!" **Natsu breathed out a quick blast of fire.

"**Wave!" **Yuka used his magic to deflect the roar "The pulsing energy that comes from my hand diffuses all types of magic used against me, which means that none of your spells will have any effect on me."

'_So that's why my fire power couldn't destroy his barrier, now I get it.'_

"I specialized in an anti-wizard form of magic while I was with the Lamia Scale guild, and I'm sure you can understand why. It doesn't matter how strong they may be, all wizards are powerless before my power, and that includes you!" he fired a two handed energy blast at full speed.

"You wanna bet? **Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" **Natsu launched forward a fire fist.

"**Wave!" **Yuka used his Wave to block the attack "It's like I told you, against the likes of my Wave your magic is completely useless."

"That doesn't mean I'm gonna let you off the hook, it actually means that I'll just have to kick your ass without it."

"Wait what?"

"Like this!" he stuck his fist through "Hey check it out, I broke through it!" and then he screamed in agony.

"You put your bare arm inside a vortex of magic energy, not a smart move."

"I'm not know for smart moves, what I'm known for is kicking ass!" Natsu promptly forced his entire body inside the vortex "Guess what asshat, your magic doesn't have a chance in hell against my brute strength so what the hell are you going to do now?!"

"You might have broken through my Wave but now you're stuck Salamander, your flames aren't going to work now that you're inside."

"But I can still use them outside, and you just gave me a great idea! **Fire Dragon FLAME ELBOW!" **and so he used his fire magic to increase the speed and force of his punch, allowing him to punch Yuka so hard that he was sent flying away a great distance "And that's how we kick ass Fairy Tail style. Now all that's left is for Lisanna to wrap it up with the guy who's actually dumber than I am." he looked over to Bobo's grave stone and promptly proceeded to put it back as it was before "Hey don't worry man, we're gonna find a way to change your people back to normal. And we'll be sure to avenge your death too, that much I promise."

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Lyon found himself alone in the cave, staring up at the frozen form of Deliora '_Not much longer now until my dream becomes a reality.'_

"Hey Cold Emperor." that was when someone else showed up in the cave, this one having shaggy brown hair and wearing a black t shirt, pants, boots and black gloves "So be real with me for a second, why exactly did you choose not to kill Fullbuster earlier?"

"My reasons aren't that complicated Noah, I feel no need to shed any more blood than is absolutely necessary."

"Says the guy who ordered his lap dogs to kill the villagers, which makes you look like a frozen hypocrite. Face it, you've got a soft spot for Fullbuster even if you won't admit it."

"Don't be absurd, I simply have no desire to get any more blood on my hands than I actually have to, but if he does get in my way again then I won't hesitate to kill him."

"Whatever lets you sleep at night, in the meantime I'll be heading out to see if your lap dogs need any backup."

"Do as you wish."

"I intend to." and so Noah departed from the cave, leaving Lyon alone with his thoughts and the gigantic frozen form of Deliora.

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Toby let out a low whistle "Damn that guy beat Yuka, he must be awesome."

"You have no idea." Lisanna dropped into a stance "But I can't let you hurt him or anyone else here."

"I'm not scared of you Cat Girl, I'll have you know that I'm even stronger than Yuka is. Go ahead and take a look at my Mega Jellyfish Paralyzing claws, I bet you'll never guess what these babies can do!"

"They can paralyze people?"

"Holy shit how did you know that, hey do you have ESP or something?"

"No, you're just… Well, you're kind of stupid."

"NOBODY TALKS TO ME LIKE THAT YOU STUPID CAT!"

"Watch it you dog!" they started clawing away at each other in a comical fashion.

"With just one strike from my paralyzing claws you'll be frozen and begging for death!"

"Hey wait hold on a second, I think you have something on your forehead."

"What you mean right here?" he punctured himself with his own claws, paralyzing himself and causing him to pass out.

"Well that was… incredibly easy." Lisanna transformed back and let out a sigh "Maybe Natsu is rubbing off on me too much."

**A/N:**

**And thus starts the Galuna Island arc, as well as adding Lisanna into the team roster of Team Dragon. The only reason I didn't add her during the Lullaby arc was because I didn't want to overcrowd the team roster too early.**

**Noah is an OC that was recommended to me some time ago by TheCarlosInferno, and he'll be taking the place of Ultear in this arc for the sake of some plans that I have in mind for him. And no he won't be joining Fairy Tail, just throwing that out there.**


	7. Galuna Island II

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**DoomMarine55: **Look I told you before, if you don't like it then stop reading it, but I don't need you spewing hate over the work I put in for no reason.

**Ragnas Bredvolts: **Good to have you back, and I'm glad you're feeling better. Yeah I've really been building up Luke's power over the last few chapters, but since Gray is the main character of the Galuna Island arc Gray and the others are going to have more of a supporting role. No need to worry though, I plan to show off Luke's full power in the next arc. As for his swordsman techniques, it's mainly channeling his Lightning Dragon Slayer magic into the blade, but I'm willing to try and add some new techniques in to give him some more variety with it. I've never watched Demon Slayer or Rakudai Kishi, but I'm willing to look into them and see if I'm able to incorporate them somehow. And also, you have a glorious day as well my friend.

**Darkmaster10000000: **I'm glad to see I've caught your attention. Also, I don't intend to have any three way relationships in any of my fics.

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"_In a land far far away lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small and peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most people, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards and mages, and banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore, but there is a certain guild in a certain town that stands high above the rest of them, one from which countless legends have been born, a guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. This guild is known as Fairy Tail."_

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At the same time, Lucy had begun battling against Sherry, only to find that she had the power to control Lucy's Celestial Spirits, examples when she forced Taurus to attack her.

Fortunately, Lucy was able to use Aquarius (as well as her dislike of anyone that tries to summon or control her) to defeat Sherry, but this still left Angelica to deal with.

In a mix of both good luck and bad luck, Erza arrived and defeated Angelica with ease, only to set her sights on Lucy and Happy and tying them up as punishment for taking the S class quest without permission.

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"Well that was… incredibly easy." Lisanna transformed back and let out a sigh "Maybe Natsu is rubbing off on me too much."

"Better the Salamander than these the other two idiots."

Lisanna whipped around to find Noah standing a short distance away stretching in a very nonchalant manner "What are you-"

"Still not too shabby, I mean granted even a pickle jar could take down the likes of the dog guy but tricking him into stabbing himself with his own claws wasn't too bad of a strategy."

"Are you one of their allies?"

"I'm working with these idiots under orders, otherwise I wouldn't be caught dead with a guy who's more dog than man and tries to sniff my ass on at least an hourly basis. Anyway now that both him and Yuka are down I figured it's about time I threw myself into this little mix, and since I'm bored and could use a good warm up you up for showing me what a Fairy Tail wizard can do?"

"I don't fight for the sake of fighting like Natsu and the others do, but I can't let you hurt anyone from the village or any of my friends. **Animal Soul: Cat!" **Lisanna reactivated her cat based Animal Soul form and pounced at Noah with her claws barred.

Noah just cranked his neck to the side and a large slab of rock appeared, protecting him from her attacks "So you're one of the Take Over siblings of Fairy Tail, Lisanna Strauss of the Animal Soul right? You wanna see what I've got now? Well you will." the ground beneath him started shaking as he powered up.

'_No way, he's so strong he's shaking the ground!'_

"**Mountain Dragon…"**

'_And he's a Dragon Slayer like Natsu and Luke?'_

"**ROAR!" **Noah breathed out a large orange colored tornado, and with it a large barrage of small rocks and pebbles.

"**Animal Soul… WINGS!" **despite taking a few hits from the roar, Lisanna managed to swap to her wings form and take to the air.

"**Mountain Dragon Terra Fist!" **Noah broke off from his roar and charged at Lisanna while she was still in mid air, his arm coated with a gauntlet made of rock and earth, and he slugged her across the face before she was able to react, sending her hurtling towards the ground.

"**Animal Soul: Bunny!" **Lisanna flashed into a new form as she hit the ground, giving her a set of bunny ears, a bunny tail and what looked like a bunny girl outfit.

"Well the guys in your guild must love that, and for the record when I say that I mean that they're all a bunch of pervs."

"Some of them are, but I only like to show this when I really have to." Lisanna blitzed forward and dealt Noah a fierce barrage of kicks to the face and torso, sending him skidding backwards a few feet.

Noah eventually managed to summon another Terra Fist and slugged her in the gut, sending her skidding backwards "A little bit on the light side in terms of physical strength, but all things considered not too bad. **Mountain Dragon Boulder Barrage!" **Noah summoned a large number of boulders from within the ground and fired them all towards her at once.

Lisanna dodged and parried her way around each one "A little bit on the light side huh? You might want to take your own advice."

"You're not the first person to tell me that, it's why I usually only use that technique when I need a distraction." Noah blitzed in front of Lisanna and slugged her full force in the gut with another Terra Fist, causing her to cough up blood and fall to her knees from the sheer force "You know some might call this abuse on some level, but I like to think of it as gender equality. You put up a good fight but you've got a ways to go, and unfortunately I'm not here to act as sensei like in some old porn flick. Now then-"

"**Lightning Dragon Heavenward Halberd!" **a massive halberd made of lightning magic shot towards Noah, forcing him to retreat in order to avoid the impact.

Noah shook off the explosion that followed "That was pretty close, if I hadn't dodged that then who knows what would've happened. But more importantly I'd say we've got some more company right about now."

Sure enough, the smoke cleared to reveal Luke with his dragon scale sword drawn and Bolt hanging onto his shoulder, and Luke was ready for a fight "Bolt just take Lisanna and hang back, I'll deal with this guy myself."

"I gotcha, just make that fast." Bolt latched onto Lisanna and pulled her away through the skies, leaving only the two Dragon Slayers remaining.

"I thought it was strange that I caught the scent of a dragon that wasn't coming from Natsu, I didn't expect to meet another Dragon Slayer. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Luke Drako and I'm the Lightning Dragon Slayer of Fairy Tail."

"Oh believe me I know damn well who you are." Noah dusted himself off "**Mountain Dragon Terra Fist!" **and then he launched an earth covered fist.

Luke quickly cut through the rock and earth on Noah's arm "I'm not one for arrogance or to be completely merciless, but at the same time I don't take too kindly to people who try to hurt my friends."

"Hey I wasn't out to kill the bunny girl, I was just testing her to see what Fairy Tail wizards are capable of these days."

"And?"

"Could be better, could be worse. Well anyway knowing what you guys are like I'm guessing you'll want to tend to her and round up the other idiots who came here, and frankly I have to take a leak, so we'll have to finish this later. **Mountain Dragon Collapsing Crater!" **Noah promptly slammed his fist into the ground, creating a massive uprising of rock and earth.

Luke braced himself with his dragon scale sword, but by the time he could see through it, all he knew now was that Noah was gone "Looks like I'm dealing with draconic brains and brawn mixed into one package, kind of rare but also kind of refreshing."

"Emphasis on rare." Bolt lowered Lisanna back to the ground, only to promptly be grabbed by the tail by Luke "And now this is happening."

"This is punishment at least for now, we have other things to deal with, Lisanna needs medical treatment for the beatdown she suffered."

"No no, I'm okay." Lisanna wiped some of the blood from her lip "But in the meantime Gray is hurt pretty bad, and Natsu is off doing who knows what in the jungle. A group of wizards are trying to resurrect a really powerful demon, and the villagers have been living under a curse for three whole years."

"Have they reached the point where they started purging their own kind?"

"Yes. I'll go with you back to the village to make sure Gray is alright, but none of us can just leave people and let them suffer like this."

"...I hate it when people assume that I'm just heartless, yeah I know that rules have to be followed by the point of magic is to use it to help people." Luke slung Lisanna's arm over his shoulder and started carrying her that way "At the very least I'll make sure Erza agrees to wait until Gray's well enough to move, then we'll try and track down Natsu wherever he is and we can go from there." this was met with a sigh from Lisanna.

"Thank you."

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Morning came, and the sun was shining brightly over Galuna Island.

Gray finally opened his eyes and found himself in one of the tents in what looked like the village, much to his confusion "Where the hell am I?" he made his way out of the tent and into the open, which looked very similar to the village.

"Oh thank goodness, I'm glad you're awake." one of the village girls got his attention.

"What is this place, where are we?"

"This is a storage area that's not too far from the village itself, everything was destroyed in the attack last night so we decided to come here for shelter."

"The whole village? You can't be serious. _I can't believe it, Lyon and his lackeys actually went and did it.' _he cringed at the pain of his wounds.

"You know it's a miracle that Natsu and the others were here, it was thanks to their bravery that everyone was able to make it out alive of the attack."

"Well at least that's a relief, so are they still around here somewhere?"

"Yes they are, they actually wanted me to show you towards their tent once you had finally regained consciousness."

"Which tent exactly?"

"They're waiting for you in that big one right over there." she pointed.

"Alright, thanks." and so Gray made his way over to the big tent, only to be horrified instantly by the sight that was waiting for him inside "Oh shit."

As it turns out, it was a terrifyingly pissed off Erza sitting there waiting for him while tightly holding onto the rope to which Lisanna, Lucy, Bolt and Happy had been tied, with Luke just calmly sitting off to the side and reading a book "You made me wait, not smart."

"Uh… why are they tied up exactly?"

"Lucy and Lisanna have myself and Luke up to speed on everything that's happened. I thought the two of you were sent to stop Natsu and these three fools, needless to say you've greatly disappointed me."

"Where is Natsu anyway?"

"That's something we all need to know, last any of these four have heard he was fighting off the lackeys of this so called Cold Emperor." Luke noted.

Lisanna nodded "Yeah, but when we went back to where the village was there wasn't any sign of him. I just hope he's okay wherever he might be. Anyway, since we couldn't find him we just decided to come and look for you, but we didn't have any idea where you had ended up, so we had Bolt and Happy do some scouting from the air, and from up there we could see that the villagers had moved into this storage area."

"Uh huh."

"Alright then, we're going to search for Natsu and then we're going to be heading back to the guild." Erza told him firmly.

"But we can't leave the island just yet Erza, if you already got filled in on the situation then you already know exactly what these villagers are going through right now."

"And what exactly would be your point?"

"Luke and I came here for the sole reason of apprehending these fools for breaking the rules of the guild, I'm not interested in anything else other than that."

"Rules, are you kidding me? Have you even seen what's been happening to the people on this island?"

"I have."

"And you're still just gonna turn your back on them?"

"Their request has been posted on the board of every guild hall in the kingdom, the villagers would be better served by wizards who are actually cleared for S class quests. You don't meet the qualifications."

"I never thought you of all people could be so heartless."

"...Would you care to repeat that?" Erza promptly summoned a sword and proceeded to hold it against Gray's throat while casting him a dark glare "Am I supposed to take this as a declaration that you've chosen to defy the rules of the guild as well? You're going to be facing the same punishment." she was answered with Gray grabbing the blade of her sword and pointing it at the guild mark on his chest.

"Go ahead and do whatever it is that you have to do. For me there's no other choice that I can possibly make, I can't just walk away from what I know is right. I don't care what you say and I don't care what you do, I'm going to see this through to the end and there's no way you're going to stop me " and with that, he made his way out of the tent.

"And that about sums up what happens when someone has the guts to defy Erza knowing she'll most likely kill them for it, but at the same time, knowing that they're making the right decision." Luke promptly used his dragon scale sword to cut Lucy and the others free "You guys will still have to be punished once we get back to the guild hall, but at the same time there's no way we're just ignoring it when people are suffering. Get ready you four, we have a serious fight in our hands this time around.

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Natsu let out a yawn as he made his way through the jungle towards the temple "Dammit, I finally came up with the perfect plan and then I go and oversleep like that. Well whatever I guess, let's get this shit done."

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Lyon looked down at Toby with clear disappointment "How disappointing Toby, the fact that you of all people are the only one still standing. Those wizards of Fairy Tail, they've proven to be quite impressive."

"And it also speaks volumes about the quality of your other lackeys." Noah pointed out, his tone dry "But at the same time, it might put a damper on your plans to resurrect Deliora.

"And you Noah are as blunt as you've ever been."

"Well if all goes according to plan then the demon should be brought back by some point later tonight, but those wizards from Fairy Tail are people to keep an eye on. If they manage to screw up the Moon Drip ceremony then nothing would be able to free Deliora from the gigantic ice cube. They have two Dragon Slayers and Titania with them, and those three are nothing to scoff at and if you don't play your cards right then everything could be ruined."

"As always, you seem to be quite well informed of our situation. No mind, I can't say that I'm exactly worried. Those fools may prove to be formidable but they're no match for me."

"Yeah that's about what I expected to hear from you, but either way I'm still joining in on this fight."

"It's been quite some time since I've seen you in battle."

"I haven't had a good reason to get involved, but with two Dragon Slayers on the scene not to mention Titania herself how could I not get in on the fun?"

"So be it, we could use another wizard on our side." this was followed by the temple shaking and then suddenly shifting to a diagonal position, and then a blast of fire bursting upwards from beneath the floor "What in the-"

"Well that was unexpected, but at the same time kind of epic."

"What is the meaning of this?!"

"I should've figured He With More Flames and Balls than Brains, AKA the Salamander, would charge in head first like a crazed bull and make the first move. To keep it so simple that even the dog man would understand it, we've got company."

As it turns out, at the bottom of the gigantic and comically oversized hole was Natsu himself, looking increasingly smug "You know it's kind of funny, usually I end up breaking stuff by accident but now that I'm trying to do it on purpose it's actually kind of funny just how hard that actually is."

"And you're here because of why exactly?"

"What's it look like genius, I'm knocking this place over so then you guys won't be able to to shine moonlight on that demon you've got underground."

"And that about sums up how blunt he can be and how overconfident he is to the point where he's annoying as hell." Noah let out a sigh "Or to dumb it down for the dog man this idiot is the reason why we're slanting with the rest of the temple. My guess is that he destroyed the support pillars on one side of the temple and that caused the temple to slant, and that's gonna stop the moonlight from shining down on Deliora. All things considered that's actually a pretty good plan for someone so simple, you have to wonder where that brain power or lack thereof is most of the time with this one."

"So are you gonna fight me or what?" Natsu started generating fire in his feet.

"Flames shoot from his feet? Well that's quite unexpected." Lyon noted "Then again, considering what I've seen you do Noah I shouldn't be surprised."

"**Fire Dragon Rocket Booster!" **Natsu burst upwards with flames shooting out of his feet and rammed straight into Lyon, only for him to shatter into thousands of shards of ice almost instantly as a result "What the hell, what is he a fake or something?"

"You won't be able to dodge in mid air! **Ice Make: Eagle!" **the real Lyon summoned a swarm of ice eagles.

Natsu used his fire to force himself downwards in order to avoid the attack and then breathed out some more fire aimed at Lyon himself.

Lyon quickly ducked underneath the attack, leaving the walls to be scorched in his place "What kind of ridiculous magic is this?"

"The Dragon Slayer kind mother fucker! **Fire Dragon Roar!" **Natsu tried to breath out a fire roar at Lyon, only for the floor beneath him to give out and for him to fall through the hold mid-roar, which resulted in only Toby getting charred by the blast.

"Lucky for you king of dick-cicles, and the only price you had to pay was a comically charred dog man." Noah noted dryly.

Lyon promptly shot him a dirty look "What did you do?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like, you use earth based magic so it had to have caused that hole in the floor."

"Looks like somebody's got the Devil's Eye. Look if I have to say this then the fact is that you're the only one strong enough to defeat Deliora, don't bother wasting any more energy than you have to before the time comes for you to actually fight it."

"Are you suggesting that I would actually fall victim to such paltry magic?" Lyon promptly covered the floor in a thick layer of ice "Now leave me be, I can take care of this myself. All I have to do is finally defeat this demon and then everyone will worship my name, the name of the Cold Emperor Lyon. I've worked too long and too hard to allow a brat like him to tarnish all of it."

"Whatever lets you sleep at night."

"At least you have common sense."

"So that's it?" Natsu pulled himself back out of the hole "So you're doing all of this because you want to defeat Deliora? That thing looks half dead already. So let me get this straight, you're going to all of this trouble to melt that ice just so you can fight the thing? That's pretty messed up if you ask me."

"I'm doing this because I have to rise above the legacy left behind by my master Ur, I will not rest until I've fulfilled my dream! **Ice Make: Eagle!" **Lyon fired off a barrage of ice eagles from one hand.

"**Fire Dragon Talon!" **Natsu launched a barrage of fire enhanced kicks to cancel out the ice eagles "But why bother to go this far, can't you just challenge her and be done with it?"

"Don't you think I would if I could? The fact is that Ur has been dead for years."

"Oh. Shit. Gray said she sacrificed everything to seal the thing away, I didn't realize she ended up dying in the process."

"Yes that's right, but she would still be alive if it wasn't for Gray!" he hit Natsu with an ice eagle from behind.

When the frost cleared, it turns out that Natsu had blocked the attack "Look I don't know a damn thing about what happened to you in the past, but I do know what you're doing in the present and it's hurting a lot of innocent people who haven't done anything to deserve this, and since you don't seem to realize that yourself I'll have to fry it into your skull!"

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Luke glanced over at Gray as they and the others rushed towards the temple "So you're telling me he's going to all this trouble just because he wants to fight that thing?"

Gray let out a sigh "Even when we were little kids Lyon has always dreamed of surpassing Ur and her magic abilities, but since she's gone and he can't challenge her directly now he's reached the conclusion that it's up to him to kill Deliora because it's the one thing that she wasn't able to do."

"Well yeah I sort of understand the logic in that, but that doesn't mean that what he's doing is right."

"Of course not. Anyway listen, there's something that I never got to tell Lyon. I kept this a secret from him for years, Ur made me promise to never let him know about this, but now I don't have any other choice. Ur may not be with us anymore physically, but the truth is that she's actually still alive."

"...There's a complicated backstory to this isn't there?"

"Yep." Gray let out a heavy sigh and began his story "It's been 10 years since then, my hometown was attacked and massacred by Deliora. I had never seen so much destruction, the whole place was wiped out in less than a day. My parents and everyone and everything I knew was wiped out before my eyes, and I was the only one who survived. Ur and Lyon found me and they pulled me from the rubble, and I made a vow that I would find Deliora and make it pay for what it had done, and that vow was how all of it had begun. After that Ur took me in as her second apprentice and started training me along with Lyon, but I was too impatient and hot headed."

"Like you are now."

"But nowhere near as bad. Anyway, this also happened to be where I got my stripping habit from too. It was a simple life but I enjoyed myself for the most part, at least until I heard some news about the whereabouts of Deliora. That was when I made the biggest mistake of my life, I left and went after the thing alone."

"Yeah hold on a second." Luke glanced up at the temple "Am I the only one who thinks that temple isn't supposed to be crooked? Was the thing always like that or was this some of Natsu's handiwork?"

"My guess would have to be Natsu, I don't know how he managed to pull it off but he's the only one who would do something that batshit crazy."

"Well if he did it on purpose then there's a twisted sort of genius to it, since the temple is tilted then the moonlight can't shine directly on the demon."

"Which means that his habit of destroying stuff actually came in useful for once, which is about as ironic as someone can get."

"And if not?"

"Then he's about as destructive and comical as he always was- Wait hold that thought, everyone get down!" he shoved Lucy and Bolt to the ground and fended off a barrage of energy blasts with his dragon scale sword "Whoever's there come out now."

The ones that came out were actually a bunch of the cultists working for Lyon "We've tracked all of you down now Fairy Tail, we won't allow you to interfere with the Cold Emperor's plans any further!"

"I'm gonna go out on a whim and assume that these guys are working for your senpai?"

"Don't call him that." was all Gray said.

"No promises."

"Don't waste your energy Luke, I can handle this myself." Erza promptly summoned two swords to her side.

"You sure about this?"

"All I need is Lucy, Lisanna and your cats to back me up. Gray you go and settle things with your senpai (cue Gray's eye twitching), and Luke you go along with him just to be on the safe side."

"Just make sure you don't take too long or Natsu will never let you live it down until you beat him down. Alright Gray let's get moving before Natsu does anything else stupid."

"Got it." with a small smile, Gray and Luke both bolted off towards the temple "I have to hurry and tell Lyon that Ur is still alive, there's only one person who can stop him now."

"And that's you?"

"Yeah." Gray let out a heavy sigh and continued with his backstory "Like I said, I made the dumbest move of my life when I left to challenge Deliora on my own. I don't remember much about when I fought the thing on on one. When I came to Ur was in front of me, and her leg had been blown off so she was using her magic to make a replacement one out of ice. She told me to grab Lyon and get out of there, but then he woke up and in a moment of insanity he tried to use a sacrificial spell called the Iced Shell, a spell that turns the body of the caster into ice for all of eternity. Ur froze him to stop him from using that spell, and then Ur decided to use that spell herself to stop Deliora. There was nothing I could do to stop her, but as she cast the spell she asked me to tell Lyon that she died, or else he would probably try to waste his life looking for a way to undo the spell."

"Which he has."

"But not for that reason. When I watched Ur finish casting the spell, I felt all of the anger and sadness within me just wither away. It was at that moment that I swore that I would always be strong for her, I would become the best wizard that I could in order to make sure that she would be proud of me."

"But Lyon didn't take it well I'm guessing."

"Far from it. When he came to I told him that she died, he blamed me for killing his dream along with Ur, and I hadn't seen him since that day. Not before yesterday."

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Natsu was growing impatient over his battle with Lyon "You know this could totally go on forever dude, so just do yourself a favor and give up."

"Oh please." Lyon let out a scoff "You say that like I would ever give you the satisfaction of my surrender."

"Then you're asking for it asshat."

"Oh am I now?" this was followed by a crack forming in the wall between them.

"What the hell?"

The crack shattered the wall to reveal Gray and Luke standing there ready to fight "You guys just leave Lyon to me, I think it's time for us to settle things between us once and for all."

"Not a chance in hell man, you already lost to him once."

"Yeah I know, and there's no way in hell it's gonna happen again. I'm more than ready to end this right here and right now."

"You seem awfully confident in yourself." Lyon pointed out.

"You were right Lyon, I'm the one who's to blame for the death of our master. But you're no better, you threatened my comrades and brought harm to the villagers, and now you're trying to destroy what Ur gave her life to create. It's time for us to accept our punishment together." he got into a certain stance that made Lyon freeze in terror.

"That stance, don't tell me you're going to use the Iced Shell! You wouldn't dare, you would have to be insane!"

"If you want to live then change the villagers back to their human forms, and then leave this island and never return." Gray summoned the magic circle "If you agree to that then I'll stop the spell, otherwise this is the end."

"Is that so? Well I don't believe a word of it, I'm calling your bluff."

"I would beg to differ." the Magic Circle appeared and a tornado of ice and snow swirled around them.

"But you'll die!" Lyon was blown back by the force of the magic power "Don't do it!"

"All this time I've just been lying to myself, I didn't want to admit that Ur was dead because of me but she did, and now it's time for me to take responsibility. And that's what I'm going to do here and now, I'm not afraid to die if that's what it takes!"

"Stop it Gray, stop it now!"

"What's it gonna be Lyon, are we gonna die or are we gonna live? It's up to you!"

"You wouldn't, you don't have enough courage to give your life! You're nothing but a coward in the end!"

"Just watch me! _Luke, Natsu, Erza, and all of my friends from Fairy Tail… I'm leaving the rest of this up to you. I don't want to have to leave you, but my time is up now. Farewell my friends, live long and prosper. _**Absolute Freeze, Iced-"**

"Boot to the head!" Luke dealt Gray a sharp kick to the head, sending him skidding backwards a few feet and cancelling out the Iced Shell spell before it could officially be cast "What the hell did you think you were doing?"

"Did you not hear my epic speech, I'm correcting a mistake I made years ago."

"By killing yourself to take him down with you?" Luke grabbed Gray by the wrist and pulled him back to his feet.

"If I have to then I'll die to make things right."

"That's not gonna change anything, I know that from personal experience that that isn't going to change what's been done." that shut Gray up "I know damn well what you're going through with this guy Gray, I've had the same burden on my shoulders for almost 2 years."

Gray froze in place and paled slightly.

"At least you know he blames you, they even have the guts to look me in the eye and say that they don't blame me for what happened. But I didn't sit around whining about it or try to kill myself because of it, because I know just killing myself isn't going to bring her back. The way I see it, all you're doing is running away like a coward, like I did." this was followed by the temple beginning to shake "And now that's happening."

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Erza and the others continued to cut down one cultist after another "We have no intention of letting you past us."

Of course, the cultists remained defiant "Do not falter, we must strike down all of those who oppose the Cold Emperor without any hesitation!"

"And we'll strike down those who dare to hurt our comrades without hesitation." this was et with the loud shaking across the entire island "What in the world is that sound?"

"Oh crap, hey you guys you might wanna take a look." Bolt pointed to where the temple was sitting upright again "I'm pretty sure temples aren't supposed to do that."

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Luke glanced over to where Natsu was trying to re-tilt the temple in a comical rage, but after a few seconds he just decided to ignore it '_This is bad, now the moonlight will be able to reach the demon.'_

"The key takeaway is, you're welcome." that was when Noah showed up on the scene.

"I should've known." Lyon let out a groan "I take it the temple repairing itself was actually your doing?"

"Like I said, you're welcome. It's only a few hours now until so someone had to make sure the idiot with more flames than brains didn't screw up your plans, so I used my earth manipulation magic to straighten out the temple for you."

"Well that fucking sucks." Natsu muttered "That shaggy jackass fixed the place all by himself, and after all the trouble I went to all that trouble to mess the place up to. Hey so what the hell did you do to fix it huh?"

"Like I just said dumbass, earth magic." Noah promptly flipped him off.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO ME YOU ASSHAT?!"

"Nothing you're not already proving, anyway now that that's taken care of I should probably go ahead and start with the Moon Drip ceremony." and so Noah promptly took his leave.

"HEY, QUIT IGNORING ME YOU DEMON HEARTED SON OF A MOTHER FUCKING LITTLE-"

"Boot to the head." Luke dealt Natsu a sharp kick to the head, knocking him out cold, and then he turned to Gray "I'll drop this one off with Erza and the others and then I'm going after that one, if I leave you to deal with your senpai will you promise me you won't kill yourself to take him down?"

"So long as you stop calling him that." Gray gave him a simple nod.

"Don't lose to him again or it's not gonna look good, for you or for any of us, for all of Fairy Tail."

"Yeah I know what you mean."

"Then prove it by taking him down." and so Luke slung Natsu over his shoulder and promptly took off.

"And then there were two."

"My my, quite the boisterous entourage you have." Lyon let out a chuckle.

"Just tell me something Lyon, a second ago when I was gonna freeze both of us for good with the Iced Shell you were counting on Luke or Natsu to stop me before I was able to finish right?"

"No, in fact it was quite the opposite. I never thought either of them would be reckless or foolish enough to come near a spell like that one."

"So what then, you were just gonna stand there and take the hit?"

"Exactly, because I knew someone would come to rescue me. You on the other hand would be finished for good."

"I should've known as much."

"Certainly, it would be quite inconvenient to be sealed away in ice but my allies are as devoted to my cause as I am, and as long as we're on this island they could use the Moon Drip to melt the ice whenever they saw fit."

"I didn't think of that actually, I guess the Iced Shell is completely useless here."

"And even despite that fact, you still wish to fight me after what happened last time? Don't lie to yourself anymore, you could never-"

"That's enough of that."

"What?"

"Just forget about Deliora already."

"What kind of nonsense is this, you're threats aren't working so now you're going to resort to begging? Does your guilt have a dentist that removes your fangs? That one sounded better in my head, but the point is are you just a coward?"

"Lyon listen to me, there's something that I have to tell you."

"What is it?"

"Ur is still alive." that left Lyon frozen in place and in silence "Using the Iced Shell doesn't kill the one who who casts it, it uses their physical body in order to form the barrier. The ice that's keeping Deliora sealed away, the ice that you've been trying to melt all this time is actually our master Ur herself. She isn't dead, she lives on as that ice. I'm sorry that I was never able to tell you the truth back then, Ur made me promise to tell you that she died or else she thought you would waste your life trying to undo the spell."

"...Of course."

"It's over Lyon, there's no reason to go through with this anymore." he was met with a blast of ice to the chest that resulted in an ice panther bursting out from his back, causing him to fall to his knees.

"Don't take me for a fool you imbecile, I'm well aware of how the spell works. I'm also well aware of the fact that Ur isn't alive, not anymore at least. That ice that keeps Deliora prisoner is nothing more than a chunk of ice."

"You… You knew… knew all along… and yet…"

"I've learned that there's a fine line between knowing and believing, and if you truly believe that our master is alive in there then you're an even greater fool than I thought."

"You knew the truth… and yet… you still did all of this?!"

"And what of it?" Lyon was met with a fist to the face that sent him crashing into the icy wall behind him "That… That shouldn't be possible, how can you even move with a wound like that one?"

"I've had just about enough of this, I wanted to save you but now I'm just giving up on you."

"So what then, you want the title of star pupil all to yourself? Well I'm sorry but I have to fight against Deliora soon, and I would rather not waste any of my magic energy on fighting the likes of you."

"Then we'll just use our fists."

"You want me to fight you without the use of any magic? That's fine by me." he promptly slugged Gray in the gut full force "Aim for your opponent's weak spot and hit it with all you've got, Ur taught us that remember?"

"You have no right to speak her name, and I won't let you!" Gray was only met with a knee to the gut again.

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Noah stood in a solitary area of the temple, lying in wait "I was wondering how long it was gonna take for you to show up."

Sure enough, Luke calmly made his way onto the scene with his dragon scale sword in hand, ready to fight "I had to drop off Natsu with Erza and the girls, and now it's just one Dragon Slayer facing off with another. At least I know the place won't come down on top of us, now that it's upright again."

"Having earth based Dragon Slayer magic does have its advantages aside from using it to crush people, observe. **Mountain Dragon… Death by Boulder!" **using incredible physical strength, he ripped a massive chunk of rock out of the roof above them and threw it forward "So what are you gonna do?"

"You're about to find out. **Dragon Sword Style: Thunder Flash!" **faster than the eye was able to see, Luke drew his dragon scale sword and blitzed through the boulder, obliterating it with a series of strokes at incredible levels of speed "Not many people or dragons actually know about this but Dragon Slayer magic can be transferred into objects created from dragon scales, and thus add them on as extensions of the magic itself. It's actually derived from certain principles of swordsmanship as well, they say that for a true master a sword is supposed to be an extension of the arm."

"That's about what someone should expect from the likes of Lost Magic, with these kinds of spells strength and side effects are so powerful it's been erased from history as most people know it."

"For some of these kinds of magic, that's probably for the best."

"Oh without a doubt, I actually know a woman from my guild actually uses a sort of time based magic."

"Good to know. As much as I enjoy this conversation, I think it's safe to say we have more important things to think about."

"On that we can agree, although I'm pretty sure we're thinking of different things. **Mountain Dragon Earth Collapse!" **Noah slammed a hand down onto the floor, causing the ground beneath him to shatter and allow him to dive into the hole he created.

"You know I'm not letting you get away."

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Lyon dealt Gray a severe uppercut knee to the jaw "What a shame, your fists are as weak as your magic."

Gray tried to aim a fist at Lyon's face, only to be met with a kick that sent him crashing into the ice wall behind him, but he let out a bitter chuckle "You know something… What you and me are doing right now… it kind of reminds me of someone I used to spar with as a kid… back in Fairy Tail…"

"This is the end!" Lyon slugged Gray across the face, sending him crashing straight through the icy wall.

'_Natsu… every time we knocked each other down back then, we would both just keep on getting back up, and that still hasn't changed even today.'_

"Well that settles it, you were no match for me after all." Lyon turned to walk away.

"Hold on." Gray pulled himself back to his feet "This fight isn't over… not yet…"

"You stubborn little- I should've killed you when I had the chance!"

"And now you won't get that chance!" Gray suddenly burst forward and slugged Lyon across the face, sending him crashing into an icy wall "You're gonna have to step up your game if you want to take me down!" he received a fist to the face, but he rebounded and countered with a brutal headbutt almost instantly "I never gave up against Natsu back then, and I won't against you here and now! I'm not gonna lose, you hear me?!"

Lyon dealt Gray a knee to the gut, followed by the two of them repeatedly punching each other over and over again "Why do you keep struggling against me like this?!"

"I'm not gonna lose, you're going down!"

"You could never defeat me and you never will!"

"We'll see about that! _I remember looking at the sky that day, I don't know why but it was so blue that it just made me so angry.' _with a mighty roar, Gray dealt Lyon one final kick to the face, sending him flying backwards.

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Erza and the others continued battling against the army of cultists "Tell me something you two, do you notice anything strange?"

Lucy nodded "Yeah, even though there's a bunch of them their magic seems really weak for some reason."

"Yes exactly, as far as I'm able to tell there are only five wizards among them."

"Which means what, that we're gonna have to go easy on them?"

"By no means, it just means that it will be easier for you to deal with. Do you think you can handle this one?"

"Oh without a doubt in my mind. **Open the gate of the Giant Crab, Cancer!" **she pulled out one of her golden Zodiac keys and opened the gate.

And who should appear but Cancer himself in all of his glory "You summoned me baby?"

Erza studied him for a moment "Correct me if I'm wrong but the two of us have met before, haven't we?"

"Indeed we have." he suddenly got down on one knee with a bouquet of roses "And as always miss, I am at your service."

Lucy was less than pleased by the sudden change in attitude "I thought you always called people baby, what the heck is with the "miss" stuff and aren't you supposed to be at my service? Okay you know what, screw that. Just take all of them down but don't kill them, just rough them up a little bit okay?"

"Alright then baby- I mean miss."

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Lyon struggled to pull himself back to his feet "The Cold Emperor, defeated in battle by the likes of you? I refuse to stand for it!"

"Then get over here and fight already." Gray told him simply.

"As you wish. **Ice Make: Snow Dragon!" **Lyon attacked Gray with a dragon made out of pure ice magic.

Gray quickly shattered the snow dragon with a fist to the head, freeing himself and causing the dragon to shatter "You know Lyon I thought we agreed not to use any magic."

"No need for you to be a sore loser, this duel was pointless from the start. Deliora is going to be revived either way, alas it's far too late for you to stop me now."

"That doesn't mean I'll give up on trying."

"You can try as much as you want, but the fact is that Noah is preparing to start the Moon Drip as we speak."

"Luke isn't going to let him do that. Trust me, the second you underestimate anyone from Fairy Tail is the second you lose."

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Noah glanced up at the frozen monstrous form of Deliora "My god this thing is ugly, but it's what they need so…"

"You know you really should never take your eyes off your opponent! **Lightning Dragon Iron Fist!" **Luke blitzed above Noah and slammed his lightning enhanced fist into the ground, creating a sizeable crater.

Noah leapt upwards to dodge the attack "Hey in my defense I didn't expect you to be able to track me down so soon, how did you find me here anyway?"

"I followed my dragon nose, all Dragon Slayers have that ability."

"Oh yeah, you know that doesn't come up very much except for comedic purposes."

"No it really doesn't."

"As much as I enjoy our witty banter and I hope to see what you can really do, I actually have some other things to do right about now like reviving Deliora."

"Yeah you might as well forget about that, it's not going to happen."

"And what makes you so sure of that fact?"

"Because I'm going to defeat you and Gray is going to defeat his senpai, and once that happens this will all be over. Cut off the head and the beast will fall."

"Not a bad thought process, but there's one thing I know that you don't."

"And what would that be?"

"That there are people up there doing the ceremony right now."

"...Oh crap."

"Well not people actually, truth be told it's just the stupid dog guy up there right now is it's actually pretty weak, but since we already have a decent amount of moonlight it's not that much of a concern for us. All we have to do is give it a little nudge to finish the job, go ahead and see for yourself." Noah pointed to where part of the ice suddenly melted away.

"So the ice is melting away as long as you and the others are working to revive it, which means that I just have to stop you and the dog guy up there and then the spell will stop right?"

"**Mountain Dragon Quake!" **Noah slammed his fist into the ground, creating a sizeable tremor that caused part of the cave roof to come down on them "You know that if you want to get up to the dog guy then you'll have to go through me."

"I figured as much."

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Erza and the others (now accompanied by Natsu, who was now tied up and struggling to free himself from Erza's grasp, to no avail) looked around at the defeated cultists "Excellent work you two, now let's all head over to the temple."

"No wait!" that was when a few of the cultists got back up and removed their masks, revealing their faces "We won't allow you to interfere with the Cold Emperor."

"Those headpieces, that must mean that you're from the city of Brago and what you want is to get revenge."

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Noah dodged a slash from Luke's dragon scale sword "You know I wouldn't do that if I were you, it may not be like Salamander's fire magic but power of that magnitude might have an impact on the revival of Deliora. I can't say for certain really."

"Lightning magic doesn't have anywhere near the same level of residual heat as fire magic does and it can't work on the Iced Shell." Luke pointed out "If it could then you wouldn't have gone to all this trouble, you can bluff as much as you want but once I'm done here all I have to do is stop the Moon Drip and then it's all over."

"Well what do you know, power and skill combined with a sharp mind and a surprising level of decorum and formality. That's pretty rare for a Dragon Slayer."

"Oh you have no idea." then the temple began shaking again.

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Gray looked around as the temple began shaking "I've got a bad feeling that for once the chaos isn't coming from Natsu."

"That means that the ceremony is finally reaching completion." Lyon told him "The ice that was sealing Deliora has at last begun to melt away."

'_Ur…'_

"There's nothing you can do Gray, you no longer have a chance of stopping me. You and your friends have failed! Tell me something Gray, do you have any idea how long I've waited for this moment? Since the last time we saw each other I've been gathering knowledge and allies who will aid me in my quest. I was fortunate enough to discover this place, an island where you can collect the light of the moon, Galuna. **Ice Make: Eagle!" **he sent forward a barrage of ice eagles with a wave of his hand "It wasn't an easy task transporting Deliora from Brago, and the Moon Drip itself has taken three years!"

"**Ice Make: Shield!" **Gray summoned an ice shield in order to protect himself "You mean you've been working on this stupid plan for three years?"

"Stupid? How dare you say that, you've spent the last 10 years in some foolish guild piddling your life away!"

"You think I don't know that?!" Gray dodged another ice eagle once his shield had shattered "I went there because I put my faith in what Ur had told me! She said that the western countries had a lot of wizards more powerful than her, but you were too blinded by your obsession to accept that fact. Once she was gone and we went our separate ways I went west like she said and I eventually ended up in Fairy Tail, and it turned out she was right and the guild was so full of powerful wizards that I couldn't believe what I was saying. The first thing I did was talk to the master Makarov, and he did say that there was one way to undo the Iced Shell spell, but if I was going to melt the ice then it would just be the same as killing Ur. I didn't realize it at the time but I'm pretty sure the old man was talking about the Moon Drip when he said that." his glare hardened furiously "After everything Ur did for us you would kill her without giving it a second thought, you make me sick."

"Say whatever you will Gray, I don't care. My entire life has been leading up to this one single moment. Our master is long dead, if we want to prove that we have surpassed her then what can we do in her absence? Think about that Gray, there is only one answer and it likes with the monster Deliora! I will surpass our master by defeating what she could not!" he summoned an ice dragon on his arm and started swinging it in a blind rage.

Gray dodged every strike with ease "Well I admit that that's a pretty ambitious plan, but I can't stop thinking you might have missed the point somewhere along the way!" he summoned an ice sword and shattered the ice dragon with one stroke "Someone as blind as you are could never be better than Ur, not in a hundred years. Now wake the fuck up Lyon!" he slashed Lyon across the chest, only for him to shatter into ice.

"I fooled you didn't I? **Ice Make: Snow Tiger!" **Lyon blitzed behind Gray and unleashed an ice tiger from one hand.

"**Ice Make: Prison!" **Gray summoned a cage made of ice, trapping the ice tiger before it was able to hit him "Are you seeing this Lyon? This is what you are, a beast in a cage that's constantly lashing out a world that he barely knows."

"Utter nonsense, I'll make quick work of that spell of yours!" and yet he quickly found that his snow tiger was unable to break free from the cage "What?"

"Casting a spell with a single hand is too unbalanced, your creations will let you down when you need them the most. **Ice Make: Ice Cannon!" **Gray summoned a cannon made of ice and fired it at Lyon, blowing a hole clean through the wall of the temple as well as hitting Lyon dead on "We learned that from Ur remember?"

"Gray… you… how…" and then Lyon finally collapsed.

Gray cringed as the pain of his wound finally caught up to him, and he quickly got to work sealing it with his ice magic "Dammit, I really should've sealed up this wound earlier." but then the temple was suddenly shaken by an absolutely monstrous roar "Okay, that definitely doesn't sound promising in the slightest."

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Noah himself was cringing and covering his ears at the monstrous sounding roar that was coming from Deliora, but then he glanced over and noticed Luke looking calm as can be "How the hell are you not on the floor screaming in agony over that thing?!"

Luke blinked, then pulled a set of earplugs out of his ears "Sorry you say something? Kind of preoccupied with that." he pointed to where Deliora was bursting out from the ice.

"On the one hand, it's free and I can do my job. On the other hand, good fucking god that thing is loud!"

"What?! Earplugs are out but I still can't hear anything!"

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"That sound…" as he finished sealing his wound, Gray felt the horrible memories of a decade ago flash through his mind "I could never forget that sound…"

Lyon could still hear it as well despite being only semi conscious "Deliora…"

'_They did it, they actually brought Deliora back. There's only one thing I can do now, I have to use the Iced Shell.'_

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By this point, Lucy and the others had reached the temple, only to catch wind of Deliora letting out its roar "What the heck was that noise, it sounded like some kind of monster growling?"

"Call it a hunch but it was probably the monster thing Gray's senpai was talking about and trying to bring back." Natsu wrapped his arms around Lisanna protectively "Either that or it was Lucy's stomach."

"You know you're not half as funny as you think you are."

"Yes I am."

"No you're not and I'm pretty sure that was Deliora and that means they actually brought the thing back to life." Bolt pointed to the Moon Drip shining through the floor "The purple Magic Circles on the floor are exhibit A."

"We still have a chance though." Erza told them "That may be the growling of the demon but someone is still performing the Moon Drip ceremony up at the top of the temple, which means that they haven't finished fully reviving it yet, so that means that we still have a chance to do something. Come on!" she rushed off towards the temple stairs.

"But isn't the demon in some kind of underground cave?"

"The only hope we have is to put a stop to the ceremony, we have to hurry!"

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Noah cleaned the blood out of one of his ears and glanced down at Luke "You know you could've mentioned you had earplugs."

"I only brought them with me to drown out Natsu whining over me sticking him back with Erza and the others before I came after you." Luke pulled out his set of ear plugs and stuck them in his pocket "And I stuck them back in when I saw the ice starting to melt."

"And you could still hold a conversation with me despite having them in?"

"Dragon ears, Dragon Slayers have basically everything heightened. So are we gonna finish this or what?"

"Go ahead and show me what you've got."

"After you."

"I'm flattered. **Mountain Dragon… ROAR!" **he let out a roar that took the form of a tornado infused with many small rocks and boulders and the like.

"**Lightning Dragon ROAR!" **Luke let out a roar and a blast of lightning from his mouth, the two Roars cancelling each other out and sending both of them skidding backwards "Not too shabby of a roar."

"You either, I guess your dragon taught you well."

"I learned from the lightning dragon Kaminari."

"I learned from the Mountain dragon Jishin (quake). You wanna see what else he taught me then?"

"I feel like I will either way. **Lightning Dragon Iron Fist!" **Luke fired off a blast of lightning from his fist.

"**Mountain Dragon TALON!" **Noah blitzed away from the attack, then summoned some rock armor onto his leg and dealt Luke a sharp kick to the head, sending him tumbling away from the impact.

Luke quickly rebounded and skidded to a stop, and he wiped the blood from his lip "So you use earth based magic to enhance your physical attributes instead of using it to blow stuff up."

"It's a nice change of place from working with people who know how to blow shit up all the time."

"Sad thing is that I can't really argue with that." Luke cracked his neck nonchalantly "Not gonna lie you are good, but you know damn well that I can't afford to lose this fight."

"Not like I ever expected you to know just when to give up. **Mountain Dragon… TERRA FIST!" **Noah summoned another Terra fist and let it fly forward.

Luke was pushed back a great distance, but he managed to block the attack using his sword "You seem to know me pretty well. We both live and breath Dragon Slayer magic every single day, and you realize just as well as I do that we spend all of our time honing our skills in the face of the greatest rival we could ask for: the future." the blade of his sword began crackling with electricity "**Dragon Sword Style: Lightning Blade!" **the blade was covered by what appeared to be a magnetic field, and then it shot forward towards Noah faster than he was able to react, the force sending him flying backwards through the cave as a result of the explosion that followed the blast.

Noah pulled himself out of the rubble and spat out some blood as he dusted himself off "Not too shabby with a sword either, I appreciate a little bit of variety from time to time."

"Glad to see someone actually says it. Let me ask you something though, why go out of your way to help a guy like Lyon anyway? It looks to me like you're working pretty hard trying to bring back this demon just so he can kill it to boost his ego, that might be good for him but what the hell do you get out of it."

"Well yeah it's obvious this is just an ego boost for him, I can't speak for the lackeys that joined up with him before I did so you'll have to ask them."

"Pretty obvious in retrospect, so what about you them? What do you hope to gain from all of this?"

"I admire a guy who knows how to get straight to the point, the fact is that Lyon is a pain in the ass with an ego bigger than a brain and he doesn't have a hope in hell of defeating Deliora as he is right now. That's where I come in."

"So what then, you gonna swoop in after he bites the dust and take the credit for yourself and get a huge fan base or something?"

"Look I don't even want to be here, my superiors ordered me to come here in order to see if they'll be able to control Deliora for themselves. You see there are a few spells that give the caster power to control immortal monsters like the charmer over there, they think they'd be the most powerful beings in the world if they could have a powerhouse like Deliora at their beck and call."

"Well that pretty much sucks, I'm sorry I asked. If anything that's more of an ego boost than what Lyon is after, just having a monster as your lap dog doesn't make you powerful."

"That's what I tried to say but my superior is kind of a (bleep)."

"Not very tactful are you?"

"Well she is. She's not like us, we understand that power only means something if we earn it for ourselves."

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Luke's sword began crackling with electricity "I know for a fact that the people I've sword to protect are what keep pushing me to get stronger, and you and those friends of yours screwing things up for the people of this island are done here. I'm putting a stop to it here and now, you got that?"

"Loud and clear." Noah held up a hand "**Mountain Dragon Rock Dragon!" **he slammed his hands together and summoned a massive dragon made of stone "Let's see if you've got what it takes to stand up to an actual dragon!"

"This thing is a far cry from an actual dragon, and frankly I don't care what you all it. All I know is that this has to end. **Dragon Sword Style: Thunderclap Strike!" **Luke pointed his sword forward and shot out a blast of lightning from the blade, the force obliterating the rock dragon in an instant as well as sending Noah hurtling down into the waters below.

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Meanwhile, at the top of the temple…

Erza watched from afar as Natsu repeatedly punched Toby in a comical rage "Well it would seem that he has this covered, and now the Moon Drip should stop any minute now."

Natsu looked down at Toby with a mix of comical rage and confusion "You mean a dog was doing this all by himself?"

"I'M NOT A DOG DAMMIT!" Toby barked "And you're too late, it's over now! The ceremony has already been completed." this was followed by a white light shining on the center of the temple, and a monstrous roar ringing through the air.

"Son of a-" Natsu paused when he glanced back at Lisanna and Happy "-itchbay."

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Gray had arrived in the cave just in time to see the Iced Shell completely melt, and Deliora at last free itself, and he glanced down at the waters that once held it prisoner '_Thank you…'_

"Well your timing definitely couldn't be better." Luke leapt down onto a rock in front of him and let out a sigh.

"Luke…"

"Well I think it goes without saying but there's only one thing we can do now, we have to take that thing down with everything we've got."

"No…" that was when Lyon crawled onto the scene with an insane grin "Neither of you… are strong enough… but I am… I can defeat it… I will defeat it… I will surpass Ur… I will realize my dream… and make it a reality…"

"This coming from the guy who doesn't even have enough energy left to stand."

"I've waited for this moment… for so long… From the very moment I first heard of her… I knew that Ur would be the one… that I would have to surpass… She was strong… but still not strong enough… to kill that demon…" Lyon staggered to his feet "I'm going to do the one thing that Ur never could! Finally, after all this time my dream will be fulfilled!"

"Oh for the love of-" Gray chopped Lyon on the neck and left him to fall to the ground "Yeah I think it's safe to say you've caused enough trouble, and now I'm going to clean up the mess you made." he made his way into the water and got into the stance "I'll seal the demon back up myself. **Iced Shell!"**

"No Gray you can't do this to me , do you have even the slightest idea how long it took me to melt that ice?! Sealing it again isn't going to stop me, I'm never going to rest until I've finally defeated Deliora!"

"I can't worry about the future, I have to do this to keep it from killing all of us right here and right now!"

"Or we can go for plan B." Luke stepped in front of Gray and promptly activated his Thunder Drive technique "As in the plan where you don't sacrifice yourself, you get your senpai out of her and you let me handle this."

"Don't be stupid, just get the hell out of my way!"

"If I didn't let you kill yourself before then why would I do it now? I'm not going to let _that _happen to any of my friends or comrades again remember?" he watched as Deliora let a fist fly forward.

"LUKE DON'T!"

"You already know that Fairy Tail wizards never know when to quit, because they don't give up until the bitter end. **Dragon Slayer Secret Art… ROARING THUNDER!" **packing as much power into his fist as he could, Luke fired a blast of lightning from his left hand at Deliora, the force of the blow resulting in a massive backlash of magic power that sent Luke tumbling backwards, while Deliora itself suddenly began to crumble and fall apart.

"What the hell…? But that shouldn't be possible…" Gray's expression was one of pure and total disbelief.

Lyon's on the other hand was one of mostly horror "No… No, it can't be!"

"Deliora… it was already dead…"

"For 10 years… Ur spent the remainder of her life as the Iced Shell gradually depleting the life force of the demon… and what we saw was nothing more than its last dying breaths…" now filled with pure frustration, Lyon slammed his fist into the ground "My dream is dead… there is no hope now… I will never surpass Ur…"

"Ur… I guess she was even more amazing than either of us thought." Gray had full on tears streaming down his face "You saved my life again… Ur… thank you…"

Luke pulled himself out of the rubble and looked out at the water gushing out of the temple and into the open ocean '_So the ice that was once the wizard Ur melted and turned into water that flows into the open sea. Even if she isn't physically with us, Gray said before that she's still alive so that's good enough for me. From her new place in the seas, Ur will be able to watch over her beloved students forever. It's like she's looking down at them telling them not to fight with each other anymore.' _he looked over to see Natsu, Erza and the others rushing onto the scene and gave a small smile '_And now that that's taken care of, there's only one last thing we have to do before we can go home.'_

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A short amount of time went by, and everyone regrouped along the shore of the island.

"OH HELL YEAH!" Natsu let out a flaming roar of triumph aimed at the upper atmosphere in his oblivious joy "Yeah that's right people, we won!"

"Yeah, somehow we pulled that off." Luke glanced over at Gray "You know part of me was a little bit nervous about fighting another one of Zeref's demons, but I guess everything worked out in the end thanks to your master."

"WE TOTALLY FINISHED AN S CLASS QUEST ALL BY OURSELVES! HELL I BET GRAMPS IS GONNA LET US ON THE SECOND FLOOR NOW AND LET US DO ALL SORTS OF AWESOME SHIT-" Natsu was silenced by a chop to the head from Luke and the rest of them were silenced by a dark glare from Erza.

"I think you guys are forgetting two things."

Lucy quickly broke out in a cold sweat "Oh crap, you guys are still going to punish us after everything?"

"Make that one thing. The original request that you guys took was to help the villagers return to their normal forms, Deliora originally had nothing to do with it so you still haven't completed an S class quest yet."

"What? But I don't get it, the curse should be lifted now if Deliora is dead."

"That's not the case, the villagers being cursed never had anything to do with the demon in the first place. The villagers were being affected by the intense levels of magic energy that the Moon Drip spell was releasing, which means that the death of Deliora isn't going to change their current situation in the slightest."

"But that means… Oh no."

"Which means that we still have a fair amount of work ahead of us if we want to change the people back, starting with figuring out how."

"I think I know where to start." Gray glanced back at Lyon "Hey Lyon, do you know anything about changing them back?"

"To be quite honest, I don't have any sort of clue." Lyon told him flatly.

"Are you sure you don't know?" asked Lisanna "We heard from the villagers that the curse started around the same time you and your friends got here."

"When we first arrived on this island three years ago we were already aware that there was a village somewhere on this island, but we had absolutely no reason to communicate with any of the villagers so we left them alone until now, and they never came to the temple to see what we were up to."

"You mean you've never interacted with any of them in three years?" asked Erza.

"That is what I said yes."

"But I don't understand it, the light from the Moon Drip is so bright that you can see it from almost anywhere on the entire island." Lucy pointed out "It's kind of weird that they saw it pretty much every night and never went to investigate it."

"The villagers weren't transformed by the Moon Drip, it doesn't affect the human body in any way."

"Yeah cut that bull-" Natsu paused and glanced at Lisanna "Stuff, cut the bullstuff. How do we know you're not just saying that so you and your lackeys will be off the hook?"

"Just think about it, I've been exposed to it for as long as they have and my appearance hasn't changed in the slightest."

"That does make sense." Luke frowned in thought "So then what could've caused it?"

"I wouldn't trust them if I were you, those villagers are hiding something but of course I'm sure you guild wizards can handle it."

"Well they're still the clients who hired us, but with that being said you did still destroy the village-"

"Please stop Luke, that's enough." Erza told him quietly "They all have their reasons."

"Everyone does, it's just a matter of whether or not they have good reasons."

"This is more debatable, but it's certainly understandable. All of Lyon's followers, they all lost the people they loved at the hands of Deliora and they wanted to get revenge and closure over their losses. They were simply doing what they believed to be right, and that's all any of us can do."

"...And it's all that any of us really should do, I guess I jumped the gun a little bit."

"We all have those moments, but it doesn't matter at the moment. Let's get going."

"Right.

"But what are we gonna do to lift the curse?" asked Natsu.

"Do what people in Fairy Tail always do, improvise." he glanced back to notice Gray staying behind, but he and the others left anyway.

Lyon scowled at the look Gray was giving him "What the hell are you looking at?"

Gray let out a sigh "Look I know you don't want to hear it, but I really do think you should try and join a guild. You'll make some new friends, you'll meet some new rivals, and maybe you'll even find a new dream you can live for."

"...Whatever, just get out of here."

"Yeah, sure thing." Gray gave him a small smile and then went on his way to join up with the others.

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Soon enough, Luke and the others met up at the village storage/ camp area, only to find that there was no one in sight "Are you guys sure this is the place?"

"Yeah, this is the place they were using for camp." Lucy told him "I wonder where they all could've gone."

"Probably hiding somewhere in case more Lyon's men showed up."

"Well since we're here I might as well I'm gonna go ahead and grab some bandages and some medicine." Gray made his way inside one of the tents.

"Might as well, he got pretty beat up fighting his senpai."

"You guys finally made it back!" that was when one of the villagers rushed up to them "Come on and follow me to the village, there's something you guys need to see!"

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And so they did, only to find that the village had been completely restored.

Luke blinked "Okay so destroyed village was completely restored, not gonna lie was not expecting that one. Everything looks like nothing even happened."

"What the hell is going on here?!" Natsu started punching one of the buildings "It's like pretty much everything is back to how it was, it's like the village went back in time!" he was promptly grabbed by the back of his shirt by Luke and pulled away from anything breakable "Hey what the hell dude?!"

"Stop talking about everything being fixed like it's a bad thing, and for that matter stop breaking things."

"ARE YOU SAYING THAT I DESTROY EVERYTHING I TOUCH?!"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. Back in time though… Wait no it couldn't be him."

"What is it?" asked Erza.

"That Mountain Dragon Slayer I fought said that one of his comrades used some kind of time based magic, so maybe it could've been them. Well I guess that would make sense, he didn't really strike me as evil, just doing what he had to do. But then again, I'd probably pick up the scent of someone else here wouldn't I?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Lucy.

"...It's nothing, forget it." Luke glanced over to see Moka sitting by Bobo's grave, which had been restored along with the village '_I'm guessing that's the village chief and that's his son's grave that Lisanna told me about, it's a good thing it was brought back along with the rest of the village. I'm sure the chief must be relieved about that too.'_

"Tell me young man." the chief glanced back at Luke "You and the rest of your wizard friends used magic to restore our village didn't you?"

"I'm guessing it will be a lot easier if I just say yes."

"I can't tell you how much I appreciate it, however there is one thing I still need you and the others to tell me."

"And that is?"

"When are you wizards finally going to destroy the moon for us?!"

'_...Wait they were serious about that? I thought they were just kidding.'_

"Well, answer me!"

"I honestly have no idea what to say to that."

"You have no need to worry." Erza quickly assured Moka "Destroying the moon is but a simple task for us."

"I can't tell if you're just screwing with us or if you're actually Natsu levels of insane or if you're actually planning to destroy the moon, either way I think you need some serious therapy right now."

"But before I do that I need to ask all of you a few questions, would you be so kind as to call everyone together in the center of the village for a meeting?"

"Well at least that makes more sense."

"Give it a few minutes." Bolt told him.

"For the record I'm still punishing you when we get back."

"Fuck!"

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A few minutes later…

Soon enough, Erza and Luke had found everyone from the village gathered in front of the gates, and she began questioning them "So let me see if I understand this correctly and have all of the facts straight, the first time everyone in this village took on these demonic forms is when the moon began to turn purple, is that correct?"

Moka nodded "That is indeed correct yes, during the day we're fine but when the moon comes out we transform into what you're seeing now."

"And you said before that the moon first started to turn purple around three years ago, isn't that right?" asked Luke.

"It feels as if it's but a fraction of that time, but yes."

"Uh huh. Erza I honestly have no idea where you're going with this, but you usually know what you're doing so I'll let you take the lead on this one."

Erza nodded and started pacing around the village "Very well. From what we know so far the Moon Drip ceremony has been performed on this island every night for the last three years, and each night it produced a beam of light so brilliant that you couldn't possibly have missed it-" but then she let out a yelp as she hit Lucy's pit trap and fell in with a loud thud that left several of the others shaking in a mix of terror and disbelief.

"Okay so a couple of things to note now. One, yes she screamed like a girl and yes it was cute but if any of you value your lives then what happens in the pit trap stays in the pit trap. Two, a pit trap? Are you guys for real right now? Three, you okay in there?"

"I'm fine." Erza climbed out of the pit trap and continued on as if nothing even happened "But in all seriousness, did none of you ever wonder where that light was coming from?"

'_Yep she got up like nothing happened, but everyone is too scared of her to comment. That sounds about right.'_

"That's what I don't understand, why did no one ever bother to investigate?"

"Actually that's a fair point, why didn't anyone ever bother to look into it?"

"Well…" Moka let out a sigh "We would've looked into it, but according to the lore of our village our people must never go near that temple."

"Your own people are dying because of this curse, village lore shouldn't mean anything in comparison to the lives of your own. It's obvious that you knew that there was a problem, why else would you have contacted the magic guilds for help?"

"Oh. Well…"

"Why don't you just tell us what's really going on here?"

"To be honest we don't even know that ourselves, please just allow me to explain. We've tried to investigate the light many times, we'd take up weapons we've never had to use, I'd trim and style my sideburns and then we'd venture in the jungle towards the temple but we could never get near it. We'd get close enough that we could see the temple through the trees, and then suddenly we'd find ourselves back at the gates of the village."

"But that doesn't seem right, my friends and I got into the temple without any sort of problems like that so what makes you and your people different?"

"We never said anything to any of you earlier because we were worried that you wouldn't have believed us. We're telling all of you the truth, we've tried to go back to the temple many times but not a single villager has ever been able to get inside."

"So that's it." Luke shared a glance with Erza and both nodded.

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Noah (now sporting a large bruise on his cheek) observed the discussion from his perch high atop a cliff just outside the village gates "Well what the hell do you know, I figured the likes of Luke and Titania would be able to figure that out as fast as that. I guess not all Dragon Slayers are mindless brutes after all."

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Erza wasted no time in requipping into a gold and blue colored suit of armor "Alright Luke let's go, we're going to have to work together in order to destroy the moon." this was met with various horrified gasps from Gray, Lucy and Lisanna, with Natsu just pouting in what appeared to be jealousy.

"Okay, if you're sure about this then I'm all for it." Luke was met with several stunned looks of disbelief.

"It's the only way we'll be able to change the villagers back to their human forms." Erza was met with various cheers from the villagers.

"So what is your plan for this to work exactly, do we do it from the top of the temple? It's a lot higher up there so it might be easier."

"We'll do it from here, the villagers can't go near the temple and they need to witness what's about to happen."

"Or else they won't be satisfied, I think I understand." he leaned in and lowered his voice "Just for the sake of being clear we're both just screwing around right?"

"Of course we are, there's absolutely no way we're destroying the moon."

"So then what exactly is our plan?"

"You're about to find out, but for now just play along." Erza quickly got the attention of the rest of the villagers "The suit of armor I'm currently wearing is known as Giant Armor, it increases my physical strength and allows me to throw farther." she used her Requip magic to summon a massive spear "This is the spear of Haja, it repels darkness."

"That's right, Erza intends to use the spear of Haja to blow the moon clear out of the sky before our very eyes."

"That is my intention yes, however I'm afraid I'll need to harness more strength than this armor will be able to supply for me. This is where you come in Luke, I'm going to need you to use your Lightning Dragon's Roar to give it a boost. When I throw the spear I want you to hit it the back of it with your Roar, the result should be a backlash of enough kinetic energy to help it to reach the moon. Now we'll have to time our attack perfectly, but I believe that you should be able to give me more than enough power to get the job done."

"I give you my word as a Fairy Tail wizard, we'll pull this off or die trying." they started to climb up to the highest point in the village "Okay this is fun."

"It's necessary to complete the job." Erza aimed her Spear of Haja up at the moon, and with a mighty roar she hurled it into the sky "Now!"

"Right! **Lightning Dragon… ROAR!" **Luke breathed out a roar along with a blast of lightning, the force blowing apart the tower and propelling the Spear of Haja higher and faster "You think that did it?"

"If all goes well then it should hit our target right about… now!" sure enough the Spear of Haja hit what appeared to be the moon, but once it shattered it revealed the moon in place where it always was, only it lost its purple glow and the sky around it shattered, revealing a barrier over the entire island itself "And that should return the villagers to normal at any moment now."

"So that's what you meant, there was a spell cast over the island but it wasn't the moon that was causing it."

"That's right, as a result of the spell there was a noxious membrane covering the island. The Moon Drip was releasing evil energy in the form of a gas, that gas took on a crystallized form and formed an invisible shell in the sky that covered the island."

"And that's what caused the moon to look like it turned purple up there, it was actually just the color of the shell."

"And now that the shell has been broken everything should go back to how it was three years ago."

Luke glanced down at the villagers, only to find that their appearance hadn't changed in the slightest "I'm not so sure about that."

"That's nothing to be concerned about, the reason their appearance hasn't changed is because these are their true forms. The Moon Drip never had any effect on their appearance, but with that being said it does appear to have altered their memories."

"Which means what exactly?"

"That means that they think they're humans who were transformed into demons, but in reality it was just the other way around."

"So to put it so simply that even Natsu could understand it, they've always been demons right from the get go." this was met with gawking and a couple of looks of terror from Natsu and the others.

Gray glanced over at one of the villagers "Hey is that true?"

"Well, I mean it might be." the villager let out a sigh "I mean my memory is kind of hazy to be honest, but we all looked pretty human when you met us didn't we?"

"Yeah but that's because all of you possess the ability to look human." Luke told him "The spell messed with your memories and they led you to believe that your temporary human forms were actually your true forms, but the fact of the matter is that you were demons who fell victim to the side effects of the Moon Drip. As for why Gray's senpai and his lackeys weren't affected, my guess is because they were already human to begin with, from what Erza was able to deduce the only ones that were affected by the memory loss were demons."

Erza nodded "Yes, I knew what was going on as soon as the villagers told me they were unable to go to the temple. The moonlight collected there was sacred, and because of that creatures of darkness couldn't go near it."

"In other words, they couldn't go near it because of what they are."

"Well what do you know, you guys proved to be quite the detectives." a new voice noted, freaking out Natsu and the others once they realized it was Bobo, or rather Bobo in what was now known to be his true form "Thanks a ton wizards, I owe you guys one."

Moka was left shaking when he locked eyes with him "Bobo… but I thought… all of us thought you were…"

"Well yeah it hurt pretty bad to get stabbed in the chest but it takes a lot more than that if you want to kill a demon." Bobo let out a chuckle.

"But we were on the boat, you just disappeared into thin air." Lisanna pointed out "I used my mermaid form to search all around for you but I never found you."

"You weren't looking in the right place." Bobo suddenly sprouted wings and took to the air, freaking out the others considerably "I really hope you kids can forgive me for not telling you the truth sooner, you see I was the only one who didn't get hit by the memory loss and I had to leave because everyone went nuts. I knew I was a demon but everyone else, well all of a sudden they thought they were humans who got cursed."

"Bobo… BOBO!" with tears streaming down his face, Moka suddenly sprouted wings as well as he burst into the air and pulled Bobo into a bone crushing hug.

"I'm so glad you finally snapped out of it pops!" this prompted all of the other villagers to join in for a group hug.

Luke let out a sigh "Yeah they're definitely demons, but that doesn't necessarily mean that's a bad thing. Looking at them now, they actually kind of seem like angels don't they?"

"Let's have an all out feast tonight to celebrate, I say we party demon style!"

"Demon style maybe, but I still say they can't top a Fairy Tail party. That's just straight up impossible."

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Toby and the others looked down at the village from a short distance away, and he nervously glanced over at Yuka "Are you really gonna go down there?"

"It's not like I have any sort of choice." Yuka let out a sigh "It just wouldn't be right to leave things as they are right now, you just stay here with Cold Emperor Lyon okay?"

Sherry nodded "We have to do this, it's all in the name of love."

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Luke downed a drink and watched as Gray was dragged away by several of the demon girls from the village "Looks like a certain someone is getting a lot of attention from the ladies."

"You seem to find that amusing." Erza noted.

"Give it a few hours, he'll scare them off at some point."

"Truth be told I must admit, I was wrong about you humans." Moka let out a sigh "All these years we've chosen to hide from the outside world, we were so afraid that others would judge us by our appearance."

"People are prone to make those sort of rash judgements about people, but not everyone is like that."

Bobo let out a chuckle "You know the curse, that was actually just a rumor we spread so no one would come to the island and bother us."

"Well it definitely worked, it took me and Erza forever to find any sailors who were willing to take us here."

Moka nodded "I know, it's truly such a shame but after meeting all of you we've changed our minds. You and your companions have restored our faith in humans, and now we're not afraid anymore. We're ready to go out and befriend people from other lands."

"That's good. Friendship is a really beautiful thing, it's an emotional bond that transcends the physical appearance and goes far deeper." Luke glanced over to see several of the villagers looking fearful, and he glanced over to see Yuka and Sherry standing before them "And here come the mood killers."

"Those are the minions of the Cold Emperor, now what do we do?"

"Just hang back, my comrades and I will take care of them." Gray pulled himself to his feet and made his way over to them, with Luke and the others right behind him "Is there something I can help you guys with?"

"You Fairy Tail wizards proved to be quite formidable." Yuka noted "The Cold Emperor is so badly wounded that he couldn't even make it down here, and that's why we've come to pay you a visit in his place."

"So you've met with Lyon, that means he told you everything that happened didn't he?"

"We did and he did yes, but that doesn't matter to either of us. We wanted to settle things with you ourselves."

"If that's what you want then so be it, but you'll have to go through me first."

"Hold on a second." that was when Bobo stepped forward "We're grateful for your help but we can't keep relying on you to save us from anything that moves, so please just let us handle them ourselves."

"You sure about this?"

"Of course I am, if we want to protect our village and each other then we have to protect it with our own two hands."

"Hold that thought you guys." this was when Luke and Erza stepped forward "Under any normal circumstances we'd agree with you, but I think it's for the best if you let us handle it this time around."

"So we meet at last, Thunderclap and Titania of Fairy Tail." Yuka noted "From what I've heard you gave Noah and Angelica both quite the beating during your encounters with them not too long ago. You both seem to be extremely formidable opponents."

"We've already heard about your abilities, your friend over there is able to control inanimate objects to her will. Using our magic on you won't do anything but inflate your ego, you specialize in cancelling out any magic used on you. Old fashioned way it is. Erza you get the living doll, Bushy Brow over there is mine."

"Very well then." Erza promptly dealt Sherry a spin kick to the side.

Luke struck Yuka in the gut using the hilt of his sword, the force of his and Erza's attacks sending both of them crashing to the ground "If we're useless without magic then we don't deserve to use it, a true warrior knows how to fight with or without it instead of just using it to blow stuff up all the time."

Yuka pulled himself back to his feet despite the pain, with Sherry doing the same "I can see it now, you're both truly amazing warriors. We're no match for either of you."

"So then you're not here to attack the village or its people then, so what exactly do the two of you want?" Luke was met with a sigh.

"I doubt this is going to make amends for all of the trouble that we've caused you, but we wanted to apologize in person. The Cold Emperor, he wants you to stop calling him senpai by the way, he told us everything about what happened. It's thanks to all of you that we're finally able to let go of the pain we were caused by Deliora so many years ago."

"Yeah that's right, Erza mentioned you guys lost your families when it rampaged on your homes."

"When we were children the monster ravaged our village, we watched it murder all of our friends and family. The Cold Emperor had a plan to kill the demon once and for all, that's why we joined him in the first place. What we wanted was to get revenge, and we were focused on getting it we never stopped to think about how we were hurting innocent people. We were so blinded by our hatred that we ended up acting no better than the demon itself. From now on we'll try to treat other people with respect and compassion, as you do."

"...Works for me." Luke gripped both of them by the shoulders "I think you guys should stick around and see how we party Fairy Tail style."

"Wait what? But we were enemies just a second ago, I'm not sure if that's such a good idea all things considered, plus she's trying to watch her figure and-"

"Big whoop I know a woman back in Fairy Tail who's responsible for at least 30% of our alcohol budget and she's got the figure of a goddess. Just live a little bit, life can turn out to be a lot of fun if you just give it a chance.

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What no one realized was that Noah was observing the inevitable celebration from his place perched atop a cliff outside the village, and talking into a communication lacrima "So were the two of you able to see all of that Siegrain?"

"_We were. Tell me Noah, why did you restore the village using Ultear's time crystal again?"_

"I'm not in this to be a dick, just call it a favor for all the crap they went through, and to Luke for dealing me that little present on my cheek."

"_Well it is your decision, but in any case you had better leave before they find you. Those wizards of Fairy Tail, they could pose quite a threat if they were to get in our way."_

"Yeah well I'm a lot nicer than you and Ultear, I won't kill them if I don't have to."

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Morning came, and the sun was shining over the skies.

Luke glanced over at where Natsu was eating fire, and then he glanced down at Bolt "So what happened to our two party crashers?"

"Pretty much the same thing as most people that come to a party, they stuffed their faces and took off without a word." Bolt told him.

"Sounds about right." Luke glanced over at Gray, or rather the light scar on his forehead underneath his bangs "So I guess that's gonna leave a scar there, unless Porlyusica can do something about it."

"You say that like she will without bitching at us." Gray gave a shrug "Whatever, it's not like it really matters. I don't mind having a few scars as long as I can see them, the ones that sting are the ones that you can't see."

"Too true, I know all too well. Those kinds of scars are the ones that never go away, they always stay with you not in body, but in mind. I know exactly what that's like."

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A few minutes later…

"What?" Moka and the other villagers gawked at Erza and the others in disbelief "But miss you and your comrades deserve the reward, so please just take it!"

Erza shook her head and gave a small smile "We're grateful for that, truly but your gratitude is payment enough."

"That's nice of you but you should still take the money."

"I can't because your request was never officially accepted by the guild, it fell into the hands of a foolish wizard trying to prove himself even though he wasn't qualified for it." Erza pointed over to where Natsu and Gray were beating the crap out of each other behind her luggage cart "The pink one I mean."

"Foolish as they may be, if it wasn't for them then we would never have been saved. What if I give you the money not as a reward, but instead as our way of thanking you? It's the least I can do after everything you've done for our village."

"Well… When you put it that way you make it quite difficult to say no. But that being said, I still can't accept it because if we did then it would be contrary to the principles of our guild. On the other hand, we would be happy to take you up on the offer of your Gate Key along with the money."

"The Gate Key?!" Lucy bolted upright with hearts in her eyes "Come to mama!"

"She's the only one of us who actually uses them."

"Well at the very least you should let me take you back to Hargeon." Bobo offered "I mean you need a boat in order to get back to shore don't you?"

"I thank you for the offer sir, but Luke and I still have a boat waiting."

"Wait what?" Luke glanced over at Erza "That was more than a full day ago, you mean you never let the guys on the pirate ship leave?"

"Of course not, we needed a way to get home and the men on board were more than happy to stay until we needed them again."

"...So you bascially seduced them through a mix of fear and sex appeal."

"Call it what you will."

"I'm calling it exactly what it is."

"What it is is that they've become quite fond of me."

"After you beat the ever loving crap out of them, personally I'd rather swim back to Hargeon."

"Didn't you swim for about half of the trip?"

"It's a good workout, you never get anywhere in life by taking the easy way." and as that discussion continued, the Fairy Tail group made their way out of the village amidst the massive cheers coming from the villagers.

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Lyon and the rest of his followers watched the ship sail away from the island from their place atop a cliff near the coast '_And thus a story ends, and yet a new one begins.'_

"You know they weren't so bad after all." Yuka noted.

Toby on the other hand was outright bawling "I'm totally not crying you guys, I've just got something in my eyes!"

"You could've fooled the rest of us."

Sherry glanced over at Lyon "Tell me Lyon, are you alright? You never got the chance to say goodbye to your friend and give him your love."

"No need to worry, it's fine." Lyon assured her, then gave a small smile aimed up at the sky "The two of you were in a guild at one point weren't you? Tell me, what exactly is it like?"

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Meanwhile, in Era…

Siegrain glanced back at the doorway to his quarters to see Noah enter, followed by a woman with violet colored hair in a white kimono "So I take it you've come here to report in person then?"

"You know me." Noah gave a shrug "Some things just can't be fixed so what the hell can you do?"

Ultear nodded "Indeed, it's quite a shame that the plan with Deliora didn't work out."

"Well how the hell were any of us supposed to know that the demon was already dead?"

"Perhaps."

"No need to worry." Siegrain assured them "Such a setback is relatively minor, next time we'll be sure to be more thorough."

"And I'll make sure that such mistakes won't happen again, I had no idea the spell cast by that wench was so powerful."

"Yeah well at least I know not to speak of my mother that way." Noah pointed out "Does Ur really need to shed another tear. I have no idea why I just said that. Anyway Ur was as brilliant a mage as they come, I would've loved to see her in action in person."

Siegrain nodded "Indeed, Noah does speak the truth. In fact I believe that if she were still among the living today then she would be counted among the Ten Wizard Saints."

"Probably higher than you." this caused Siegrain to sprout a small tick mark "Looks like I struck a nerve."

"I have no intention of letting such trivial things cause me to lose my composure."

"You're both giving her far too much credit." Ultear let out a scoff "My mother loved her magic and nothing else, it's no wonder that wench was abandoned by my father."

"They say that the greater the loss suffered by a person, the stronger they must become in order to triumph over it."

"I highly doubt that my mother ever felt that I was that great of a loss."

"You never know." Noah gave a shrug "For all we know she probably took on those students to fill the void you left behind?" he was met with a finger brushed against his mouth "I'd take that thing away if I were you, you have no idea where it's been." this caused her to retract her hand and wipe it against her robe. And against Noah's shirt.

"Could we please just change the subject you two? I think it's time for us to move onto the next stage. Also Noah, what happened to your face?"

"What do you think, Luke punched me out before Deliora got revived."

Siegrain let out a chuckle "You never cease to be amusing Noah."

"Give me time."

"So how was he, did he prove to be as worthy of an opponent as I told you he would be?"

"I wasn't able to get a good read on him, neither of us were using more than half of our power when we fought each other, but he's definitely someone you've gotta keep an eye on. The guy spent 18 months training outside of the kingdom, word is he even trained with the top ranked Wizard Saint so I guess it's not that surprising. He's definitely not someone you would want to underestimate in a fight."

"I suspected as much, he is the son of the Lightning Dragon Kaminari. In order to him to realize my dream, I'm going to need him to to continue to light up the skies for the time being."

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A few days of travel went by, and the Fairy Tail team was making their way through the streets of Magnolia once more.

"OH HELLS TO THE YEAH, WE'RE HOME!" Natsu pumped a fist in triumph, earning a few eye rolls and a giggle from Lisanna.

"Well that sucked." Gray muttered "All of that worked and all I got was a scar and we only got stuck with a lousy Gate Key."

Bolt nodded "I know what you mean, we got screwed out of big time S class reward money after all of that."

"Not that you ever deserved it to begin with." Luke pointed out "You took the job without permission so it was never official in the first place, as far as I'm concerned you guys got off easy so you have nothing to complain about."

"Oh come on!"

Lucy let out a chuckle "You know he has a point, now quit complaining."

"Look who's talking Loonie, you're the one of us who actually got any sort of reward out of this whole thing. You think we could pawn it for some cash?"

"How the hell could you even suggest something like that?! You just don't get it, these Gate Keys are hard to come by. Sure there are lots of silver gate keys but this is one of the golden 12 Zodiac Keys, there are only 12 of them in the world and I'm lucky enough to be the owner of 5 of them."

"It's too bad they're all fucked up." Natsu muttered.

"Hey you watch your mouth you pink haired punk, me and my Celestial Spirits are gonna be stronger than you someday!"

"Of that I have no doubt." Luke gave her a small smile "So which one of the 12 Zodiac Keys did you end up getting?"

"Oh this time I picked up Sagittarius the centaur."

"You mean the guy with the horse legs?"

"Exactly."

"I thought that was a dude with the horse head." Gray commented.

"You're thinking of a minotaur, and I don't even wanna know what the hell Natsu is thinking of right now."

"None of us ever do." Luke let out a sigh "As fun as it is to talk like this be sure to keep in mind what's waiting for all of you when we get back to the guild."

"Wait what? Why the heck do we still have to be punished, everything worked out in the end so can't we just forget the whole punishment thing?"

"Everything did work out sure, but only because Erza and I came along in time to make sure you didn't get yourselves killed doing a job you weren't qualified enough to do. Stealing an S class quest is a serious offense to the guild."

"But we said we were sorry."

"But with that being said, promise me you'll never do it again then I don't think you'll be penalized by the guild too badly. But with that being said me and Erza don't have any say in that matter, Makarov is the one holding all the cards right now so you'll definitely have to be punished on some level. Lucy you're still new and I'm willing to put a good word in for you, the others on the other hand will probably have to deal with _that _and that's if they're lucky."

"JUST KILL ME NOW!" Gray suddenly exploded "I DON'T THINK I CAN LIVE IF I HAVE TO GO THROUGH _THAT _AGAIN!"

"Well to be fair Gray you and Lisanna were the ones sent to retrieve them, so even if you do have to go through _that _at least you won't be first."

"HA!" Natsu barked out a laugh "Sucks to be you Gray, I can talk the old man out of punishing me and Lisanna no problem, that guy loves us."

"He loves Lisanna, and you can't talk your way out of this one Natsu so that means you're going to have to face _that _first."

"...BYE!" Natsu tried to make a beeline away from the scene, only to be grabbed by the back of the scarf by Erza and dragged along "NO SOMEONE SAVE ME, NO NOT THAT, ANYTHING BUT THAT!"

"You brought this on yourself."

Lucy, on the other hand, was sweating intensely "Will someone please just tell me what the hell _that_ is?!"

"Something you won't have to go through, not just yet at least." Luke glanced over at noticed that the townspeople were staring at them and whispering "You know Natsu and I can hear everything you're saying right, what did our guild do to piss you off this time?"

One of them actually had the courage to speak up and answer him "You guys didn't do anything, we're just kind of surprised that Fairy Tail wizards don't know about it yet."

"Don't know about what?" Luke glanced ahead and and his expression hardened at the sight before him, that being the guild hall having been torn apart "Oh. That. Fuck."

**A/N:**

**And thus comes the second half of the Galuna Island arc. I tried to hold off mentioning that Noah was an Earth Dragon Slayer (or Mountain Dragon Slayer as he's referred) for the sake of not spoiling it for anyone too soon. All I had planned out in advance was his magic type, his name and his affiliation, I hadn't really planned out anything about his personality in advance, so be sure to let me know what you think.**

**In case the ending didn't make it clear, I'm going to do what the manga did and skip episodes 19 and 20 of the anime, and it's going to jump straight into the Phantom Lord arc, which I am extremely excited about writing.**


	8. Phantom Lord I

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**Ragnas Bredvolts: **I'm glad to see you like it. Mountain Dragon Slayer was something I thought of for another fic that I ended up cancelling, so I figured that I shouldn't let good material go to waste. As for his personality, I figured would make him be more down to earth and laid back than the likes of Ultear (or Zalty as she goes by during this arc). Also, I hadn't heard of Gregor Clegane until I read your review, and I'm just throwing it out there now that I don't watch Game of Thrones. The gag of Natsu trying not to curse in front of Lisanna is something I'll be keeping going for awhile, so we'll see how that one pans out later on. And yes, I'm already aware that I need an editor.

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"_In a land far far away lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small and peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most people, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards and mages, and banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore, but there is a certain guild in a certain town that stands high above the rest of them, one from which countless legends have been born, a guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. This guild is known as Fairy Tail."_

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Luke and the others gazed in a mix of anger and horror at the sight before them, in the form of the Fairy Tail guild hall having been ripped apart by several metal rods bursting out of the building "Well on one hand you guys won't have to deal with _that _for the time being, on the other hand what the actual fuck happened to the guild hall?"

"You can thank Phantom Lord for that."

Luke glanced back to see Cana standing nearby looking pissed as all hell "Phantom Lord went out of their way to do this to our guild? Was anyone hurt?"

"No they're all fine, they're inside but they got us good. Come on, I'll take you to where the others are and we'll talk there."

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Soon enough, Cana led the group down to the basement of the Fairy Tail guild hall, where everyone was nursing their broken spirits "Lucky for us no one was here when they pulled that stunt, but it still sucks."

"You can say that again." Luke muttered "I don't get it, I know we've never been on the best of terms with Phantom Lord but this is a new low even for the likes of them."

"Hey, what's up kids?" Makarov waved to them from where he was sitting at a table drinking some booze "Welcome back."

"Sorry we weren't here sooner, but if it helps we didn't take any reward money from the people of Galuna Island since we didn't deserve it."

"Okay good, but you guys still have to be punished."

"Why the hell are you guys just sitting around down here!" Natsu barked, only to receive a glare and a chop to the head, with Gray receiving the same, as well as Lisanna, only she got one to the butt.

"Quiet, you kids know that you're in trouble don't you?"

"But the guild hall just got totally wrecked, why the hell aren't we doing anything about it gramps?!"

"Oh pipe down already, it's not like it's the end of the world or anything."

"What?!"

"That just goes to show you how cowardly those asshats in the Phantom Lord guild really are, they attacked when there was no one here so is that really anything worth bragging about?"

Luke breathed a sigh "Well no one got hurt so that helps at least a little bit."

"They wrecked the place sometime last night after everyone went home." Cana told him "At least no one got hurt so that's the important thing."

"I guess so."

"You're thinking too much into this." Makarov waved it off "We shouldn't bother to trouble ourselves over worry about a bunch of people who don't even have the guts to come and face us head on, I say forget about those idiots."

"BULLSHIT!" Natsu promptly slammed his fist into the side of the wall "There's not a chance in hell of that happening gramps, we can't just let them trash our place and get away with it!"

"I'm not talking about this any longer, we'll be handling job requests from down here until the upstairs is repaired."

"We shouldn't be worrying about jobs right now-"

"Natsu that's enough out of you!" he extended his hand… and for some reason he ended up spanking Lucy's ass.

Luke grabbed him by the extending arm "Master we talked about this, behave and keep your hands to yourself or I'm telling the others about what I found in your office that day."

"...Sorry, gotta go bye!" and then he rushed off.

"And there he goes."

"WHERE THE HELL IS HE GOING?!" Natsu exploded.

"My guess is to reorganize his closet."

"I just don't get it, how the hell can you guys be like this?"

"Natsu think for a second, this is just as hard on the rest of us as it is on you. Of course we're all pissed about this but the Magic Council has strictly forbidden any conflict between wizard guilds."

"But that's not fair, those asshats from Phantom Lord started it!"

"You think the council is gonna care about that? If the master decides that they're not worth any sort of retaliation then that's all there is to it, all we can do is respect his choice."

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Nightfall came.

Luke was making his way back home to his apartment, his mind drifting '_Looks like we've got ourselves into a pretty big mess right now, and we're not even the ones who started it this time. I mean Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord have always had some bad blood, but it's never been as bad as this before now. Truth be told I actually did think about joining them before I came to Fairy Tail in the first place, but all things considered I think I made the right call choosing the guild that I did. I love being part of Fairy Tail, and I swore that day that I would get strong enough to protect all of them, and if I have to take down Phantom Lord by myself to keep them safe then that's what I'll do. Fairy Tail is like my family, each and every one of them.' _he made his way toward the door to his apartment, only to find Lucy sitting outside his door reading a book "Let me guess, they're all in there aren't they?"

"Yep." Lucy barely looked up from the book.

"Figures." he opened the door.

Sure enough, Cana and the others (Natsu, Gray, Erza and Lisanna, as well as the two cats) were sitting at his dining room table and making themselves at home "You never said your new place was so roomy."

"And they never bother to tell you they're gonna barge in and make themselves at home, they just do."

"Since the guild hall was attacked only recently we can assume that there are members of Phantom Lord here in Magnolia." Erza told him "They've also most likely found out where everyone in Fairy Tail lives by now, we agreed that it would be safer for all of us if we stayed together for the time being."

"Meaning that you suggested it and the others are too scared of you to disagree, but anyway I get where you're coming from."

"To be fair you and Cana are young and attractive teenagers, I wasn't entirely comfortable with the thought of the two of you being alone here together, so I had Natsu and the others come and join us as well. After all, I felt that I could only relax if I stayed here as well."

"And you just decided on staying in my apartment without asking me."

"I offered it." Bolt told him.

"Of course you did, look I'm fine with this but if any of you touch my stuff then I'm hurling you out the window."

"Hey cool check this out." this was when Happy came in wearing one of Luke's red cowboy boots, only to get kicked so hard he literally flew out the window.

"What the actual fuck did I just say?"

"Please that's nothing." Natsu pulled a quarter zip out of Luke's closet "How many of these things do you wear?" he received a chop to the head "Ow."

"What the hell are you doing?"

"What's it look like, I'm trying to find something good to eat."

"You eat everything you get your hands on."

"Hey I need to get some shut eye, you guys mind keeping it down?" Gray told them.

"I know some people say to make yourselves at home but this is just too much, so I'm trying to be nice when I say this. Get. Out. Now!" he was ignored.

"We have a very serious problem here." Erza shot a glare over at Natsu and Gray "The hygiene of you two boys, I refuse to sleep in a room that reeks of sweat."

"Here's an idea, have them take a bath at your place so you can keep an eye on them over there okay?"

"Actually that's quite an excellent idea." Erza slugged both Natsu and Gray and slung them over their shoulders "Come on boys, now we'll be able to take a bath together like we did when we were younger. Lisanna, Happy, come." and she dragged them out of the door.

"Well… that was just way too easy. Anyway Cana, Lucy I've got a guest room that you guys can use and Bolt just sleeps with me so… break I guess."

"Yeah let me stop you right there." Cana grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him in with a sly smirk "I think I've got a better arrangement."

"...Erza you clever bitch."

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At the same time, Team Shadow Gear, consisting of Levy, Jet and Droy, were making their way through the streets of Magnolia, only to suddenly get attacked by an unknown figure in secrecy, as to preserve silence.

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Soon enough, Lucy had finished up with taking a batch in Luke's apartment "Alright well I'm done, who's up next for bathing in Luke's bathroom? For the record it's a lot cleaner in there than I was expecting."

"Because unlike the likes of Natsu and Gray I'm not a pig." Luke didn't even glance up from the book he was reading.

"And we're all thankful for it."

"Yeah well just be glad he showers after he trains, otherwise the entire place would smell like testosterone." Cana let out a sigh from where she was sprawled out on the bed clad in only a towel that wrapped around her curvy figure, with her hair in a ponytail.

"Well you seem to be getting yourself comfortable, so are you gonna get some clothes on or what?"

"Hold that thought." Cana threw away her towel to cover Luke's eyes, and once she uncovered them she was clad in a simple t shirt and a pair of pajama shorts "That work for you?"

"More or less yeah."

"If you're done stripping in my room I think we should get to the task at hand." Luke pointed out flatly.

"Yeah that's a good point, I mean why did Phantom Lord attack us out of the blue like that in the first place?"

"I don't really know, I mean we have had our fair share of grudge matches with them in the past like when I crashed their open mic night a few months ago, but it's never been anything this extreme before."

"Well this just sucks." Natsu grumbled from his place in the window "If gramps wasn't so scared of them then we could wipe out those assholes once and for all."

"When the hell did you get here? Anyway that's not true and you know it Natsu, unlike you he realizes that humoring their stupid grudge isn't worth it. Besides it's obvious that Makarov could take out the entire guild by himself if he wanted to, keep in mind that he is one of the Ten Wizard Saints. Also why the hell are you here?"

"Because I don't wanna bathe with Erza and Gray again."

"Well yeah I get that but-" it was at that moment that Luke realized that Natsu was sitting in his windowsill naked "Okay that's it, get out and stay out."

"Why the hell should I leave, we're talking about smashing Phantom-"

"No we're not and we've been over this, I'm not letting you in my apartment if you don't have any clothes on!" he promptly kicked Natsu in the jaw, sending him flying towards the moon "At least Gray has the decency to wear underwear!" he shut the window and then proceeded to lock it tight "Okay, where were we?"

"Talking about the master being one of the Ten Wizard Saints." Lucy told him "What's the deal with these Ten Wizard Saint guys anyway?"

"It's an honor bestowed in wizards by the Magic Council, it's an extremely coveted title shared by the ten most powerful wizards on the continent."

"Wait are you serious?"

"Yep, but the downside of that is that Jose the master of Phantom Lord is one of them too, the same with Siegrain of the Magic Council. That guy is pretty shady and he and Erza have some bad blood, but I've done some work for him in exchange for him sticking up for Fairy Tail in the past. During the last year and a half I actually spent some time training with the top ranked wizard saint, and he's a user of Dragon Slayer magic like me and Natsu, only he uses 8 different types. Word has it he's the most powerful mage on the continent."

"Gramps is afraid!" Natsu busted in through the door "He's scared that Phantom has too many members for us to handle!"

"That's a load of bullshit and you know it Natsu. It's like I told you before, the consequences of going to war with a guild like Phantom Lord are nowhere near worth the fight. For all we know they probably just did this to get a rise out of us exactly like how you're acting right now. The order of the magical world is at stake here. Also, having a shirt is not what I meant." he promptly threw Natsu out the door and then locked it.

"But what's the deal exactly, are they that strong?" asked Lucy.

"That's a pretty tough subject for debate, but the fact of the matter is that if we were to go to war with them then there's a fair chance that neither guild would come out unscathed. Their strength is equal to ours. Like I told you before Jose is one of the Ten Wizard Saints like Makarov, so that means that he could take out a good majority of the guild single handedly if he wanted to. They also have an elite group of S class wizards similar to ours they call the Element 4, each one using different kinds of elemental magic: Air, Water, Earth and Fire. But their biggest threat aside from their master would have to be Gajeel of the Black Steel, there's a pretty fair chance he's the one behind the guild hall being wrecked. The biggest thing to remember about him is that he's an Iron Dragon Slayer, a Dragon Slayer like me and Natsu, but while I use lightning and Natsu uses fire, Gajeel uses iron and metal."

"He's a Dragon Slayer too? I thought you and Natsu were the only ones! But wait, if he's the Iron Dragon Slayer then does that mean he eats iron?"

"Yep. I fought him when I crashed Phantom Lord's open mic night, he's actually a pretty good singer. We fought after that when some of their guys insulted the guild, I kicked one of them out with one move, Gajeel challenged me, we fought and I beat him pretty easily but only because it was his iron against my lightning. Strength wise I'd say he's just as strong as Natsu, maybe even a little bit stronger."

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Meanwhile, in the Phantom Lord guild hall…

A certain Iron Dragon Slayer was sitting at a table eating a pile of metal objects, as well as writing something down on a notepad "**You're sparkling and colorful… Shoo-bee-doo-ba… You caught my eye… like a shiny piece of metal…"**

That was when one of the members of Phantom Lord interrupted him "So Gajeel word around the guild hall is that you made a mess out of the Fairy Tail guild hall, oh man I wish I could've seen their faces. For all we know they probably just broke down crying, serves those asshats right for thinking they can measure up to us-" he was promptly silenced by an iron club to the face, much to the amusement of the rest of the members.

"How many times do I have to tell you idiots? I don't like to be bothered when I'm doing one of three things: eating, training, or working on my music." Gajeel let out a snarl "And besides I just did what the master told me to do, if that's what he wants then I'll get that shit done and over with, setting the wheels in motion or whatever."

"The die has been cast." this was when their master Jose stepped out from the shadows and into the candlelight "I must commend you for your excellent work Gajeel."

"I did what you told me to do master, but did I really have to do that other thing?"

"I know Makarov isn't the type to be lured out by the likes of simple a broken guild hall, so we need to give him a little bit of a present that's sure to get his attention."

"Yeah well it'll get their panties in a knot."

"Very good my boy, be sure to take extra care that no harm comes to that one specific person if you would be so kind."

"I didn't touch her."

"I know the drill."

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The next morning, in Magnolia Southgate Park…

Morning came, and the sun was shining brightly, but the city of Magnolia had been shaken by a shocking revelation.

"It's alright we're from the same guild as them, just let us through." Luke pushed his way through the crowd, with Lucy, Bolt and Cana right behind him, only to be met with the horrifying sight of Levy and the rest of team Shadow Gear bound to the tree by iron stakes, heavily injured with the Phantom Lord guild mark signed onto Levy's stomach "I don't think I need to say it but I will anyway, they've crossed the line this time."

"Those Phantom bastards did this…" Natsu was literally blazing with rage.

"Well I hope you're ready Natsu, you're about to get what you asked for." Luke glanced back a short distance "You know what we have to do don't you master?"

Sure enough, Makarov made his way to the front of the crowd, his rage causing his magic energy to surge and his cane to shatter "I can take the likes of our headquarters being reduced to rubble, but under no circumstances will I allow harm to come to my children without taking revenge on those responsible! We have no choice now, if it's a war Jose wants then it's a war Jose is going to get!"

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Later, in Magnolia hospital…

Lucy sat in the hospital room being used by Levy and the others, looking over their unconscious forms '_Droy… Jet… and poor Levy… I never knew Phantom Lord could be so heartless and cruel, how could they do something like this? When you discovered I was writing a novel I promised you that you would be the first one to read it, and just the other day she worked so hard to help all of us out with that body switching incident. What they've done is unforgivable, they have to pay for this.' _a few tears fell down her cheeks.

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Meanwhile, in Oak Town, the Phantom Lord guild hall…

At the same time, the Phantom Lord guild was celebrating their recent actions against Fairy Tail in the same way they would… by drinking, yelling and breaking stuff.

"Oh hell to the yeah, that's totally priceless!"

"Those clowns from Fairy Tail got what was coming to them!"

"I heard Gajeel went and took out three of them himself!"

"Well we can't let him have all the fun, I say we try and clip the wings off a few fairies ourselves, now who's with me?" that guy was cut off by the door getting blown down in his face, sending him tumbling backwards in a charred heap.

When the smoke cleared, it revealed Makarov standing at the doorway, with Luke and the rest of them right behind him "Fairy Tail has come calling!" this prompted several of the Phantom Lord members to charge forward.

"**Fire Dragon Wing Attack!" **Natsu quickly burst through several Phantom Lord members with a fire enhanced attack "Alright guys, who wants to play with fire?!"

"And if not fire then what about those who want to get struck by lightning? **Dragon Sword Style: Thunderclap Strike!" **Luke thrusted his dragon scale sword forward and unleashed a blast of lightning from the blade, engulfing several Phantom Lord members in the explosion that followed.

"**Purple Net!" **Macao quickly used his fire magic to trap several men "Now Wakaba, do it already!"

"I'm already on it! **Smoke Crush!" **Wakaba quickly used his smoke magic to take out several members.

"**Guns Magic: Spark Shot!" **Alzack quickly fired one of his pistols at several members, causing them to hit the ground with a loud thud "Now that's what I like to call my Spark Shot." he glanced back and noticed one of them aiming an attack at him from behind, only for that guy to be shot down by Bisca "Well now, very nice shooting Bisca."

"More like you getting a little bit rusty there Al, anyway I'm locked on target, so now… **Homing Shot!" **Bisca quickly fired a barrage of homing shots that blew away a large number of Phantom Lord members.

"**Picto Magic: Wild Stampede!" **Reedus used his painting magic to summon several wild boars and send them after the Phantom Lord Members.

"**Wood Make magic: Dam of Bashful Love!" **contrary to the name, Laki used her Wood Make magic to summon several wooden hammers, blowing away several Phantom Lord members.

"**Animal Soul: Cat!" **Lisanna quickly transformed into her cat form and started clawing away at any Phantom Lord members that came across her path.

"**Leprechaun Magic: Fairy Machine Gun!" **Evergreen of the Thunder Legion used her Fairy Machine Gun to blast the Phantom Lord members.

"**Dark Ecriture: Pain!" **using his sword, Freed quickly cast his runes onto several members, causing them to cry out in agony.

"Go for it babies! **Line Formation!" **Bickslow summoned his magic dolls in their Line Formation, blowing through several Phantom Lord members at once.

"**Card Magic: Summoned Lightning! Reverse Tower! Lovers! Fate of Lightning!" **Cana was quick to use her card magic to summon a large bolt of lightning, blasting several surrounding Phantom Lord members with it.

"**Ring Magic: Twister!" **Loke summoned a powerful tornado, engulfing several members within it.

"Come on and man up, don't you wanna be like me?!" Elfman used his Beast Soul magic to give himself a reptile arm and punch out several opponents like a real man would. #Realman.

"You shall pay for the harm you've brought upon my children!" Makarov on the other hand wasted no time in changing to his giant form and pounding several Phantom Lord members into the ground.

One of them still had the courage to speak afterwards "He… He's a monster!"

"**And you dared to lay your filthy hands on the children of this monster! Were you foolish enough to believe that the laws of humans would protect you from my rage?! JOSE! Come out and show yourself!"**

"**Dragon Sword Style: Lightning Hammer!" **Luke thrusted his sword into the ground and summoned a massive bolt of lightning to strike a large number of Phantom Lord members "Now start talking you guys, where can I find Gajeel and the Element 4?"

What they didn't realize was that Gajeel was looking down on them from a level higher up in the building "Looks like we've got an old friend joining the fun, Luke the Thunderclap and even the legend herself Titania Erza. I guess Mystogan didn't give enough of a damn to show up. Either way, I guess Master Jose knew exactly how this was gonna go down. Looks like for a bunch of fairies they're better than I gave them credit for."

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At the same time, Lucy was making her way home with some groceries while contemplating the recent events, only to end up being captured by Juvia and Sol, two of the Element 4, and taken away, leaving her gate keys behind.

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The battle between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord raged on.

Natsu was quick to devour a fire spell with a malicious grin on his face "Oh yeah, now I've got a fire in my belly."

Luke quickly consumed a lightning spell being fired at him as well "And I've got some lightning raging inside of my soul that I'm just about to let loose. You ready to blow them away with a combination attack?"

"Oh hell yeah."

"Good, on 3. 1… 2…"

"3! **Dragon Slayer Combination Attack!"**

"**Lightning Flame Dragon…"**

"**Lightning Flame Dragon…"**

"**ROAR!" **the two of them let out two simultaneous roars, one of fire and one of lightning, the two of them intertwining with each other to create a combination blast that blew the Phantom Lord members away, and then they fist bumped "You know you've gotten a lot stronger while I've been gone haven't you?"

"Bout time you noticed Lightning Ass, why do you think I wanted to fight you so bad?"

"Well that'll have to wait until you become S class like me, but in the meantime we've got them right where we want them."

"Luke! Erza!" this was when Makarov got their attention from where he was fighting his way to the second floor "I'll leave the rabble to the two of you!"

"We're on it master, just do what you have to do."

"I intend to." Makarov forced his way through the several unnamed Phantom Lord members until he reached the second floor "Jose must be lurking on the top floor, when I find him there will be hell to pay." he quickly burst through a door and made his way inside.

Gajeel took this chance to leap down from his spot from above "Well now that their master is out of the picture I think it's about time I throw myself into the mix." and with an eager chuckle he leapt down onto the scene, shattering the Phantom Lord sign beneath him on impact "I'm pretty sure there's an advertisement about this somewhere. Whassup?"

Erza's gaze hardened as she laid eyes on Gajeel "It's Gajeel of the Black Steel, he's the Iron Dragon Slayer."

"YOU ATTACKED LEVY YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Nab wasted no time in charging at Gajeel in a blind rage.

"**Iron Dragon Club!" **Gajeel quickly turned his arm into an iron club and slammed it directly into Nab's gut, sending him crashing to the ground and knocking out several other Phantom Lord members in the process, shocking several members of Fairy Tail "Yeah yeah I know, I knocked out my own guys with that attack but in my defense they're assholes. So anyway who's up for showing me what they've got, I know there's at least one of you who's got enough balls of steel to see what a real Dragon Slayer is capable of, so are the rest of you too scared or not?"

"Too scared?! Real men don't know fear!" Elfman charged at Gajeel at full speed.

Gajeel quickly used his Iron Dragon Club to block the attack "I've heard of you, you're Elfman aren't you? Yeah the guy that kills monsters and absorbs their power for himself." he extended an iron club from his arm, and then one from his leg.

Elfman dodged the arm and quickly caught the leg using his beast arm.

"Well what do you know, not too bad big guy."

"Well that's just because I'm a real man."

"Is that a fact? Well then let's just see how a real man handles this!" Gajeel shot several iron clubs out of his iron leg, hitting several Phantom Lord members.

"What the hell, what kind of real man attacks their own men?"

"The kind who knows it'll distract their opponent!" Gajeel slugged Elfman in the face using an iron club, sending him flying backwards "Also I'm careful to pick out the ones who diss my music."

"At least I don't fall into that category." Luke dropped down in front of him, with Natsu right next to him "What's up Mr Shoo Bee Doo Ba?"

"Bout time I run into someone with good taste, so we gonna go at it?"

"Nope, I'm leaving you up to Natsu here." and then he leapt off the scene.

"I don't suppose you like good music when you hear it?"

"I don't know, let's try it! **Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" **Natsu dealt Gajeel a fire fist before he was able to react, sending him flying backwards into a nearby wall "Music to my ears you son of a mother fucker. Now allow me to introduce myself, I'm the Fire Dragon Slayer of Fairy Tail and I'm here to kick your ass."

Gajeel promptly pulled himself back to his feet and spat out some rubble "The feeling is mutual punk."

"Elfman just hang back, this asshat is all mine."

"Oh come on!" Elfman protested "First you try to use me like a springboard, and now you want to steal a fight from one man to another?"

"Pretty much yeah."

"Works for me! **Iron Dragon Club!" **Gajeel morphed his arm into an iron club and promptly slammed it into Natsu's gut, sending him skidding backwards.

Natsu grabbed onto the iron club and forced himself to a stop "You fucked up our guild hall, you attacked Levy and her team."

"I did what Jose ordered me to do."

"I don't give a damn, you're gonna pay!" Natsu covered his arms in flames, gripped onto the iron club and threw Gajeel into the air.

Gajeel rebounded off of one of the support pillars and charged at Natsu, his fist being covered in iron scales "**Iron Dragon Hard Fist!"**

"**Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" **the two attacks collided, the force blowing both of them back a short distance as they licked their minor wounds "Not too shabby."

"You either, Thunderclap mentioned that the Fairies had another Dragon Slayer aside from him but I figured he was all talk."

"Well he's not, and I'm gonna surpass him one day."

"Alright fine." Elfman let out a sigh "Yeah you're manlier than I thought. I'll let you have this one, but you've gotta promise me that you're gonna-"

"You can bet on it, I'll beat this guy until he's just a pile of scrap metal."

"For the record I'm still standing right now." Gajeel pointed out.

"True but you're not gonna be for much longer?"

"You wanna bet?" Gajeel suddenly burst forward at full speed.

"Oh son of a-" Natsu was cut off by an iron club enhanced uppercut kick to the jaw, sending him flying across the building "Ow."

"Oh come on Salamander, don't tell me that your bark is worse than your bite. What you can dish it out but you can't take the good shit? You're giving Dragon Slayers a bad name."

"You wanna bet?" Natsu burst back up to his feet with a cocky smirk "It's gonna take a lot more than that to keep me down."

"You seriously think you've got what it takes to take me down don't you Pyro?"

"The hell with think, I know for a fact that I can."

"We'll see about that. **Iron Dragon Club!" **Gajeel fired his Iron Club forward.

Natsu caught the beam with his bare hand as it began radiating flames "Your steel beams can't even touch me, you're gonna have to step up your game!"

"It's not steel it's iron you moron. Still the rumors are true, you're way more powerful than you look. That actually stung a little bit, so do you have what it takes to keep going Salamander?"

"That was just a warmup, I'm just getting started. You haven't seen anything from me yet you metal freak!" Natsu charged forward in a rage.

"We'll see about that." Gajeel blocked Natsu's fist and dealt him a quick kick to the gut, sending him skidding backwards.

'_Dammit this guy's tough, but I'm not backing down to him! _**Fire Dragon Talon!" **Natsu was quick to stop Gajeel's next attack with a fire enhanced uppercut kick to the jaw.

Gajeel quickly summoned some iron foot blades in the soles of his feet, hooking himself onto the support beams, and then he blocked Natsu's next attack using his iron club, though he was sent crashing through several support beams before latching onto another.

"How do you like that one asshat?"

"Don't let yourself get too cocky punk, it's not gonna happen again."

"I think we'll see about that."

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Luke quickly cut down another member of Phantom Lord using his dragon scale sword, only to notice the entire building shaking "And now this is happening."

"You know damn well what that's gonna mean." Cana shot him a smirk "This is what happens when people piss off our master."

"The wrath of a giant combined with the wrath of an angry parent, Jose doesn't have a chance in hell of defeating him."

"The same with any of us, Makarov is a fucking beast when he's mad."

"Jose's probably on the same level as him though."

"No Jose is tough but he's got nothing on Makarov, I might be able to take him but that's a pretty big if."

"You're fucking with me right now."

"I don't fuck with people, not with you at least. A good chunk of the time I was gone was spent preparing a special trump card meant specifically for taking on people on the levels of the Ten Wizard Saints, but as long as we have Master Makarov with us you won't even see it in action."

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Sure enough, Makarov had eventually stormed his way up to the top floor, his rage ripping the building apart at the seams "JOSE!"

"Well well well, look what the cat dragged in." Jose let out a chuckle from where he was seated on his throne.

"Why are you attacking Fairy Tail?! TELL ME!"

"It's been quite some time since we've seen each other hasn't it Makarov, six years ago at the guild master conference I believe. I remember that day all too well, I was quite a mess. I can't hold my liquor as well as the rest of you."

"SILENCE!" Makarov fired a gigantic fist forward, smashing the throne with ease "I didn't come here to make small talk Jose, what I want is answers!"

Jose simply let out a chuckle, his appearance flickering.

"A projection? You coward, I should've known you would've fled with your tail between your legs."

"This is far from cowardice Makarov, I'm simply trying to avoid a fight between two of the Ten Wizard Saints. In lieu of that mess I prefer a sensible victory without all of the unnecessary commotion."

"Why are you hiding? Come out and face me like a man!" the only answer Makarov received was a projection of the tied up form of Lucy appearing before him "Lucy, but why?"

"Why you ask? You mean to tell me she's a member of your guild and you don't even know about that? I'm quite surprised that miss Lucy Heartfilia never told you the truth." he summoned a Magic Circle coated with black energy.

"No don't!" Makarov quickly sensed the presence of another being in the room and whipped around '_Where did he come from? I wasn't even able to sense the presence of this one!'_

As it turns out, standing behind Makarov was a large heavy set man by the name of Aria, his attire consisting of a large overcoat, a top hat and a blind fold, with tears streaming down his face endlessly "It's so sad, it's just so sad!"

"What the-" but then Makarov was suddenly engulfed in a white light.

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A few minutes later…

"**Dragon Sword Style-" **Luke was about to unleash a spell from his dragon scale sword, only to stop at the sound of something crashing to the ground "What the hell was that?"

"Something bad would be my guess." Cana noted dryly, only to suddenly turn pale almost immediately at the sight "That however is something way worse than whatever the hell I was expecting."

"No doubt about it."

"Why?!" Aira bellowed from his place at the top of the building "Why am I suddenly feeling melancholy? It must be because the world has just lost a truly great wizard, such sorrow has filled the air.

"Oh crap, master!"

Makarov was lying in the crater motionless, his skin a sickly green '_What happened to me? I feel so weak… my magic… it's gone…'_

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Jose looked down upon the scene from above, three other shadowy figures by his side "Absolutely excellent, Makarov is powerless now thanks to Aria of the Heavens, a member of the Phantom's Element 4. He has the ability to make the powers of other wizards disappear into thin air. I think it's safe to say we've won this round Fairy Tail."

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Makarov was now being cared for by the likes of Luke, Cana and the others "My power is… My magic power is…"

"Take it easy master, just try and calm yourself down." Luke assured him.

"What the hell happened to him?" asked Cana.

"I don't know, but whatever it is I can't sense any magic power coming from him."

"But what does that mean, are you saying he's just an ordinary old man now?"

"Whatever it is it means that he won't be able to fight anymore, which means that we're at a serious disadvantage."

"But it just doesn't make any sense, the master is so powerful so how the hell could they beat him like that?"

"There's only one way to find out, we'll have to go up there."

Unfortunately, the remaining members of Phantom Lord had other ideas, case and point.

"Hey you guys are you seeing this? Their master has been defeated!"

"Hell to the yeah, that means we can beat them!"

"None of these clowns are anywhere near as strong without their master, we have Gajeel and the Element 4 on our side."

"Now's our chance, let's get them!"

"Yeah let's give them what they deserve!"

"Don't start getting cocky! **Dragon Sword Style: Lightning Surge!" **Luke stuck the blade of his sword into the ground, resulting in a surge of lightning that blew away a large number of Phantom Lord members.

"Now take this! **Tri Element Combo Attack!" **three members of Phantom Lord unleashed a combination attack aimed at Cana while she was attacking another member, leaving her unable to react in time.

"Cana get down! **Dragon Sword Style: Thunderclap Strike!" **Luke jumped in front of her and unleashed a blast of lightning from his sword, cancelling out the combination attack and blowing the Phantom Lord members away, and then he knelt down next to Cana "Looks like I did it just in time, are you alright?"

Cana nodded "Yeah I'm fine but you shouldn't push yourself too hard, the last thing any of us need is for you to get yourself killed."

"Yeah well it's not looking like I have too much of a choice. Now that the master is out they're starting to get the upper hand and our moral is dangerously low, not to mention that even if we take down these guys we still have Gajeel and the Elemnt 4 to deal with, along with one of the Ten Wizard Saints."

"You thinking about retreating?"

"I think I'm more than willing to risk my life but not any of the others, especially not yours." he gripped her hand gently, gave her a reassuring nod "We have to retreat, everyone fall back and head back to the guild!"

"What?!" Natsu exploded at him from where he was punching out some nameless thug "There's no way in hell any of us can just give up, a wizard of Fairy Tail knows never to give up against punks like these guys! Besides we've all still got plenty of fight in us!"

"This isn't up for discussion, the fact is that none of you stand a chance against Jose! Now stop whining and retreat already, I don't like ordering you guys around like this but I am right now, so go!"

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Gajeel looked down upon the scene from his place overhead "Well that's a damn shame, I never got the chance to finish up my fight with Salamander, and maybe see if Thunderclap could live up to the hype."

"They're retreating with sorrow in their hearts."

Gajeel glanced up to see standing on a pillar above him "Aira huh? I can see that you're still just as creepy as ever, still I've gotta give you points for taking down the Fairy Tail geezer like that."

"I just followed the orders given to me by Master Jose, but thank you!" and then he started crying again.

"Why the hell are you always crying? For fuck's sake, and people wonder why I consider you creepy. So what happened to that blonde chick?" now this was what got Luke's attention.

"She was captured by Juvia and Sol, the poor wretch is being held in a gloomy cell at our headquarters."

"So much for giving her a warm welcome huh?"

"Dammit…" Luke let out an outright snarl.

Bolt glanced up at him from where he was strangling some nameless thug "Hey Luke what's the matter?"

"Gajeel get down here!"

Gajeel shot him a look and shrugged "Sorry to disappoint you Thunderclap, but we'll finish this someday." and then he and Aira disappeared.

'_So they went after Lucy too? Dammit. _Alright move it, everyone get out of here and head back to the guild!"

"There's no way I'm going back yet, they have to pay for what they did to us!" Natsu fired up another attack, only to be grabbed by Luke and the attack snuffed out by the sheer pressure he was radiating.

"I told you this isn't up for discussion, now go back to the guild with the others!"

"Not until-"

"I'm not gonna let there be a repeat of what happened with Mira dammit!"

Whatever comeback Natsu had prepared died in his throat.

"This is the only option we have, I'm more than willing to put my life on the line but I won't let any of you get hurt when I know I can prevent it. Go back with the others, I'll meet you there soon."

"But then what are you gonna do?"

"What else? Those bastards kidnapped Lucy, I'm gonna go save her."

"...I'll let the others know." and so Natsu slung Happy over his shoulder and left at the back of the group.

Luke on the other hand grabbed one of the nameless thugs that was chasing Fairy Tail out of the guild hall "Sup?"

"Oh crap…" the guy was sweating "The Thunderclap and one of the cats, he killed three of our guys!"

"You're damn right he did, and you and I have some talking to do."

"Please don't hurt me!"

"Do what I say and I won't have to."

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Soon enough, Luke was leading both Bolt and the nameless Phantom thug through the mountain path behind the guild hall "Alright let's get moving."

"So what are we gonna do?" asked Bolt.

"What the hell do you think, we're gonna go save Lucy. Alright buddy start talking, tell me where the hell they took her."

"How the hell should I know, I don't know any Lucy." the guy spat out, only to be zapped by a quick flash of lightning, causing him to cry out in pain "Oh god oh god this hurts, make it stop I'm begging you!"

"Start talking."

"I already told you dude, I don't know shit! I'm serious dude now quit zapping me before I get set on fire!"

"I won't hesitate to obliterate your entire guild if you and your Phantom buddies hurt another one of my friends, you understand me?" that freaked the guy out even more.

"I'm telling you I've never heard of this Lucy chick, if I knew where she was then I would've told you by now!"

"Funny you should say that, I was thinking that I should've fried you to a crisp by now."

"Look man our headquarters is up ahead, if I had to guess I would say they probably got her locked up in there okay?"

"Why the hell didn't you just say that in the first place? You could've saved both of us a lot of crap." Luke let go of the thug and grabbed onto Bolt "Come on, we don't have any time to waste."

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Lucy slowly opened her eyes, and once she was fully aware she bolted upright, only to find herself tied up in a cell "What the heck, how did I get here?"

"So you're finally awake." the door opened to reveal Jose standing before her "I must admit I was getting quite worried about you Lucy."

"And just who are you?"

"Well my name is Jose Porla, and I am the master of the Phantom Lord guild."

"You're with Phantom Lord? _That's right, I was captured by two of the Element 4.'_

"I would like to apologize for this dingy cell, and being tied up must be degrading but I'm afraid I had no choice my dear. That is how you treat a prisoner after all."

"You're the son of a bitch who attacked my friend Levy, you'd better let me go! My friends are gonna come looking for me!"

"Depending on how willing you are to cooperate, I'm fully prepared to treat you as an esteemed guest of Phantom Lord rather than a lowly prisoner."

"What exactly do you mean by that?" she let out a shriek of terror when she noticed a bug on her leg "Oh my god that bug just crawled on me!"

"Now you see, you don't want to stay here do you? I have a beautifully decorated suite waiting for you if you promise to behave."

"Why the hell does your guild keep attacking us?!"

"Who is _us _exactly? Oh I'm sorry, were you talking about Fairy Tail? That was nothing more than a means to an end."

"What?"

"You see we were working towards our main objective of acquiring a certain someone, they actually happen to be a member of Fairy Tail so if we have to destroy the guild to get a hold of them then that's simply a working benefit."

"Who the heck are you talking about?"

"Oh my you truly are such a naive young lady, not at all what I'd expect from a debutante. I'm talking about you of course, Lady Lucy the privileged daughter of the wealthy Heartfilia family." that shook Lucy to the core.

"But… But how did you find out about that?"

"You know I'm surprised you never told your fellow guild members the truth, and I don't understand the daughter of a wealthy tycoon would stoop to such cheap and dangerous work as wizarding for such a low class guild, so do you?"

"So you mean… I've been kidnapped?"

"No far from it my dear, I assure you it's not like that. We're not looking for ransom money or anything of that sort, we're just doing our job. We were hired by your father to bring you home to him." and that left Lucy downright terrified.

"No… I don't understand, why the hell would he want me back?"

"Why do you seem so confused? Any father would go looking for a daughter who ran away from home."

"No not him, I'm honestly shocked he even noticed that I was gone. I'm not ever gonna go back to that house, I don't want anything to do with him!"

"Oh dear, I should've known that you would be problematic."

"Well then you might as well just let me go."

"I'm sorry but I can't do that."

"Please… I need to go to the bathroom."

"Oh give me a break, you don't think I'd fall for the oldest trick in the book do you?"

"No for real, I'm totally dying here!"

"Fine then." Jose promptly placed a bucket in front of her "Go ahead."

"A bucket?!"

"I'm ready for any old trick you might throw my way."

"Well then I guess it'll have to work." she stood up and prepared to pull down her skirt "Well here goes…"

"You mean you're actually gonna use it?! Well I have never met such a vulgar young lady, but I'll turn away because I'm a gentleman." so he promptly turned around.

"Good enough for me." so Lucy promptly launched one foot right between Jose's legs, nailing him right in the crotch and sending him falling to his knees "You know there's a good reason why old tricks are still around, it's because they work. Well I'll be seeing you, now take care okay?" she made a beeline for the window, only to stop when she realized that she was several stories off the ground.

"Oh yes, right…" Jose pulled himself back to his feet, still in a great deal of pain "I forgot to mention it before, this cell is several stories high. I must admit you really did a number on me young lady but you're not going to get away with it, you will be punished for this. I'm going to show you just how terrifying the Phantom Lord guild can be."

"I think we'll see about that." and with that, Lucy shut her eyes, took a deep breath and promptly leapt off the ledge, sending her plummeting to the ground below.

'_...Oh shit, that wasn't what I was expecting.' _and then he fell to the ground again.

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Lucy, on the other hand, was freely falling to the ground below, her mind racing '_I was able to hear him in the distance, I know that he's here. _LUKE!"

"Lucy I'm coming, just hang on!" Luke burst onto the scene, used his lightning magic to elevate himself into the air, caught Lucy with one arm and used the other arm to drive his dragon scale sword into the wall, slowing their descent until it finally came to a screeching halt a few feet above the ground "Looks like we made it just in the nick of time."

"Yeah you're telling me." Bolt floated down in front of them "Not everyone can say they had a busty blonde fall out of the sky and into their waiting arms."

"Ignoring your snark, Lucy are you okay?"

Lucy nodded in a rather shaken fashion "Yeah, yeah I'm okay. I could hear you coming so I knew you would save me, thank you."

"Good thing I did, you could've gotten yourself killed." Luke promptly cut her hands free using his sword "He didn't hurt you did he?"

"No, I kicked him in the crotch before he could."

"Huh. Respect."

"Not like he didn't have that coming." Bolt pointed out "In the meantime we'd better get a move on and start busting some heads."

"Not on your life, we're going back to the guild."

"Why the heck would we do that? That's their headquarters, I say we get them!"

"We only came here to rescue Lucy, our mission is done so now we're going back."

"You're the one who told them to retreat so we could bust some heads without them getting hurt by them, it's so we could face them without having to worry!"

"And what happens if the guild gets attacked while we're gone, that's a risk I'm not willing to take."

"You saw what they did to the master."

"Exactly, and that's why I had them retreat so no one else would end up like him."

"You're more than strong enough to defeat these guys on your own, hell you might even be able to beat their master by yourself."

"I got as strong as I did so that something like _that _would never happen again, that's the only reason and you know that!"

"I know that you idiot, I was with you!"

"Everyone is hurt and some are worse!"

"You're not hurt!"

"Makarov might be dying, Nab has a broken arm and who knows how bad everyone else is right now!"

"So what, you're stronger than him anyway!"

"Macao and Wakaba and the others were hurt too, and they almost killed Cana!"

"Those two are old geezers and you saved Cana, let's just do this and avenge them!"

"No way in hell, I'm not taking that risk and that's final."

"I… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" Lucy quickly cut their argument short, with tears streaming down her face "All of this… everything… all of it is my fault… But I don't wanna leave… I want to stay with you guys, because I love being in Fairy Tail.

Luke's gaze softened as he knelt down next to her and gently wiped her tears away "Come on, dry those tears Lucy. There's no reason for you to get so upset. Look when people join Fairy Tail they become more than just part of the guild, they become part of a real family, and family is for life. You're one of the family now Lucy, and as long as we have a say in the matter you will _never _have to leave."

"Come on, I think we should probably head back to the guild now." Bolt told him quietly.

"Yeah good idea. Come on Lucy, let's get going." Luke gently took Lucy onto his back "Are you okay to make the trip if I carry you like this?" he was met with only more sobbing "I'll take that as a yes."

"Way to go heartbreaker, if you can make some blonde chick cry just by carrying her on your back then you don't have a chance in hell of scoring with Cana."

"I swear to god I will make you into catskin slippers if you don't stop talking and just start flying already." they started to make the trip back to Magnolia, but before they did Luke spared one final glance up at the top of the tower '_You destroyed my guild… You attacked some of my comrades… You made one of my friends cry… I hope you're ready Jose, because if it's a war you want then it's a war you're going to get.'_

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Jose sat in front of the window, still groaning and writhing in agony over Lucy's low blow from a few minutes prior, until the pain subsided and was replaced by unyielding rage, evil magic energy radiating from his body "That does it… she's made me very angry, and she won't like me when I'm angry! She and her guild will pay, and they'll pay in their blood!"

**A/N:**

**And thus we begin the first act of the Phantom Lord arc, which I've been eagerly anticipating for some time now. I know that some people claim that this is where they started to dislike Lucy, I'm not naming any names, but I don't have a problem with her backstory. Not every anime character needs to have a tragic backstory with everyone they know and love being butchered right in front of them, and children who grew up rich have it differently, not that I would know. Also, in regards to the discussion between Luke, Lucy and Cana about the Ten Wizard Saints and Luke training with one of them, see if you can guess who he's talking about.**

**Not much changed in canon as of yet, aside from me toning down on Gajeel being a prick in this version, seeing how he joined Fairy Tail later on and in this version he met Luke some time beforehand. Also, I'm just gonna go on record and say that I think Gajeel is an amazing singer, at least in the dub that is.**

**Just so you know, the speed at which I update my stories will most likely get slower since I'm about to start my next semester of college on August 26th, but I promise I'll update as regularly as I can, so please be patient with me.**


	9. Phantom Lord II

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

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"_In a land far far away lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small and peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most people, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards and mages, and banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore, but there is a certain guild in a certain town that stands high above the rest of them, one from which countless legends have been born, a guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. This guild is known as Fairy Tail."_

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"_Hidden away in the East Forest of Magnolia one will find a tree house that is home to an old friend of Master Makarov. She is Porlyusica, a semi active long time member of the Fairy Tail guild and a highly skilled healer, but she lives a life of seclusion because of her hatred of mankind. Her specialty is in the treatment of ailments that were caused by magic, which is exactly why Master Makarov had been brought to her by Alzack and Bisca."_

Porlyusica prepared a potion for Makarov, but then proceeded to slap his unconscious form across the face "That was long overdue and well deserved."

"Hey!" Alzack and Bisca didn't waste any time in rounding on her "What the hell did you do that for? We wanted you to cure our master, not make him worse!"

"It's what he deserves for pushing himself as hard as he did at his age, honestly he's such an old fool. In the meantime don't you two think you should be leaving now, I'm sick of looking at the two of you!"

"Well can you at least tell us what his condition is? We want to do what we can to help you take care of him."

"Just go home already, those ridiculously worried looks on your faces will only aggravate his condition. These symptoms suggest someone used a powerful wind spell on him, my guess would have to be the spell known as Drain. This is a terrible spell that drains its victims of all of their magical abilities, their powers then drift along with the wind until they have dissipated completely. If you only you had been able to gather Makarov's powers when they were initially drained then he could've recovered quickly, but as things stand now it'll take quite a great deal longer."

"How long do you think? I'm sure the others will want to know."

Porlyusica paused, then rounded on Alzack and Bisca again "Why the hell are the two of you still here?!"

"I'm sorry but I thought you were talking to us all this time maam!"

"Of course I wasn't talking to you, I can't stand the stink of you! Now get the hell out of my house already, go on and move it dammit!" she started shooing them away with a broom.

"Well bye real nice talking to you- Hey Bisca wait for me!"

Once they were gone, Porlyusica looked down at the sleeping form of Makarov "You've always been quite the troublemaker haven't you? The magic of a wizard is intertwined with the very essence of his life, the greater his power is the more devastating the Drain spell will be. You're going to have to fight with everything you've got or this may very well be your deathbed, you really are such a stubborn and pig headed old fool."

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Meanwhile, back at the Fairy Tail guild hall…

Around this time, everyone, including Luke, Bolt and Lucy, had returned to the guild hall to lick their wounds and wounded pride, as well as discuss their next move.

Macao and Wakaba for example, they were stocking up on materials and trying to plan out their next attack "Okay here's what I'm thinking, since their headquarters are here I think it's for the best that we try and hit them with some long range spells from this southeast hill."

"Let me tell you now, next time I'm bringing all my explosive lacrimas!" Wakaba wasted no time in stocking up on explosive lacrimas stuffed into a burlap sack.

"Hey you guys I'm gonna need some spell books for holder type magic from the archives so could someone go get them?"

Luke put a comforting hand on Lucy's shoulder to reassure her "Don't worry, we're gonna get them back for what they did. I'll make sure of it."

"I know." Lucy let out a sad sigh "I'm not worried about that, it's just… it's all my fault."

"No it's not."

Elfman nodded Hey being targeted by dangerous people is just one of the downsides of being rich, at least you're protected by a real man like me."

"Now isn't the time for that, just give that a rest."

"I've gotta admit though it's kind of surprising to hear the first time around." Bolt noted "I don't get it though, why the heck didn't you just tell us the truth in the first place?"

"Guys don't force her to-"

"I wasn't trying to hide it or anything." Lucy protested "I mean there's no way to bring up the fact that I'm a runaway in any casual conversation, I've been gone for a year and my father hasn't even cared until now, but now all of sudden he wants to force me to come home? He's done all of those horrible things just to get me to go back to him, I can't and won't forgive him for that. Still though, if I hadn't run away in the first place then none of this would ever have happened."

"Come on now, don't be so ridiculous." Elfman let out a scoff "It's your dad that's the one to blame-" he was cut off by a quick glare from Luke and quickly corrected himself "I mean it's totally Phantom that's to blame for all of this."

"No, I'm the one who brought all of this trouble to the guild and it's all because of my own selfish choices. I'm so sorry for all of this, I might as well just go back home and hopefully all of this will be over with."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." Luke let out a sigh "I can't imagine someone like you playing the part of the princess sitting around in a mansion doing nothing. Laughing with all of us in a filthy guild hall, going on adventures with us even if you freak out a good chunk of the time, that's who you really are. You said before you wanted to stay with us didn't you, so why the heck would you ever go back to the place you ran away from? Give it a rest, you're not fooling any of us and you're definitely not fooling me. You're Lucy of Fairy Tail, none of us are letting you run anymore because you belong here with us."

"Luke…" and then tears started streaming down her face.

"Hey come on no need to cry, it's just not like you. Look as long as you're part of this guild you don't have to cry anymore, cause we're here for you now okay?"

"I know… I'm sorry…" she wiped away her tears.

"There you see, that's better." Luke glanced back and noticed the look that Loke was shooting at them from afar "What?"

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Hours passed and the word of Lucy's status and targeting by Phantom Lord spread around the guild, and everyone added protecting Lucy to their agenda, along with beating the ever loving crap out of Phantom Lord.

Cana had spent this time checking one card after another in hopes of an answer appearing to her, only to keep coming up short as a result "Dammit come on, I'm not getting any kind of read on where Gildarts is."

"Don't worry about it, I didn't expect him to show up to this anyway. For all we know he probably doesn't even know what's happening right now." Luke let out a sigh.

"Look if Lucy is their real target then they're bound to attack, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was a lot sooner than later. Right now we just have too many wounded to put up a full force fight against them."

"I'm guessing that's exactly what they're counting on." Luke glanced back at the communication lacrima in front of them "The master is down for the count and we're not have any luck on tracking down Mystogan, and we sent Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen to see if they would be able to track down Laxus." he failed to notice everyone else flinch at the mention of Laxus "But frankly right now you're the only other option we have at the moment, so are you in or are you out Mystogan?"

"_...I was afraid of something like this happening eventually, I just never expected them to take such an active stance against Fairy Tail so soon."_

"It's been 6 years since Jose started brooding over Fairy Tail, so can we count on you to help us?"

"_Unfortunately I'm currently days away from Magnolia at least, but I do know of some of the bases of Phantom Lord that are close to me, so I'll do what I can."_

"Well that can't be helped I guess, in the meantime we'll do what we can to protect Lucy and the guild if and when Phantom Lord makes another move."

"_Agreed, and I know that Fairy Tail is safe in your hands Luke." _and then the connection cut out on them.

"I can only hope he's right about that."

"I still can't get a read on that guy." Cana muttered.

"I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who even comes close in that regard, but there's no denying that he's one of the most loyal wizards Fairy Tail has at the moment. Too bad the same can't be said about Laxus, you'd think he'd let us contact him just to shove it back in our faces and laugh at us, and then just make himself look like a douche."

"Yeah I'm sure that's exactly what he would do if he were still a member."

"Wait what, what the heck does that mean? No you know what it doesn't matter right now, we'll deal with that later. The master isn't here and we can't count on Gildarts, Mystogan or Laxus to come to the rescue, and we have so many wounded right now. If it comes down to another attack our heaviest hitters would have to be me and Erza." he clenched his fists with blood trickling from his palms, his teeth grinding furiously "If they do attack then the only option we have that could end this quickly without anyone getting hurt too badly would be if I find Jose and take him down on my own."

"Luke that's insane, you might be a hell of a lot stronger than you were before but we're talking about one of the Ten Wizard Saints!"

"I know, but at this rate I don't think I'll have any other choice." their conversation was cut short by the entire building shaking violently out of nowhere "Speak of the devils that's probably them doing something totally insane."

"This is bad you guys!" that was when Alzack burst into the guild hall "Get outside, you have to see this!"

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Luke and the others quickly bolted out of the back of the guild hall and were met with a truly horrifying sight in the form of the Phantom Lord guild hall walking towards them from within the coast using several massive mechanical legs "And their base can walk using spider legs, why the hell am I not surprised?"

"What the hell is that thing?" Natsu muttered.

"What else, they've got a walking guild hall. And for the record Erza you might want to requip out of the towel right about now."

Erza promptly did so and requipped into her typical Heart Kreuz armor, but her expression of horror never faded "I never anticipated this, I can't believe they'd go to such extreme measures to attack us like this."

"I don't think any of expected it, but the only thing we can do now is to do what we do best and trash that thing." Luke was promptly met with a massive cannon (referred to as Jupiter) emerging from within the building walls and beginning to charge a massive blast of energy "Adding onto that, trash it before it trashes us."

"No, take everyone else and get out of here right now!" Erza suddenly charged forward and requipped into a bulky suit of blue and white armor.

'_That's her Adamantine Armor, that the one with the strongest defences in her arsenal. _Oh god dammit, Erza tell me you're not gonna do what I think you're gonna do."

"I'm doing what I have to do, I'm protecting the guild hall and all of you!"

"Erza don't be ridiculous, if you try to block a shot from that thing you're just gonna get yourself killed!"

"I'm just doing what has to be done, just make sure everyone else stays back!" she looked back and locked eyes with Luke "I have to do this."

"...Fine, but if you die on us I'm never gonna forgive you." Luke quickly ushered everyone back and grabbed Natsu by the scarf "Look I don't like it but we can't stop her from doing this, all we can do is have faith in her." he looked back at Erza "Remember what I said."

"I know." Erza promptly summoned her shields just as the blast was fired from the Jupiter cannon and struck her shields, forcing her to stand her ground lest everyone in the guild be vaporized, though her shields and her armor were shattered as a result, forcing her to requip back into her normal clothes as she was sent tumbling backwards.

"You know it's times like this I'm seriously glad she's on our side."

Elfman nodded "I know what you mean, once again out of all of us Erza's the manliest one in the guild."

"Not something you wanna say to her face, but take a look at her now." Luke quickly rushed over to where Erza lay on the ground "Come on Erza talk to me, say something or at least give me some kind of sign you're still alive." he received only a groan in response "You know what that's good enough for me."

"_**Such a shame things have escalated to this level."**_ the voice of Jose echoed from within the fortress of Phantom Lord "_**Makarov has fallen, and now Titania no longer has the strength to even stand. Any chance of victory has slipped through your fingers, your only option now is to surrender Lucy Heartfilia to us immediately."**_

"That's not going to happen Jose, there's no way any of us are going to hand over one of our own to an arrogant bastard like you. Lucy is one of us and that's the way it's going to stay." Luke was promptly met with various cheers from several other members of Fairy Tail.

"_**I'm not going to ask you again."**_

"Good, because I don't intend to repeat myself."

Lucy, on the other hand, was beginning to feel extremely conflicted as tears began brimming in her eyes '_Maybe I should just go with them and give myself up.'_

"I don't care if you are one of the Ten Wizard Saints, you'll have to kill all of us before we would dare to betray her!" Luke's words struck Lucy at her core as he was met with cheers from everyone else "Go ahead and stop asking, I already told you I have no intention of repeating myself. You wanted a war Jose, and now that's exactly what you're getting." his declaration had left Lucy sobbing outright.

"_**So that's your final answer then is it? Very well then, if death is what you ask for then I'll give you a second helping of Jupiter! You have 15 minutes to ponder the folly of your foolish actions!"**_

'_Now they're gonna fire it again, Erza is the only reason all of us are still standing after that first shot and she's down for the count. Now what do we do?' _Luke glanced ahead and noticed several black cloaked creatures emerging from the building "Oh crap."

"_**You're in quite the quandary aren't you Fairy Tail? There are only two ways this situation will be able to play out, either my troops will rip you apart or you'll be blown away by the Jupiter cannon!"**_

"And this just keeps getting better."

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Natsu barked "If he fires at us then he'll kill his own men, he's gotta be fu-" he glanced back at Lisanna "He's gotta be screwing with us or something isn't he, right?"

"No he's not the kind of guy to bluff, he's definitely gonna go through with it without a second thought. Jose created those Phantom soldiers through his magic power called Shade, they're not human so it won't matter to him if they end up getting destroyed."

"What the hell does that mean, are you saying they're ghosts?"

"Not going into that right now, in the meantime we have to find a way to take out the Jupiter cannon before it fires again."

"I'm gonna smash that gigantic thing to pieces, I only have about 15 minutes to wreck that thing don't I?"

"For once I like the way you think. Gray, Elfman, you guys are with me and Natsu. We're gonna storm the place and take out the Jupiter Cannon. Cana."

"Way ahead of you." Cana pulled out a number of cards "We're gonna stay here to protect the guild hall until you guys take the thing out, just don't do anything too stupid or reckless while you're in there okay?"

"With these three I make no such promises." and so they took off.

'_Just be careful up there, I don't want to lose you again.'_

"Lucy listen, I need you to come with me." Lisanna suddenly grabbed Lucy by the hand and dragged away from the scene, something that didn't go unnoticed by Loke.

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Lisanna led Lucy away from the battlefield "We have a hideout not far from here, I want you to stay there until this is all over and done with."

"I can't just do that!" Lucy protested "It's all my fault that we're in this mess, I can't just abandon everyone while they're out there fighting for me!"

"This isn't your fault Lucy, I don't see it that way and neither does anyone else in the guild. We aren't just out there fighting for you, this is for all of us and for the honor of the guild. We're proud to fight in this battle, each and every one of us from Fairy Tail. Please just do what I'm telling you to do."

"But I can't-" she was cut off by Lisanna blowing some dust in her face, causing her to lose consciousness before being caught by Lisanna.

"Freed can you take her to the hideout?"

"Of course." Freed gently took Lucy into his arms "I swear to you I will keep her safe."

"I'm counting on you."

"I understand." and so Freed disappeared across the rooftops.

'_This war has gotten way out of hand, I just hope that the others can take care of things for the time being, for all our sakes." _Lisanna promptly transformed into her cat form and began racing back to the battlefield '_We have 14 minutes until the Jupiter cannon fires again, which means that Natsu and the others have that long to stop it. Don't let me down, and don't let any of us down.'_

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Cana and the others continued fighting against the Shade soldiers "If you guys want Lucy then you'll have to go through all of us!"

"Yeah, bring it on!" Wakaba attempted to attack one of them, only for it to suddenly phase right through him "What the heck… I feel so weak…" he suddenly fell to one knee.

"Wakaba! What the heck is the deal with these things? No it doesn't matter, whatever you guys do just don't let them touch you! That means keep your distance but still show them what you can do! **Card Magic: Lightning! Water! Wind! Storm combination!" **she summoned a quick storm that blasted the soldiers apart with a combination of wind, water and lightning "Now that's what I'm talking about!" but then they regenerated "Oh you've gotta be fucking with me right now!"

"Well that's just not fair." Loke muttered.

"Tell me something I don't know."

"There's going to be no end to them if we keep fighting them like this." Loke suddenly tensed up slightly.

"What's the matter?"

"I'm not sure, I have a bad feeling about something.

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Jose looked down on the scene with a sinister smirk "That is correct young lady, with a single touch my Phantom soldiers can drain away your life force."

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"**FIRE DRAGON IRON FIST!" **Natsu proceeded to attack the cannon with a barrage of fire enhanced punches over and over again, only to get nowhere with it "Dammit I'm barely even scratching the surface!"

"I guess we're just gonna have to destroy it from the inside." Happy told him.

"...Oh yeah I totally knew that." they dropped into the inside of the cannon and quickly rushed in towards the end "Alright Happy, let's do this!"

"Aye sir!" they reached the end, only to find a massive room with several large lacrima spheres before them "Damn, what the hell is all of this?"

"Woah."

"_11 minutes until Jupiter fires."_

"They must be using that lacrima to collect all of the magic energy."

"Yeah but why the hell would they need one as big as that?" asked Natsu.

"Because magic focusing cannons don't fire regular ammunition, instead they fire concentrated magic power."

"I didn't get most of that but all we gotta do is destroy that thing don't we?"

"I can't allow you to do that." a new figure got their attention from further into the room, with black and white hair and a sword strapped to his side, this guy being Totomaru of the Element Four.

"Who the hell is this guy? New plan I don't care, anyone who gets in my way is gonna go down hard!" Natsu charged at Totomaru and let a flaming fist fly forward.

"I don't think so."

"Like give a damn what you think, now get the hell out of my way!" Natsu suddenly found himself being struck by his own attack "What the hell?"

"Hey Natsu why did you hit yourself?" asked Happy.

"I didn't, my fist just went crazy!"

Totomary let out a chuckle "It seems to me that you're getting in your own way."

"Just get out of my way asshat, I have a cannon to demolish!"

"_10 minutes until Jupiter fires."_

"Not gonna happen, all I have to do is shatter that giant lacrima and it won't be able to fire anymore. I think."

"You think?" Totomaru let out a chuckle "You can certainly try, but obviously I'm not going to let you."

"Like I care, I don't have time for this shit so shut up and just let me do my thing!" Natsu then charged at Totomaru with another fire fist prepared, only for it to hit him instead once again, knocking him to the ground "Ow! Fuck! What the hell is the deal with this thing, why do I keep hitting myself?"

"Who cares, we don't have much time!" Happy protested in front of his face "Just forget about this guy and focus on the cannon, we've gotta break it right now!"

"I'll show this assclown!"

"Hey did you hear what I said?!"

Natsu ignored him and promptly charged at Totomaru again, only for him and his flames to end up spinning out of control and to be sent flying by a kick to the face.

"_6 minutes until Jupiter fires."_

"Ow."

Totomaru looked down at Natsu "I am Totomaru of the Element 4 and I have complete control over the element of fire."

"Wait a second, you're one of those whatever the hell you call them five guys aren't you?"

"I literally just said I was part of the Element 4, at least have the decency to get the name right you imbecile? Anyway any form of fire is my plaything to do with as I please."

"You've gotta be kidding me!"

"It doesn't matter if it's natural or magic, all fire will yield itself to my command and mine alone."

"Hate to break it to you but you're not controlling mine!"

"You're wasting your time."

Happy was beginning to lose patience "Would it kill you to quit wasting your time with this loser and just start focusing on how to keep that cannon from firing?!"

"This isn't going to go well for you my dear fire wizard." this was followed by the various lacrimas in the room lighting up with magic energy.

"_Five minutes until Jupiter fires."_

"You see, the Jupiter cannon is already starting to activate again."

"Yeah I've got eyes dipshit." Natsu promptly cracked his knuckles.

"It's too late for you though. **Blue Fire!" **Totomaru unleashed a blast of blue colored flames from a magic circle.

Natsu wasted no time in scarfing them down "Oh man that's cold going down, I've never tasted fire like that before."

"So it's you after all, the Fire Dragon Slayer of Fairy Tail. Well this isn't going to work out for either of us now is it? After all, both of us are impervious to fire based attacks."

"I haven't even hit you yet, how the hell do you know my fire won't hurt you?"

"Go ahead and give it your best shot, but you won't be able to hit me."

"We'll see about that! **Fire Dragon…"**

"I already told you that as the element of fire I can control any flame!"

"**Spit!" **Natsu suddenly drench Totomaru in a stream of saliva and barked out a laugh "Yeah how do you like me now mother fucker, I just got you good!"

"_Two minutes until Jupiter fires."_

"Oh shit."

And then Happy started panicking "Natsu you've gotta hurry, we can't let the cannon fire on us or we're dead!"

"I get it already, just calm the fuck down!"

"That was a stupid thing to do Salamander, do you think that this is some stupid game? **Orange Fire!" **Totomaru unleashed a blast of orange fire.

"You can call that an attack, but I'm calling it my dinner!" Natsu quickly consumed the flames, only to suddenly spit them out "Holy mother of fuck that's totally gross, what the hell is wrong with you?!"

"Now do you see, it smells and tastes like an old rag soaked in spoiled milk now doesn't it?" the two of them promptly got up in each others' faces.

"That's a dirty trick!"

"Look who's talking, you're the one who dealt a face full of spit!"

"_One minute until Jupiter fires."_

"And that just further cements your defeat." Totomaru started easily dodging a barrage of punches and kicks from Natsu "And now you want to fight me without using any of your magic, well that's fine by me. My katana is more than ready." he blitzed forward and started slashing away.

Natsu dodged a barrage of slashes from his sword and dealt him a sharp kick to the head, sending his katana flying into the Lacrima "Booyah mother fucker!"

"You just think you're so smooth, a little thing like that won't destroy a giant lacrima like that one."

"Maybe not but now you're swordless, which means that I have the upper hand!" Natsu promptly summoned some flames and started firing off a barrage of punches.

"Oh for crying out loud." Totomaru easily dodged every attack "How many times do I have to tell you that won't work?" and then he made Natsu punch his own face, only to be met with a blast of fire to the face, scorching him in the process '_How the hell did he do that? He expanded the range of his fire power so it would hit me!"_

"I've only got 30 seconds until that thing fires, which means I've got about 15 to fry your ass into the ground!" Natsu summoned some more flames.

"So you think you're going to blast me again? Not going to happen, I'll keep my distance and control your fire from here!" at least that's what he was going to do, but he quickly ran into a problem "What the- I can't get it to move, it won't even budge! He's blocking my control, how the hell did he figure out how to do that in the middle of a fight!"

"This is my fire and there's no way in hell I'm gonna let some wannabe jackass like you screw with it!" with a mighty roar he launched a massive wave of flames forward.

Totomaru quickly leapt out of the way of the attack "Oh please, your attack won't do you any good if you can't hit your target."

"Who the hell said you were my target!" Natsu forced his flames to edge the sword further into the lacrima right before the timer finished the countdown, causing the lacrima to shatter and the Jupiter cannon to explode.

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Cana and the others looked up to see the Jupiter cannon explode in a fiery and incredibly noticeable fashion "Well what the hell do you know, if I had to guess I'd definitely say that one is Natsu's handiwork, and he did it just in the nick of time. Way to go flamethrower. Come on you guys we've got this, wipe out these Phantom asshats until none of them are left standing, so get to it!"

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Jose let out a chuckle despite the chaos being caused "Don't get too cocky just yet, you're far from beating me. Awaken the giant!"

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Totomaru landed on top of a large chunk of rubble '_This little bastard outsmarted me.'_

"Hey listen up asshat, someone from my guild taught me something about fire magic I think you should know." Natsu told him "You can never control fire if your heart isn't in it."

Happy blinked as the realization dawned on him '_I get it, he had to take the time to figure out how to overcome Totomaru's fire controlling magic or he wouldn't have been able to destroy the cannon. Now I feel kind of bad about rushing him the way that I did.'_

"Alright asshat, I've had just about enough you screwing with my magic! You play with my fire and you're gonna get burned, you get what I'm saying?" unfortunately this was when the place started coming apart by the awakening of the Giant "Oh crap, now what the hell is going on? The whole place is tilting!"

Totomaru quickly gripped onto one of the walls "Oh you've gotta be kidding me, he's awakening it right now? But there's no horizontal stabilization in here!"

"What the hell does that mean?!" the room started shaking again.

"That's what it means! You Fairy Tail punks are through, Phantom's giant will slaughter the lot of you- What the hell?!"

As it turns out, Natsu was gagging on the floor again due to the typical Dragon Slayer motion sickness."

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"Oh come on, you've gotta be kidding me right now." Cana and the others looked on in horror as the Phantom Lord guild hall transformed into a gigantic humanoid monster "That's the Giant, it's Phantom Lord's most powerful weapon."

"_**Let this be a final warning to all of you you detestable brats, kneel before me or you will fall victim to my wrath! Savor your last moments because soon I intend to end your pathetic little lives!"**_

'_And now the Shade things are coming to attack again.'_

"What the heck do we do?" asked Bisca "I mean with a giant and an army of ghosts, how are we supposed to handle this?"

"Just focus on these things for now, we'll let Luke and the others take care of the Giant thing for us."

"Well yeah, but what about his motion sickness?"

"You're thinking of Natsu, at least Luke can somewhat control it."

"He has to puke his guts out."

"So do I but you don't see me whining about it."

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Happy tried desperately to snap Natsu out of his motion sick funk "Come on Natsu, you've gotta get up already!"

Totomaru let out a scoff "Hey what's the matter, you get motion sickness? I guess you can't eat fire now can you? Well then I guess it's time for me to finish you off!"

"Natsu seriously, get the heck up!"

"Prepare to die Dragon Slayer- Wait a second." he took a second to realize his hands were being frozen "Hey what the hell, what's happening to me?!"

"You're not a man, you're a backwards shooting snowflake!" Elfman suddenly burst onto the scene and punched Totomaru high into the air.

"That makes no sense!" and then he disappeared beyond the horizon.

"It doesn't have to make sense."

"No arguments here." Luke pulled Natsu to his feet "Anyway good work guys, way to show that jackass what the Fairies have got over the Phantoms, but this isn't over yet."

"Yeah well it was just sad on Natsu's part, if he was a real man then the giant motion sick of you."

"Okay you really need to work on that, once is one thing but twice is just sad. Anyway to be fair to Natsu he did stop the cannon, nice work by the way."

"Yeah I know." Natsu breathed a sigh "Well it must have stopped moving because I feel a lot better now."

"That makes one of us, Bolt fly outside and see what's going on."

"Way ahead of you." Bolt quickly bolted off.

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Cana and the others continued fighting off the Phantom soldiers, only for all of them to notice the Phantom Giant drawing what looked like a magic circle "Oh crap."

"Not good I'm guessing?" asked Lisanna.

"It's drawing a magic circle, that's the one for the spell called Abyss Break, one of the forbidden spells."

"And look at the size of it." Loke muttered "A black wave as big as that would be able to wipe out the entire city."

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Bolt was quick to report back to the others on their findings "We're officially fucked, and so is the rest of the city."

"What the hell do we do?!" Natsu exploded "We've gotta stop them!"

"The first thing we have to do is start looking for the power source and either destroy it or shut it down." Luke told him,

"Man." Elfman let out a sigh "Are we ever gonna catch a break?"

"What the hell do you think? We're members of Fairy Tail, catching a break isn't part of the job description. Anyway enough talk, let's just get moving."

"Right."

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Cana glanced over at Lisanna admits the chaos "Hey tell me something Lisanna, how long do you think we have until the giant casts that spell?"

Lisanna let out a sigh "If I had to guess I'd say about 10 minutes, I just wish we could figure out what's powering it."

"Don't worry, I'm sure Luke and the others inside are looking for the power source right about now."

"Someone's in there with Luke and Natsu?"

"Yeah, Gray and Elfman went with them."

"Elfman?! But why?"

"He wanted to go, it's not that big a deal."

"You know as well as I do that he can't fight on the level of people like Natsu or Gray or any of the others, it's just too dangerous!"

"Elfman is going to be fine, he was one of our best fighters in the raid earlier."

"Fighting thugs and lackeys is one thing, but if he went up against one of the best of Phantom as he is right now then I don't know if he can handle it."

"Well yeah, I get why you're worried about him after everything that happened back then, and I know I would be too. Listen Lisanna, all of us suffered with you after what happened to you guys that day, Luke and Elfman more than anybody, but I think this is Elfman's way of trying to leave the past behind and move forward. You should let him do it."

"Yeah, I know that but… to leave the past behind… _Mira… that's why I need to start moving forward again too… _I have an idea but I need you to cover me." with a quick flash she transformed into a carbon copy of Lucy and made her way to the front of the battlefield "Just leave them alone, I'm the one you're after right? I'll surrender to you if you swear to stop attacking our guild! _With any luck this will at least buy us a little bit more time.'_

"_**Oh please, get out of my sight you pitiful imposter. A well done transformation I will admit but you can't fool me young lady. I knew from the start that Lucy Heartfilia wasn't in there, there's no way the target would be brought to the front lines so recklessly."**_

A now disheartened Lisanna promptly transformed back "It was supposed to work, or at least buy us some time."

"It's alright, don't stress over it." Cana patted Lisanna on the back "Elfman can hold his own against the likes of Phantom, because wizards of Fairy Tail never give up without a fight."

"Yeah, yeah I know-" Lisanna was cut off when a magic circle appeared under her feet and sucked her in before anyone else was able to react.

"What the- Lisanna!" Cana looked up in horror as Lisanna appeared in the grasp of the Phantom Giant.

"_**Did you really think that such a pathetic little parlor trick would work on me? As punishment for your deception I'll simply have to crush you to death as you watch your friends die."**_

"Lisanna! _Dammit Luke things are getting worse out here, if you're gonna pull off a win then you'd better do it fast! We're all counting on you to stop the Giant_

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With a manly roar, Elfman burst forward through the halls of the Phantom Lord guild hall/ giant robot "As a real man, it's my duty to protect Fairy Tail, even if it costs me my life!"

"Oui?" that was when _he _appeared before Elfman, he being Sol of the Element 4 "Salut?"

"One of the Element 4." Elfman ripped off his coat and got into a fighting stance.

"Bonjour, my name is Sol, Monsieur Sol."

"Like I give a damn who you are, all I want to know is how to stop this thing. **Beast Arm: Black Bull!" **Elfman quickly summoned a bull arm.

"What's this, only your right arm can transform? It appears the rumors floating around about you are true."

"If you don't shut your trap then I'll make you!"

Sol easily dodged a smash attempt by Elfman "You have an older sister do you not? **Sable Dance!" **he summoned a whirlwind of sand and blitzed behind Elfman "**Roche Concerto!" **he attacked Elfman by making the ground beneath him erupt.

Elfman was forced to take a shower of debris and rubble, but he quickly leapt away to gain some distance.

"Non non non." Sol blitzed behind Elfman and wrapped his body around Elfman's arm with a mocking grin "Salut."

"You're seriously creepy." Elfman tried to tug him off, to no avail.

"Non non non, with three nons you don't stand a chance."

"Get off me you Man Sewer Sol!"

"It's monsieur you idiot!" Sol unwrapped himself and kicked Sol in the face, sending him flying backwards.

Elfman quickly rebounded '_Dammit, he's a lot stronger than he looks.'_

"Many years ago you attempted a Full Body Takeover and failed did you not? You went berserk did you not?"

"You shut up! **Beast Arm: Iron Bull!" **Elfman summoned an arm made of iron, only to freeze at the appearance of a statue of a certain someone before him "Mira…"

"I apologize but I took the liberty of scanning your memories when you so rudely stepped on me but a few mere moments ago."

"Why you little…"

"My what an attractive older sister you have, I gathered from your memories that you haven't seen her in quite some time. Oh pardonnez moi, now I see that she was buried in the cold dark ground. Oh honestly, how could you do something as cruel as that to someone who loved you so much?"

"I…"

And then the statues eyes opened "Well, little brother?"

Elfman let out a roar as he was suddenly frozen in place '_I can't let him get to me… I have to do this…'_

"Non non non monsieur, if I were you I wouldn't attempt another Full Body Takeover." he summoned several more statues of Mira "Don't you remember what happened the last time you tried that?"

'_No…'_

And then the statues of Mira all suddenly came to life "Well Elfman, what do you have to say for yourself?"

'_No…'_

"It was all your fault!"

'_No…'_

"How could you forget me!"

'_I didn't…'_

"I thought you loved me!"

"Please don't hurt me!"

'_I would never…'_

"I only want to help you!"

'_No…' _Elfman finally fell to one knee.

"Non non non." Sol let out a sadistic chuckle "You really shouldn't attempt to do something you know you're incapable of, all you've done is wasted all of your magic energy."

"You… You're nothing but a pathetic coward, if you were a real man then you would fight me instead of messing with my head!"

"Are you insinuating I'm not a real man? Non non non, how dare you insult me in such a way as this! What gives you the right to tell me how a real man is supposed to behave?" he turned the statues into a massive cloud of rocks and dust "You're not a man, you're a monster who murdered his elder sister! **Platre Sonata!" **he fired off a massive rock fist at Elfman, blowing him back into a wall and shattering it in the process.

'_Mira…'_

"Elfman no, Elfman get up!"

Elfman's eyes snapped open only to see Lisanna in the grasp of the Phantom Giant "Lisanna? I don't get it, what's going on? How did they get ahold of you? Lisanna!"

"Oh, so that's your older sister." Sol let out a chuckle "The Mademoiselle Lisanna, also known as the Animal Princess. She is being punished for attempting to deceive our master Jose, she should be smashed into dust very soon. Such is the price of all enemies of the Phantoms of course. Such is your fate monsieur, you killed Mirajane the She Devil and now your younger sister will die before your very eyes. Such an imposter, your manly image is just a facade hiding the weak and powerless wizard you truly are. A real man would never allow such a thing to happen to such fair creatures, and for that crime you shall receive eternal torment. **Sealing Magic: Merci la Vie! **You shall become part of the earth and relive all your painful memories over and over again!"

"No! No! STOP IT!" and then everything went white for him.

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Elfman found himself floating in a sea of white, until he noticed the surroundings change to the park in Magnolia "I know this place…"

"_Don't tell me you two were fighting again…"_

Elfman whipped around "Lisanna…"

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(Memory)

_(Elfman speak)_

"Don't tell me you two were fighting again."

Natsu glanced up to see Lisanna standing before him "Oh hey Lisanna."

"Natsu ate my whole fish!" was Happy's instant accusation "He didn't even ask me first, he just chomped down the whole thing!"

_Hold on… don't tell me… this is the day that…_

"Hey love birds, you gonna keep squabbling or are we gonna get a move on already?" that was when a 17 year old Luke showed up with Bolt tagging onto his shoulder "The She Devil and the Giant Wuss wanted me to tell you to get moving."

"What? But we just finished a job, can't we take a break?"

"Tell that to the Slave Driver that is your sister. Besides it's an S class quest, Mira wanted you and Elfman to come along and help her out with it."

"No way!" Natsu barked "That's totally unfair!"

"And I really don't care."

"What kind of job is it anyway?"

"Some kind of emergency request that just came in a few days ago, they want someone to kill this monster called the Beast. Take my advice and just hang back Natsu, you might actually learn something about patience."

"Please, why the hell would I go with you? Lisanna and Happy are all that I need."

"Tell that to Elfman, he keeps going on about how he's the man of the family and how he can protect you on his own, blah blah blah."

"Just great, leave it to you to hog all the fun."

"And leave it to you to whine about that. Look how about this Lisanna, you stick with the man child and the cat that's more mature than he is and I'll stick with the whiner and the She Devil and make sure they don't kill anyone. Sound good? Good." he dealt Bolt a high five.

_No, please… Take Natsu with you… None of us are ready for this yet… None of us…_

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(Real world)

Lisanna looked on in horror as Elfman was slowly being encased in stone by Sol's spell "Come on Elfman, you have to snap out of it! Elfman please!"

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(Memory)

"ELFMAN!" the wounded form of Mira looked on in horror as a monstrous hulking beast loomed ever closer to where she and Luke were lying on the ground badly injured.

_That monster… it's me…'_

"Elfman come on, you've gotta pull yourself together!"

"Mira hang on!" Bolt and Luke dropped down onto the scene with the considerably wounded form of Luke "I already got everyone in town to evacuate, well everyone who would believe a talking cat with wings so I had to bust a few heads, anyway let me help!"

"No…" Mira forced himself back to his feet "You guys have to get out of here, it's way too dangerous."

"What happened to him anyway?"

"I was getting beat up pretty bad so Elfman tried to take over the beast in order to protect me, but then…"

"Holy shit, this is Elfman?"

"It almost worked but the beast was too powerful for him, now he's totally lost control."

"So then what the hell are supposed to do, let him rampage like Godzilla?"

"No we have to try to get him to come to his senses before the beast completely takes over his soul."

"Just leave that to me." Luke limped his way forward "When I give the signal just take Bolt and run like hell."

"What the hell are you doing? Come back here!"

"Just shut up!" Luke turned back to Elfman "Hey Elfman it's me, can you hear me in there? It's just Luke here. Mira is here too. Don't worry about Lisanna, she's safe with Natsu and back at the guild so don't worry about her. Look I know you and I aren't exactly the Bros before Hoes kind of friends, but as fellow members of Fairy Tail we're part of a family, so we've gotta pull through these kinds of things together. Just pull your head out of your ass and things won't have to get too ugly." he was met with only a primal roar.

_It's no use Luke… you're wasting your time… Please, just run…_

"Is that how we have to play it?" Luke held out his arms to shield Mira and Bolt "Fine, go ahead and take me but leave your sister and my cat alone. Take me instead."

_No… No!_

The beast swung its arm, and Luke prepared for the inevitable, but then horror struck for everyone present as Mira suddenly jumped in front of him and took the blow, and was suddenly slapped away, the force sending her flying through the air until she finally landed in a nearby forest.

_MIRA NO!_

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(Next memory)

Elfman was on his knees sobbing in front of a grave, Mira's grave, as the rain poured down on him, Luke and Lisanna "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… Mira's dead… and it's all my fault!"

"No, it wasn't your fault big brother…" Lisanna stood behind him with her hair covering her eyes "Remember what I told you that day? Even though it makes us sad, all living things have to die eventually."

"Yeah… she did, didn't she…"

"Big sister Mira will continue to live on inside our hearts as long as we remember her."

"We will…"

By now Mira had tears streaming down her face as well "From now on we'll live life for her and promise we will never forget."

Luke, having stayed silent the entire time as his hair covered his eyes in a very ominous manner, just walked away from the scene without making so much as a sound.

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'_Never forget…' _a single tear fell down Elfman's face '_I will never forget…'_

"Elfman!" this was when Lisanna's pleading finally got through to him "Elfman please, you have to snap out of it! Please big brother, I can't afford to lose you too!"

'_Lisanna…'_

Sol let out a chuckle "And now it is time for the coup de grace."

"She… She's crying…"

"Oh pour l'amour de- What is it now?"

As it turns out, Elfman's entire body was glowing with magic power, the rubble surrounding him being shattered in the process "I swore that I would never let anyone make you cry again… I swore it… Tell me Lisanna, why are you crying?!"

Lisanna looked on in horror "That light… No don't do it Elfman, it's too dangerous!"

"WHO MADE YOU CRY LISANNA?! TELL ME!"

Sol let out a scoff "Imbecile, you're not strong enough to perform a Full Body Takeover-" he was cut off by a bright light and a monstrous roar "Mon dieu!" he was soon met with the sight of a massive beastly form before "Sacre bleu, he actually did it!"

"He really did it…" Lisanna muttered "The Full Body Takeover: Beast Soul!"

"Non non non, non non non! Listen monsieur this is just a big misunderstanding, I wasn't trying to hurt you, I simply wanted to help mon amie! I thought that putting you through that trial might help you get over your painful memories, excuse mon faux pas. You truly are the creme de la creme of manly men! Well I shall be going now, a too ta loo." he has promptly smacked upside the head by Elfman, but he rebounded "Non non non! **Platre Sonata!" **he fired off a gigantic rock fist "Non non non, you never should have let your guard down the way that you did."

The smoke cleared to reveal that Elfman was unharmed, but he was even angrier.

"Um… salut?" and then Sol got exactly what he deserved in the form of Elfman repeatedly pounding him into the ground, causing his soul to leave his body in a comical fashion, only for it to be stuffed back in his body by Elfman "No, at least knock me out s'il vous plait!" he was promptly repeatedly slammed into the ground.

"No Elfman stop, that's enough!" Lisanna pleaded.

The rage finally began to subside from Elfman and began to make a beeline towards her at full speed.

"Elfman can you hear me? It's just me Lisanna, I just want to talk."

He stopped in front of her and let out a low snarl.

"I'm worried, please just don't tell me you lost control. Not again."

He took her in his arms, his voice snarling but still soft and gentle "**I'm sorry Lisanna… I'm sorry… I promised I wouldn't try to do a Full Body Takeover ever again… and after what happened to Mira, I never thought that I would."**

"Elfman… you're still in control…"

"**But I didn't have any other choice… I knew that this was the only way I would be able to protect you… and the rest of Fairy Tail."**

"Big Brother Elf… please, stop beating yourself up about Mira. It wasn't your fault, you didn't do anything wrong. You were just trying to protect her and Luke."

"**And I failed miserably." **the magic power faded and Elfman returned to his normal form "I killed my big sister…"

"But your little sister is still alive."

"Lisanna…"

"And we said we'd live our lives for her remember? We promised to keep her memory alive so that she would live on in our hearts forever."

"Lisanna… I'm so glad you're okay…" and then Elfman started crying some extremely manly tears.

"Oh come on now big brother, what's with the tears all of a sudden?"

"I can't help it!"

"But you did save me, thank you." but then she tensed up as she noticed something.

"What is it, what's the matter?"

"The giant, it's not drawing the Magic Circle as fast as it was before. Abyss Break is the forbidden spell of the four elements, and those are air, water, earth and fire."

"Wait, do you mean-?"

"The Element 4, do you have any idea how many of them are left?"

"Well I think me, Natsu and Gray punched out the Fire guy, and I know what happened to the Earth guy over there. I guess that would leave two more of them."

"That must be it, each time one of the Element 4 is defeated the Giant slows down."

"Well yeah but why would that happen?"

"Because the Giant is being powered by the Element 4, if we can defeat the other two then we can stop the Giant from casting the Abyss Break spell!"

"Really, you think so?"

"The other two are probably still somewhere inside the giant."

"Right, we'd better get moving."

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Cana observed the situation from the ground and let out a sigh of relief "Oh thank god, at least the two of them made it out alright." but then she finally fell to one knee.

"Cana are you okay?" asked Evergreen.

"Don't worry about me, just focus on the enemy. We have to protect Fairy Tail!"

"Looks like you don't know when to quit do you?"

"What can I say, you people have an effect on me."

"You've been in the guild longer than I have!"

"Exactly! Anyway listen up you guys, if we're gonna beat these creeps then we've gotta cover more ground!"

Macao let out a sigh '_I don't know what it is about our guild, but the women here are so strong it's ridiculous.'_

"Hey where the hell did Loke go?"

"He took off a little while ago." Bickslow told her "He was he was gonna go check the hideout because he had a bad feeling about it."

"Well at least he didn't ditch us or anything, that means he's just making sure they're okay because if the Abyss Break gets cast then they'll be in trouble too. Besides, when Loke has a hunch he's usually right."

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Lucy opened her eyes and found herself in her apartment as if everything was normal "What the… When did I get back home? I thought we were in the middle of some kind of fight or something. I wonder if it was all just a dream."

"Yep, it was nothing but a dream."

Lucy glanced over only to see the insanity one would find in Fairy Tail, in the form of Natsu just doing a bunch of pushups, Cana binging on a gigantic barrel of alcohol, the village chief from Galuna Island, and several other insane things "GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

"Hey." and then Natsu and Gray popped up in front of her "Is there something moving under your bed?"

"Wait what?" Lucy looked under her bed and instantly regretted it.

What was waiting for her in the black void was a pair of black soulless eyes, a red mouth, and a horrifyingly creepy voice "Hi~~i."

And then she screamed.

Oh the joy of TFS references.

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Now back in the real world…

Lucy was stirring in terror from the dream "No, no… leave me alone creepy clown man… Don't suck me into the Fuck Box…"

"Lucy please get ahold of yourself, it's just a dream. Wake up."

Lucy's eyes snapped open and she suddenly kicked Freed in the face on instinct "Get the hell out of my room you pervert!" and then she became fully aware "Hey what the- Wait a second, this isn't my room at all! Where the heck am I?!"

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Luke and Bolt burst through the halls of Phantom Lord at full speed "Come on the Element 4 have to be around here somewhere, I should at least be able to smell them out."

"You're focussing too much on the small fry." Bolt told him "Just ignore all the lackeys and go after Jose himself, that'll end all of this insane fighting!"

"Bolt we're talking about one of the Ten Wizard Saints, we're talking about someone who's on the same level as the Master, not to mention _him _too."

"Oh get real, _he _is the top ranked Wizard Saint and a Dragon Slayer."

"My point is that if I go at it with Jose then chances are that it'll level the entire city!"

"Well the Master is out of commission so it's gonna have to be up to someone else to take that creep down, and with Erza down for the count you're the only one left who can! Plus there's no way we can count on Gildarts, Mystogan or even Laxus to come to the rescue. Besides, even if we do take out the Giant, the fact is that we'll have to face Jose eventually."

"...I'm willing to do what I have to, but only if there's no other option. I won't risk getting the others caught in the crossfire if I don't have to."

"I know, but I know that you can beat him. The master might be stronger at full power sure, but you've got something special that keeps pushing you to new heights."

"Thanks little buddy. Come on, let's get moving."

"Right."

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"JOSE WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Natsu and Happy burst into some random hallway in the Phantom building, only to be blown off his feet by a sudden gust of wind.

"How sad." the wind materialized into a cyclone, which then dissipated to reveal Aira of the Element 4 standing before them "I shall make your wings of flames wither and fall, and all that will remain is the corpse of a dragon."

"What the fuck did you say?!"

"Watch out for this one." Happy told him.

"This guy is one of the Element 4!"

"And that just gives me more reason to kick his ass."

Aira quickly got into a stance "My name is Aria, I am the strongest of the Element 4 and I have come in hopes of slaying a dragon."

"Let me take a wild guess, you're a wind wizard right? Yeah I know how to deal with your kind, fire beats wind any day and every day."

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Storm clouds began to gather over the Giant as rain poured down from said clouds.

Gray climbed his way out of a broken window only to notice it raining "Well that's weird, when did it start raining? How long was I in there."

"Drip drip drop."

Gray climbed all the way out and whipped around "What the hell?"

And who should appear before him but Juvia of the Element 4 "Hello, my name is Juvia and I am the rain woman of the Element 4. Drip drip drop."

"So you're one of them too? Then bring it on."

"I must say that I'm quite impressed that your guild was able to strike down two of the Element Four. However, you must not underestimate the remaining two."

"Alright lady listen up, if you're looking for a fight then I'll give you one. But let's get something straight, I'm not going to hold back just because you're a woman." they locked eyes and this caused Juvia to blush.

"...Well then I give up, you win. Goodbye." she turned around and started walking away.

"Where the hell are you going?! Come back here and fight me!"

'_I don't understand, there must be something wrong with me. Why is my heart beating as fast as this?'_

"Can you at least tell me how to take out the Giant?"

'_I have the strong urge to make him mine, I just can't help myself anymore! _**Water Lock!" **she promptly trapped Gray in a large sphere of water, only to realize her mistake mere seconds afterwards "Oh no what have I done?! He's injured, I had no idea that he was hurt! I don't know what to do! I guess I should probably release him."

With a quick yell, Gray froze the water and then shattered it.

'_He must be an ice wizard, he froze my Water Lock and broke free! I've never witnessed the power of Ice magic, it's just absolutely beautiful! I'm water and he's ice, we must be bound to each other by destiny. I can't believe I finally found my handsome prince.'_

"You almost got me with that sneak attack you pulled on me, you're playing dirty." Gray then proceeded to take off his shirt.

'_Oh my goodness he's taking off his clothes, but I'm not ready for this! We just met, can't we take things slowly?'_

"I really don't want to fight a girl but if I have to then I will, so you'd better surrender now or else I'm gonna have to hurt you. **Ice Make: Lance!" **he fired off a barrage of ice lances that went right through Juvia, though they didn't harm her.

"My body is entirely made of water. Are you surprised? Drip drip drop." she quickly started to reform her body.

"Yes I must not forget, my love is also my enemy. We're on opposite sides in this war. I have no choice but to attack, it seems this is farewell my prince. **Water Slicer!" **she fired off a barrage of water blades.

Gray quickly leapt out of the way of the attack, leaving the water blades to cut down a tower behind him.

"When given the proper amount of force, water can be strong enough to rip through steel. If you were to underestimate its power then you will find yourself in a world of pain."

"Good to know. **Ice Make: Battle Axe!" **Gray summoned a battle axe made of ice and quickly cut through Juvia, only for it to not effect her.

"Can't you see that you're just wasting your time? Your attacks have no effect on my body made of water, none at all. Drip drip drop."

'_Dammit, now what the hell do I do?'_

"It doesn't matter what you do, you will not be able to defeat me, but there is one way you and your guild may be spared. All we ask is that you hand over Miss Lucy Heartfilia, do that and I will ask our master to call off his attack on Fairy Tail."

"Oh come on now, don't give me any of that crap. You and I both know that we're way past the point of no return. Besides Lucy is one of us, I would rather give my life than hand her over to people like you."

This caused Juvia to literally drop her umbrella in disbelief '_He'd rather give his life… give his life… give his life… Lucy's my rival… Lucy's my rival… Lucy's my rival… He loves her!' _she let out a blood curdling scream "Oh the pain, how can fate be so cruel?! My heart feels as if it's been shredded to bits! It hurts, oh how it hurts!"

"What's the matter, are you feeling sick or something?"

"She… She is not worthy of my prince! LUCY HEARTFILIA CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO LIVE!"

"...What now?" Gray was forced to dodge a stream of water, but he still felt the heat coming off of the water "Dammit that burns, what the hell is your deal and what the hell kind of problem do you have with Lucy?"

"SILENCE!" Juvia unleashed another powerful water wave.

Gray tried to create a shield to protect himself, only to be left unable to form it '_Dammit her attack is so fast, I don't know if my Maker magic can keep up.' _he slid on the watery surface and almost fell off the roof because of it '_Dammit that was way too close.'_

"Ever since the day I was born I have been followed by the rain. It gives me strength, it makes me invincible. Prepared to be scalded by my jealous rage!" she unleashed several scalding hot blasts of water raining down in his direction.

"What the hell are you jealous of?! **Ice Make: Shield!" **Gray was forced to protect himself from the water, though his shield was quickly melted by the heat '_Dammit this water is boiling hot, I can't keep this up for long!'_

"Like I told you before, I am at my most powerful in the rain. You will never be able to defeat me." Juvia stopped with her attack, only for the steam to clear and reveal that Gray was nowhere to be seen "He used the steam as a smokescreen. He's not just handsome, he's actually quite smart too. I really am in love."

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Gray bolted down the hallways of the Phantom Lord building, his mind racing "I can't waste anymore time with this crazy water chick, I have to figure out how to stop the Giant!" he was promptly met with a hot stream of water bursting through the hallway and engulfing '_Dammit this stuff is so hot it's burning my skin!' _and he got blown back out of the hallway and into the open air.

"It's all over now!" Juvia fired a blast of scalding water at Gray while he was still trapped in mid air.

"You wanna bet?!" Gray quickly turned to face the blast of water and prepared to take on the blast in full.

'_He just jumped into the scalding water!'_

"Now freeze up!" Gray quickly froze the water all the way down to where Juvia was standing.

"No it can't be-" and then she was frozen as well in a massive chunk of ice, blushing profusely as a result '_I should be angry he froze my boiling water, but…'_

It was only now that Gray realized he had grabbed Juvia's (surprisingly perky) breast, and almost instantly freaked out "Oh shit oh shit, it's not what you think I swear! I didn't mean to!"

'_I've never been so embarrassed, will I be stuck like this forever?'_

"Sorry!" Gray retracted his hand, releasing the spell and freeing Juvia from it.

'_Even though I'm his enemy, he released me. He's such a nice guy.'_

"Hey so let's just start over okay?"

"Let's not. Honestly, I don't want to hurt you so there's no point in the two of us fighting anymore."

"Wait a second, is this your weird way of admitting that you can't defeat me?"

"You know I'm much stronger than Lucy, if you let me then I would be truly happy to protect you."

"Protect me, from what exactly?"

"Well from anything that may hurt you, because I think you're a… you're so…" she started blushing heavily.

"Is it just me or is this rain actually getting worse?"

"Oh this is so frustrating!"

"It won't let up, man this rain is so gloomy."

'_Gloomy… gloomy…' _hearing this from Gray struck a chord in Juvia, and she fell to her knees as a result.

"Hey what's the matter?"

'_I thought he was different… but he's just like all of the rest of them. _HOW COULD YOU BE SO CRUEL TO ME?!" and then she pretty much exploded.

"What the hell is with you?!"

'_I won't let my feelings for him sway me any longer!' _she promptly slammed him with a blast of hot water.

'_I'll just have to freeze it again.' _at least that's what Gray tried to do, only to quickly run into a problem '_Dammit I can't do it, the water is even hotter than before.'_

"I'M THROUGH WITH LOVE AND I'M THROUGH WITH YOU!" the power of her torrent sent Gray flying backwards across the rooftop '_It's true, I am a rain woman. _I've lived my entire life as a gloomy rain woman, but Phantom Lord was willing to look past that, and they welcomed me with open arms! I am one of the Element 4, a proud wizard of the Phantom Lord guild! **SIERRA!" **she changed into a surging water form and charged at Gray in a blind rage at full speed.

"How the hell can you be proud to be with this?!" Gray quickly blocked her attack using an ice shield and then used his other hand to freeze her attack, as well as all of the other water in the area, including the rain.

'_He even turned the rain to ice, he's absolutely amazing!'_

"**Ice Make: GEYSER!" **Gray quickly summoned a massive ice tower before him, allowing him to engulf Juvia in it only for it to shatter to pieces seconds later, leaving her falling in mid air as a result.

'_I lost… it's all over now… I'm going to fall to the ground and splatter, just like a simple rain drop… I suppose such a fate is a truly fitting end for a rain woman that was never wanted by anyone… Farwell, Gloomy Juvia…' _but then she felt something grab onto her.

As it turns out, Gray had grabbed her by the wrist at the last second and stopped her from falling to her death "Just hang in there okay, I promise I won't let you fall." he quickly pulled her back up onto the roof and let her lay there.

"Why… Why did you save me?"

"Just because, now go ahead and get some rest."

'_He saved my life…'_

"So are you good, you starting to cool down a little bit?" this was followed by the sun finally coming out above them.

'_It's so bright… the rain… it stopped…'_

"Well what the hell do you know, the sun is coming out."

"The blue sky… I've never seen it before…"

"You serious about that? Well there you go, it's pretty don't you think?"

"Yes, it is… it's truly beautiful…"

"So… You wanna go at it?" he shot her a grin, which prompted her to squeal and pass out with a big goofy smile on her face "Hey what the hell is the matter, is something wrong? Come on Juvia, talk to me already! Say something to me dammit, are you okay? Answer me!"

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The battle against the Phantom soldiers was dying down.

Cana was quick to take notice of a sudden change with the Phantom giant "We've been out here for hours at least and it still hasn't cast the spell, and on top of that it seems like the Giant is slowing down in there."

"So what's the plan then?" asked Bickslow.

"What else? Luke and the others are inside giving it their all to stop that thing, and now we're gonna lend them a hand. The last thing they need are these things distracting them, so now we've gotta wipe them out. We've got some big time shit to wreck, now let's get the hell out there and do this!"

"Right!" and so everyone charged.

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"GRAY!"

Hearing his name being called, Gray glanced over to see Elfman and Lisanna running towards him "Uh, hey guys. Wait what the hell is Lisanna doing here?"

"Long story, tell you later but one of the Element 4 is down for the count."

"Nice, I just beat this one too."

"Why the hell does she have this creepy look on her face?"

"The hell if I know, she must be having a damn good dream or something."

"Well we only have one left now, if we can defeat the last of the Element 4 then that should be able to stop the Abyss Break." Lisanna told him "I was able to figure it out, the energy of the Element 4 is able to power the Giant, probably through some kind of Body Link magic. We can do this, right you guys?"

"Right. We took down three so that means there's only one left, Luke and Natsu are still searching somewhere inside."

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Lucy glanced over at Freed "So Lisanna put me to sleep in order to protect me and keep me away from the fight?"

Freed nodded "Yes that's right, then we brought you to the emergency hideout protected by one of my enchantments. Anyone with a Phantom Lord guild mark is unable to enter."

"I guess they just didn't want me to fight, I know I couldn't do a lot without my keys but that doesn't mean that I'm helpless."

"You have it all wrong Lucy, no one thinks you're helpless. All we're doing is trying to protect one of our comrades and that's all there is to it."

"But still, I can't just sit here and do nothing while they're all fighting to protect the guild out there! I have to go back and help them!"

"I'm sorry Lucy but I can't allow you to do that, I swore on my honor to Lisanna that I would keep you here."

"But that's not fair-" this was followed by the sound of somebody pounding on the door to the hideout "What's going on, who's out there?"

"Just stand back."

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Aria looked down on the wounded and panting form of Natsu "You've endured my attacks and yet you're still standing, very impressive I will admit."

"Oh yeah, well watch this!" Natsu charged at Aria with a fire fist armed and ready to be used to attack.

Happy was growing more and more concerned by the minute '_Natsu's getting beat up pretty bad, I've never seen anything like this. It's a totally one sided fight.'_

"There's no way I'm gonna lose to someone like you!"

"Let's see how you're able to fare against my Airspace magic, this will prove to be a true test your power." Aria prepared to use his Airspace magic.

"I don't see no Airspace magic!" and then he slammed straight into it and was sent tumbling back as a result '_What the hell is that, some kind of invisible spell?'_

"I must admit Salamander you're much stronger than I believed you to be."

"I can take whatever you can dish out, you should never underestimate the power of a wizard of Fairy Tail! You've got me all fired up now, so let's see what you've got!"

"So be it. **Airspace: Zetsu!" **Aria attacked Natsu with multiple blasts of air, blowing him backwards.

'_Dammit, I guess they weren't kidding when they said that this guy was the strongest of the Element 4.'_

"There is always someone better than you young Dragon Slayer."

"I think we're gonna see about that right now! **Fire Dragon ROAR!" **Natsu breathed out a large fire roar.

Aira disappeared from sight before the blast was able to hit him.

"Well that's just fucking perfect, now where the hell did he go?"

"I shall end this battle with a gift, I will allow you to join your master in his suffering." Aira then appeared behind Natsu "**Airspace: Drain!" **he started draining Natsu of his magic power, causing him to cry out in pain, and then Aira started crying again "Such a sight is truly sad to behold! Yes, because any wizard caught in my Airspace will be completely drained of their magic power!"

'_Dammit I can feel it, my powers are being sucked out!'_

"**Lightning Dragon Jaw!" **luckily for him that was when Luke burst onto the scene and attempted to smash Aria into the ground with a Lightning Dragon Jaw, only for him to escape from it, but at the same time it freed Natsu from the Drain spell as he let Bolt climb off his shoulder and onto the ground "Sorry I'm late Natsu, you okay?"

"Yeah yeah, just give me a minute."

"As much of a loud mouth as ever, you'll be fine." Luke's gaze hardened into a furious glare directed at Aria "So you're the one who harmed our master."

Aria reappeared in front of Luke and gave a confident smirk "The great Luke Drako, such an appearance is truly unfortunate. It seems the brilliant Thunderclap will lose his head alongside his friend and fellow Dragon Slayer salamander."

"You made our master suffer with your actions, I'm gonna make you pay for that."

"Well well, now that I'm finally faced with a worthy opponent I suppose the time has come for me to take this battle a touch more seriously." he promptly removed the bandages covering his eyes.

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Gray looked over at Lisanna "I don't get it, what's so special about his eyes?"

"As evident as it is, Aria keeps his eyes covered with some bandages because it's meant to help him to control his overwhelming magic power." Lisanna told him.

"So what then, it's all in his eyes?"

"That's right, so when we find him we have to defeat him before he opens his eyes because if that happens, then we don't stand a chance of defeating him."

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Cana and the others watched as the massive magic circle began glowing "Okay magic circle is glowing, that's never a good sign. I think it's safe to say we're just about fucked."

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Loke was bolting through the streets of Magnolia as fast as he was able to, his mind racing as fast as he was '_Come on you guys you can't just give up, we can do this!'_

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Aria's eyes shot wide open as a powerful whirlwind began surrounding his body and he let out a sinister chuckle "Now come Thunderclap, come and step into Zero, the airspace of death! It consumes the lives of all who dare to enter!"

"A spell that consumes the lives of your opponents huh?" Luke promptly drew his dragon scale sword from his sheath "People like you make me sick, how the hell can you just kill people without a second thought. Does life hold no value to you?"

"It would be more fun to show you! Now come Thunderclap, let's just see how well you can handle this!" he started unleashing even more whirlwinds.

With a yell, Luke charged through them with his sword drawn, cutting through the wind to create a path for her.

'_That's impossible, he's cutting through my Airspace! No!'_

"**Dragon Sword Style: THUNDERCLAP STRIKE!" **Luke launched his sword forward and unleashed a blast of lightning from the blade, engulfing Aria in an explosion and blowing him a short distance away "Someone like you,someone who doesn't understand how precious and fragile life truly is, doesn't come anywhere near close to understanding the meaning of true strength. When people think of you all they'll remember is a sobbing coward who fell by my hand."

"That's… so sad…"

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Cana and the others outside were forced to brace themselves for what was about to come, only for her to let out a loud sigh of relief as they watched the magic circle disappear and the Phantom Giant to shut down "The magic circle is gone and the Giant is shutting down, and judging by the lack of over the top explosions I'd say this was Luke's handiwork." she gave a small smile "Way to go you son of a bitch."

"I see… so they stopped the Abyss Break from being cast… that's good…"

Cana glanced back to see Erza making her way across the battlefield in her Black Wing Armor, stumbling slightly "You should be resting inside, you just took on a fucking Jupiter cannon dammit!"

"I couldn't just abandon my comrades when they needed me, especially not when our guild is under attack."

"Well you missed most of the action, the Abyss Break spell is history and Luke and the others inside took out the Element 4. We're winning this one Fairy Tail!" she was met with various cheers.

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Loke stopped running once he noticed the Giant shut down "Looks like they managed to take out the Element 4, that'll show them." but then he noticed a commotion not too far away."

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Freed stood amidst the rubble with a few minor wounds, but aside from that he was unharmed and quickly ushered for Lucy to get behind him "Tell me, how is it that you were able to get past my enchantment?"

"It's not that complicated He With No Taste in Fashion." Gajeel let out a loud snort "You think your guild is the only one who uses Letter Magic? We've got like seven guys like that, sure I can't be bothered to remember any of their names but they do get the job done. Look man it's over, just give up and hand over the blonde before Jose starts getting all pissy."

"You know I can't do that."

"Then you know what's gotta happen."

"I do." he glanced back "Lucy please listen to me, I need you to run from here as fast as you're able to."

"And leave you?!" Lucy let out a scoff "No way, I'll stay here and fight!"

"Please I need you to do what I say, do it for the sake of the guild."

"But…"

"Clearly me enchantments are inadequate at protecting you so I've already released them, now run as far as you can as fast as you can. **Dark Ecriture: Darkness!" **Freed cast a spell that engulfed him in a bright light, and when it dissipated it revealed that he had taken "**Now please just go!"**

"I…" unable to form the words, Lucy ran as fast as she could '_I'm sorry Freed, I'm so sorry for this!'_

"Oh no you don't." Gajeel blitzed in front of her "You'd really leave the assclown back there to take the fall for you? Doesn't sound to me like that lives up to the morals you guys always preach about. I've faced off with one of you guys before and you've got nowhere near anything on that dude."

"Maybe I don't… But I'm not going down without a fight…"

"I think we'll see about that. **Iron Dragon Chains!" **Gajeel extended some iron chains out of his fingertips and wrapped them around Lucy tightly, causing her to cry out in pain.

"Lucy hang on!" Freed tried to cast an enchantment, only to be met with Gajeel holding an iron knife to Lucy's throat, stopping him in his tracks.

"I don't think so pal, one more step and the chica here his history."

Freed let out a growl, but knowing his hands were tied as long as Lucy's life was at Gajeel's mercy, he reverted to his normal form and sheathed his sword.

"Looks like you're one of the smarter ones." Gajeel then proceeded to chop Lucy on the back of her neck, knocking her out cold. "And now to get the hell out of here. **Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Karma Demon: Iron Spiral!" **using his Iron Dragon Slayer magic, he turned his legs and waist into a giant drill and proceeded to drill his way out of the hideout, the hole closing up behind him.

Freed could only bow his head '_Forgive me everyone, I was careless and because of that I failed you.'_

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Gajeel drilled out into the streets of Magnolia in order to read out the situation "Hey why did the Giant stop, what the fuck is going on?" he was answered with a loud crash behind him, causing him to whip around and find himself face to face with a certain someone "Looks like a good chunk of you guys know how to say hello."

As it turns out, Loke was standing before him looking pissed "And just what exactly do you think you're doing with Lucy? If you don't let her go right now then I'm going to make sure you regret it. That is to say, you will regret it for as long as you're still alive, which isn't gonna be for very long."

"Is that right, well I happen to like a good challenge so let's do us some dancing Fairy. **Iron Dragon Club!" **Gajeel shot an iron club out of his arm.

Loke blitzed above the attack and charged at Gajeel with a barrage of magic enhanced punches and kicks.

Gajeel dodged and blocked most of his attacks, receiving a few scrapes and bruises and dealing a few of them himself, but as they fought he noticed something '_What the hell is the deal with this guy? It feels like there's something different about him compared to the rest, he's not like any ordinary Holder type wizard I've ever seen before. _So just who the hell are you anyway, and why do you smell different from the rest?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, I never got any complaints from the ladies." but that was when Loke suddenly froze in place and his body began pulsating '_No, not now! Not yet dammit!'_

"**Iron Dragon Club!" **Gajeel smashed down on Loke's skull with an iron club, sending him crashing to the ground "Well that's too bad, you put up a better fight than most of the other chumps did but not by much. Well in the meantime Lover Boy I think I've wasted too much time on you, I'd better get Blondie back to the boss."

"No…" Loke pulled himself at least up to the point where he was on his knees "I won't say it again… let her go…"

"You've got guts if nothing else smartass I'll give you that much. But like I said I don't have the time to deal with you so I'll make this quick. **Iron Dragon ROAR!" **Gajeel let out a roar and breathed out a large tornado infused with a large number of metal shards that dealt Loke a large number of cuts and blew him clean through a building, which gave Gajeel the opportunity to get away with Lucy and he made a beeline back towards the Phantom Giant.

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Jose was practically foaming at the mouth over the current progress of the battle "I don't believe this, my strongest wizards the Element 4, were completely wiped out by that worthless scum from Fairy Tail!"

"Well then doesn't that make them worse than scum?"

Jose whipped around and saw Gajeel entering the room with Lucy slung over his shoulder, and he gave a smirk "Gajeel, so you've returned to me bearing a gift have you?"

"Yeah I had to take a piss in a bathroom that didn't smell like Aira or Juvia, and I picked up a little something for you while I was out."

"Vulgar as it may be, that's still very impressive of you my boy. How were you able to track her so quickly?"

"Anyone who knows how a Dragon Slayer works knows not to underestimate just how strong our sense of smell can be."

"She is alive though isn't she? She's worthless to us if she doesn't have a pulse."

"Calm down she's not dead, I was actually gonna use her to get some feedback on my stuff own before we hand her over." Gajeel put Lucy down on the ground.

"Excellent as always Gajeel, I knew I could count on you." he looked down at Lucy and smirked as some magic energy appeared on his fingertip, and he fired it.

Knowing what was coming next, Gajeel looked away and gritted his teeth.

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"_Attention you pathetic worms of Fairy Tail, listen to me carefully because I'm only going to say this once."_

"What the hell?" Luke's head snapped up and he screeched to a halt "That's Jose, what the hell is he doing?"

"_We have captured your precious Lucy Heartfilia, if you don't believe me then let me provide all of you with some evidence." _what could be heard next was the sound of Jose blasting Lucy all over her body, causing her to scream in pain and agony "_Anyway this means that our first order of business is now out of the way. And that leaves us with just one other thing, my personal favorite part, wiping all of you miserable wretched brats right off the face of the Earth once and for all!'_

Luke could feel his teeth grinding and the vein in his forehead throbbing from the rage he was feeling "Jose… you son of a bitch…"

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Freed wasted no time in racing back to the battlefield, his mind racing '_Please forgive me everyone, you gave me one simple tasked and I failed in it miserably.'_

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Loke struggled to pull himself back to his feet and he slammed his fist into the ground out of pure frustration "I knew something was wrong… I should've been here sooner… But I was afraid… I was too scared to be near Lucy… and now she's gone… Pathetic!" he let a tear roll down his cheek "She's right… I do look absolutely pathetic… Don't I, Karen?"

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Macao and Wakaba and the rest watched as more Phantom soldiers came rushing out of the fortress "Great now there's more of them and they wanna fight too, you've gotta be kidding me right now."

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Jose glanced back at Gajeel "I want you to keep an eye on that girl."

"And what the hell are you gonna do?" asked Gajeel.

"There are still some pests scuttling around my guild hall."

"Let me take a wild guess, Thunderclap and Salamander?"

"Yes, the two of them and their friends. They've proven to be rather lucky thus far but their luck is about to come to an end, I'm going to exterminate them myself."

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Luke blasted a wall down out of pure rage and frustration "Dammit, they got Lucy! Son of a mother fucker!"

"So what do we do now?" asked Natsu "In this case can we do what I want and just barge in on them like a bunch of pissed off animals?"

"Well you're half right. Natsu I've got a job for you right now and that insane untapped potential you have in there."

"Wait what?"

"You have incredible potential Natsu, it's lying dormant deep inside of you. I need you to have faith in yourself like I have faith in you, find that power and awaken it. That's part of the reason why you're the only person I can trust with this task, I need you to go take down Gajeel and rescue Lucy. Show me what you've got Natsu, show me what I've always known: That you have the potential to be the best of us."

"...You wanna see it? Well fine then." Natsu gritted his teeth as his flames manifested across his body, taking on the form of a dragon as he let out a truly primal roar.

"Now go."

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In the East Forest…

Makarov slowly opened his eyes at the sound of a roar "Natsu… Luke…"

"So you're awake." Porlyusica noted "Tell me Makarov, how are you feeling?"

He tried to sit up.

"No not yet, first you still need to rest."

"Since when have I ever listened to you?"

"You recovery was actually remarkably speedy for someone who was so long in the tooth like you are."

"Is that so? Well then…"

"Do you hasten to your death?"

"That's a risk I'm willing to take, my children need me right now. Thank you for your help, as always." and with that, Makarov took his leave.

'_I swear, with him nothing ever changes…'_

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Luke stood alone with Bolt in the hallway, letting his body crackle with small amounts of bio electricity and his magic power bubble beneath the surface '_So he's finally coming, I can smell his stench all the way from here.'_

"Hey Luke!" that was when Gray, Elfman and Lisanna showed up "You okay? Looks like we missed something pretty big in here."

"Most of this was caused by Natsu before I even got here, also what the hell is Lisanna doing here?"

"Phantom captured me and tried to kill me, but Elfman did a Full Body Takeover and saved me from them." Lisanna told him.

"Is that what that was about an hour ago when I heard what I thought sounded like an angry rhino giving birth?"

"Yeah and then I- What the hell?" Elfman looked down at where Aria was lying on the ground unconscious "Is that that Aria guy? You mean you beat him all by yourself?"

"The guy wasn't really too tough, all I did was cut through his air magic with my lightning magic and my sword and then I ran him through. We don't have time for small talk though, Lucy was captured by Phantom. I sent Natsu ahead to go save them-" Luke suddenly paused as a black haze entered the room "Oh shit."

"What the hell is that?" Gray muttered.

"For a lot of people, that would be death itself."

"I don't like this, I'm a fucking ice wizard and this is giving me chills. Whatever this thing is it's pure evil."

"I'll give you one guess who's causing this."

"Bravo bravo gentlemen, lady and feelines. Very impressive wizards of Fairy Tail, you all have proven to be quite keen." and who should appear in the room but Jose himself, evil black and purple energy radiating from his body "I knew this would prove to be fun, but never in my wildest dreams did I think it would prove to be as entertaining as this. You annihilated the Jupiter cannon, you disposed of my elite Element 4, and you even managed to bring my magic Giant to its knees."

"Yeah judging by the literal black cloud hanging over him and the fact that just being near him makes you wanna hurl, this would be Master Jose, the master of the Phantom Lord guild that we have to deal with now."

"I must thank you all, you've all been so kind as to entertain me that I simply must return the favor. And believe me when I tell you that I intend to return it in full."

"Guys…"

"We already know, get ready. **Ice Make-" **Gray was promptly cut off by Luke slapping a hand over his, as well as one over Elfman's arm.

"No, you're not fighting."

"For once one of you knows when you're outmatched but it doesn't matter, your demise has arrived! **Death Slice!" **he waved two fingers in front of them, engulfing the group in an explosion that also carved a deep trench into the ground.

When the smoke cleared, it revealed Luke standing between Jose and the others with his sword held out in front of him crackling with lightning "That was way too close."

"How fascinating, to be able to take an attack from me and counter it with one of your own of equal power and to not even feel winded."

"What keeps me going isn't the blade in my hands or the Dragon Slayer magic that was given to me by my father, but it's my resolve to protect the people I hold dear that push me to keep moving forward. I'll take anything you dish out to me so long as I know that I can protect them from the pain you deal."

Luke glanced back at the others "Bolt, Lisanna, listen to me very carefully. I want the two of you to take Gray and Elfman back to the guild right now."

"But what about you?" asked Gray.

"What else, I'll stay behind and deal with Jose myself."

"What?! But you can't just-"

"Save it Gray, don't try to play the hero." Bolt cut him off "You heard what Luke said now come on, we have to get moving. You already know what this guy is capable of so you know that he's way too much for you, if we stick around then we'll only get in Luke's way. He'll just be stuck worrying about us rather than concentrating on beating the ever loving crap out of this guy like he's supposed to."

"But we can't just abandon him!" Elfman protested "A real man never leaves one of their comrades behind!"

"But a real man knows to listen when their comrades are right." Luke told him "I hate to break it to you Elfman but Bolt is right, Jose is way stronger than any of you could possibly prepare for right now. Just go down there and make sure that Cana and the others are okay. Make this a man to man promise that you'll do what I need you to do, let me finish my business and keep the guild and everyone in it safe alright?"

"...Man to man?"

"Man to man. I'll finish this guy off as fast as I can, and then I'll be seeing you and everyone else really soon."

"Dammit, you used my manliness against me." Elfman grabbed onto Lisanna as she summoned a pair of wings "Let me just make one thing clear to you Luke, don't think I like the thought of leaving the fate of the guild to only one person, but don't you fucking dare die on us or else I won't forgive you, and neither will anyone else, especially Cana." and with that, the four of them took off, leaving Luke alone to deal with Jose.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Luke wasted no time in taking off his glasses and throwing them aside "Alright Jose, let's do this."

Jose let out a chuckle "Well well, the Thunderclap of Fairy Tail is what they call you isn't it? Powerful, courageous, driven and quite noble hearted. Being able to destroy you will bring me unbelievable amounts of pleasure."

"I think we'll see about that."

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Gajeel quickly finished up pathing the last of the bullet sized holes in Lucy's shoulder "Not like real healing magic but it'll do the job."

"Thanks, I guess." Lucy muttered quietly "But you kidnapped me didn't you, so why did you bother to heal me?"

"Well part of it is because your dad wants you alive and the master would have my head if you died on my watch."

"Even though he blew bagel sized holes through me?"

"He's a psychotic idiot, I thought you already knew that. I might work with a bunch of morons but a guy has to make a living, and I don't play dirty or anything. Besides, I could use someone that can give me some feedback."

"Feedback, on what exactly?"

"Hey he gets to have all the fun then I'm gonna make some use of you." he reached into a nearby cabinet, causing Lucy to pale at the thought of what he was getting, and then to blank on what he was actually getting: a guitar.

"...Huh?"

"What, I have hobbies and I need to hear some feedback on this song I wrote."

"Uh… well okay then."

"Okay so the tune is called Best Friend, this is how the song starts." and then he started playing the guitar.

"**You're sparkling and colorful**

**Shoo-bee-doo-ba**

**You caught my eye**

**Like a shiny piece of metal…"**

'_So let me see if I understand what's happening right now. I'm being held captive by a Dragon Slayer who works for an evil guild that was hired by my evil dad to bring me home after a year, but this evil guild has a grudge against my guild and they're all outside fighting and trying to kill each other, and the Dragon Slayer guarding me… is trying to get me to listen to a song that he wrote. What the hell has my life come to?!'_

"**Do-do-do**

**Shoo-Bee-Doo-Ba**

**Sha la la**

**One bite is never enough!" **Gajeel finished that verse and put down the guitar "So that's at least the first three verses, that's about as far as I've gotten right now. So what do you think?"

"Well… lyrics wise actually not half bad, the voice could use a lot of work." she was met with an iron club hanging over her head.

"For the love of fuck, I swear if I hear one more crack about my voice sounding like a mix of gargled nails and an angry rhino then someone's gonna fucking die!"

"That's not where I was going with this dude, it just sounds like your voice is pretty scratchy and stiff."

"I know I can't hit the high notes dammit, why do you think I was going for a Blues style sort of feel there?"

"Oh the Blues, that makes so much more sense."

"Well at least someone has enough brain cells to understand that much-"

"HOW THE FUCK IS THIS FOR CHEE BOO BEE DA?!" that was when Natsu suddenly burst upwards through the floor and dealt Gajeel a brutal uppercut, sending him flying backwards at full speed.

Gajeel quickly rebounded off a wall and landed on the ground "Okay first of all, the term is Shoo Bee Doo Baa you moron. Second of all, I knew I could smell you coming. Took you long enough though. Now the real fun can begin."

**A/N:**

**And thus begins the second act of the Phantom Lord arc, with the final showdown looming beyond the horizon. I believe that the highlight of this chapter is expanding on the role reversal between Mira and Lisanna in the incident with Elfman's Full Body Takeover, and the guilt shared by both Luke and Elfman, with one being the one who was saved from the fatal blow, and the one who actually dealt it.**

**One problem I ran into while writing this chapter was how I included the Thunder Legion, because looking back now Freed would be way too overpowered, so in order for Gajeel to be able to abduct Lucy like in canon, I had to find a solution for that, so sorry if it's not very satisfying or if Freed seems underpowered.**

**I'm just throwing this out there now, Gray x Juvia is one of my three favorite pairings from Fairy Tail, the others being Gajeel x Levy and Jellal x Erza. The only one of the big four I don't ship is NaLu, for reasons I've already explained.**

**In case it wasn't clear, in Lucy's dream I made a reference to DBZ Abridged by Team Four Star, specifically Mr Popo/ Dumplin. I am an absolutely huge fan of TFS, in case that wasn't obvious already.**

**I replaced the scene of Gajeel beating Lucy with a scene of Gajeel doing his music thing earlier than in canon because that scene honestly just made me cringe a lot, and because I already stated that I'm toning down Gajeel's level of evil in this arc in this story.**


	10. Phantom Lord III

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**Ragnas Bredvolts:** Yes I'm a huge fan of TFS, and there's no lack of references to their work in my DBZ Next Generation fic. As for the Freed issue, I'm not proud of that but in my defense, I don't have a great understanding of his abilities and I needed Gajeel to escape with Lucy. If it's any consolation, I promise to make up for that weak moment in the arc with the epic showdown to come in this chapter. As for Elfman and the part about his memories, I'm glad you like it. That part was meant to show how that incident turned out different from canon. I hope to meet your expectations in this chapter, and you have a nice day as well.

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"_In a land far far away lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small and peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most people, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards and mages, and banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore, but there is a certain guild in a certain town that stands high above the rest of them, one from which countless legends have been born, a guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. This guild is known as Fairy Tail."_

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Gajeel quickly rebounded off a wall from where Natsu had sent him flying and landed on the ground "Okay first of all, the term is Shoo Bee Doo Baa you moron. Second of all, I knew I could smell you coming. Took you long enough though. Now the real fun can begin. I guess it wasn't too hard to catch a Salamander if you have the right sort of bait."

"Unlike you assclowns from Phantom I actually watch out for my friends, I'm not letting you lay a hand on her." he shot a quick glance back at Lucy "Just hang back, this one's gonna get ugly fast."

"Oh yeah, now this is gonna be fun. **Iron Dragon Club!" **Gajeel charged at Natsu and let an iron club fly out from his arm.

"You wanna bet?!" Natsu grabbed ahold of the iron club with his flaming fists and promptly swung Gajeel straight into a wall.

Gajeel quickly rebounded off the wall and then used another iron club to block Natsu's incoming Fire Dragon Iron Fist, the force blowing the wall clean apart as a result, only for him to get sent flying into another wall.

"**FIRE DRAGON TALON!" **Natsu dealt Gajeel a fire enhanced kick, only for the ensuing explosion to send him flying backwards.

Lucy looked on in awe of the fight "Woah…"

"Hey Lucy!" that was when Happy dropped down next to her "Are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine, he actually didn't do anything to me, but…"

"Is something wrong?"

"No, it's just that I've never seen Natsu like this."

"Aye, he's a lot more fired up than ever before. I wouldn't want to be that other guy right about now."

Gajeel pulled himself out of the wall and cracked his neck "You know for a Fairy you're pretty cocky for your own good."

"Better a Fairy than Phantom scum." Natsu let out an outright snarl "As payback for what you and your buddies did to my guild and for kidnapping one of my friends I'm gonna use my fire power to melt your ugly iron face."

"Sounds like it'll be a blast, why don't you come and give it a shot?"

"Fine by me!" so they both charged forward and started trading even blows, fire against iron, but this ended when Natsu was forced to retreat and gain some distance once Gajeel summoned an iron sword "Looks to me like that's one hell of a gnarly looking toy."

"What you mean this thing? This is what I call my Iron Dragon Sword, anything it touches it cuts to shreds. I figured I'd give you an up close and personal demonstration."

"Oh yeah you're making me piss myself with fear."

"Let me show just what Iron Dragon Slayer magic can really do!" Gajeel charged forward and brought down his iron sword.

Natsu wasted no time in dodging every strike from the iron sword, only to quickly notice a problem '_Dammit, he's trying to force me to keep my distance!'_

"Not so cocky now are you ya little bastard? Don't bother trying to hide it, I can tell that you're scared now." Gajeel broke away from his assault "You know I do have to give a little bit of credit for being such a nimble little Fairy."

"Yeah I guess you're no slouch yourself."

"But the two of us still have a score that we've gotta settle from the other day."

"I thought that was this morning."

"Whatever, the point is that there's no time like the present wouldn't you agree?"

"I say we go at it Metal Mouth, I'm all fired up now."

Lucy was growing increasingly nervous '_As Dragon Slayers they both have the ability to take the powers of the mythical creatures, which means that two wizards both strong enough to kill dragons are about to duke it out right in front of me. I don't like where this is going.'_

"**Iron Dragon Scales!" **Gajeel quickly covered his body in iron dragon scales "Alright Fairy, I hope you're ready for what comes next."

Natsu let out a growl "I say bring it."

"You asked for it. **Iron Dragon Hard Fist!" **he let a fist fly forward at Natsu, the force sending him flying back into a wall "Yeah that's right Salamander, this is why you don't fuck with an Iron Dragon Slayer." and then he proceeded to deal Natsu a fierce barrage of blows with fists made out of iron.

Natsu barely managed to duck under a kick that unleashed a shockwave that left a large crevice in the ground '_Dammit he just cut through the floor with the force alone, his attacks are twice as strong now that he's covered in dragon scales! _**Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" **Natsu quickly blitzed in front of Gajeel and landed a fire covered fist right to the face, though thanks to the iron it didn't even scratch him.

"Points for effort but lacking on the effect Salamander, I hate to break it to you but your puny hand can't even scratch this steel."

"...FUCK!" Natsu started rolling all over the room in pain "FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK THAT HURTS LIKE A MOTHER FUCKER!"

"You good?"

"Fuck you man I'm fine, that didn't hurt at all!"

"I'm not deaf you idiot so cut the shit." Gajeel dealt Natsu a quick headbutt, sending him crashing to the ground in a heap "Face the reality, you just don't want your friends to see you get your ass handed to you." he brought down his iron nails.

Natsu quickly rebounded and retreated before he could get hit "Alright you walking trash can, I say it's time for me to blow your ass away! **Fire Dragon…"**

"**Iron Dragon…"**

"**ROAR!" **the two of them both unleashed two simultaneous roars, one of fire and the other a powerful tornado infused with shards of iron, both colliding in a power struggle that pretty much blew the room apart.

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Luke wasted no time in taking off his glasses and throwing them aside "Alright Jose, let's do this."

Jose let out a chuckle "Well well, the Thunderclap of Fairy Tail. That is what they call you isn't it? Powerful, courageous, driven and quite noble hearted. Being able to destroy you will bring me unbelievable amounts of pleasure."

"I think we'll see about that."

"You seem quite full of confidence especially for one of Makarov's brats."

"I doubt you'll be able to keep that smug look once you realize what a wizard of Fairy Tail, not to mention a Dragon Slayer, can really do. Just take a good look, what's standing before you now is the thing you despise most, a member of Makarov's guild that's surpassed even the likes of your magic power."

Jose felt his eye twitch, but he simply let out a chuckle "I never thought that someone that comes from Makarov could actually have a sense of humor that wasn't so crude or brash or downright irritating."

"Go ahead and live in your little world of denial, in the meantime I'm going to show you the power that I've gained over the last year and a half of training, the power that I gained for one sole purpose: To protect my guild!" Luke dropped into a stance and began powering up in earnest, a sphere of light surrounding his body, his teeth grinding furiously and his veins throbbing from the strain that he was feeling, his body beginning to crackle with electricity which grew more and more visible with each passing second, the energy ripping apart the entire room as a result.

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Cana ceased with her attack on one of the Phantoms once she noticed the light shining down on the Phantom giant "Oh man, things are about to get insane."

"What the hell is that?" asked Bickslow.

"If I had to guess that's Luke after he got pissed off by Jose, and now he's showing him what he can do once he gets to full power."

"You mean that's Luke, are you serious?!"

"He didn't spend all that time away doing nothing you know, he's been getting stronger with each day he was gone until he reached the level he's at now."

"Oh, well if that was his plan then I'd say it pretty much worked. But do you think it's going to be enough to take down their master?" this was followed by a roar from Luke that would've left blood on the mic, an unimaginable shockwave and a blinding white light that covered the entirety of the Phantom Giant, as well as the battlefield itself.

"I think it's safe to say he's got this covered." Cana looked up to see the Phantom soldiers gathering above them into a massive black and purple sphere with arms and hands "That thing on the other hand is going to be a real problem."

"Yeah no kidding, this is pretty bad." and this was followed by the Phantom blob (or Jellyfish form as it's referred to) smashing down on the Fairy Tail guild hall with its large number of arms, much to the horror of everyone present "Son of a- That thing is trying to tear down the guild hall!"

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The roars subsided, but the room was left a mess.

Gajeel was left standing tall and proud and looming over where Natsu was hunched over and covered in wounds "It looks to me like there are some pretty big differences between dragons that use fire and dragons that use iron aren't there Salamander? You can shower me with flame attacks until you run out of hot air but it's not gonna be enough to crack my armor, on the other hand it only takes one of my iron blade breath attacks to rip your puny body to shreds."

Natsu straightened himself back up and shot Gajeel a smirk "So you think I can't crack your armor huh, you sure you're not feeling a draft there buddy?"

"What the hell does that mean?" Gajeel suddenly tensed when he felt a crack form on his iron scales.

"In case you haven't figured it out I don't breath just regular old fire, the Fire Dragon Roar can destroy anything it touches. I think it's time for us to stop screwing around, so let's get down to the real fight so that I can shatter you into a million pieces."

"I say you can try and you can fail, now let's get to it!"

"Come at me Black Steel, I'm ready when you are."

"The sky isn't big enough for two dragons Salamander, so that means I'm just gonna have to take you down."

"You can try!" and so the two of them charged towards each other at full speed, fire and iron colliding in blazing glory as they took to the open skies and used their element to propel themselves upwards, where they promptly began trading even blows.

Lucy could only look on in awe from her place back in the room "What's happening up there, some kind of fireworks?"

"No they're actually going to to toe right now." Happy told her "They're both Dragon Slayers but they're also evenly matched- Look out!" he yanked Lucy out of the way of where one of the horns of the Phantom Giant nearly fell on them.

"Well that's just great, now we've gotta get out of here!"

Natsu and Gajeel both landed on the ground, both panting heavily '_Dammit this bastard just won't go down, but at least he's out of breath too.'_

"Hey hold on a second." Gajeel quickly picked up a few scraps of metal off the ground and started eating them.

"Hey what the hell that's so not fair, you're eating?!"

"Yeah I'm a Dragon Slayer it's what I do, what's your point?" Gajeel promptly swallowed and shot Natsu a smirk "Thanks for waiting for me to finish my little snack Salamander, now I've got a fire in my belly."

"Hey that's my line you asshat!"

"Not anymore!" and then Gajeel started powering up again.

"Hey where the heck did he get all of this energy from?" asked Lucy.

"It's because he ate all that iron." Happy told her "When Dragon Slayers eat stuff based on the element they use in their magic they replenish their magic energy and increase their power by a lot."

"So Natsu needs to eat some fire in order to even the score."

"Yeah but he can't eat his own fire, it has to come from some kind of outside source."

"Well yeah I get that but how the heck do we make that happen?"

"Go ahead and say goodnight Salamander. **Iron Dragon Lance: Demon Logs!" **Gajeel fired off a barrage of metal spears from his arm at Natsu and pierced him all over, causing him to cry out in pain.

"Come on Lucy think, something with fire. Do I even have any kind of fire spirits? Dammit that's right, I lost my keys when I got attacked." she pulled out one key from her pocket "This is the only key that I have on me right now, the new one Saggitarius. We haven't worked out a contract yet but I don't care, this is the only change we have right now."

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Following Luke's thunderous display, it was clear that the smoke clearing and everything dying down wouldn't happen on its own anytime soon.

Jose was more cocky than he should've been "My my I didn't take you to be so much of the unruly type. Of course unruly as you might be, it doesn't change the fact that you do know how to put on a show, and that just means that killing you will please me that much more." he looked back and his smirk widened "Let's begin the show then, shall we?"

"If you insist." with a sudden flash a figure bathed in a golden light blitzed in front of Jose and dealt him what seemed like a few shockwaves.

Jose stumbled back a few feet before he recovered "Quite the development, I can't remember the last time I was struck in a battle." he blitzed forward.

The figure cranked his neck to the side, another set of shockwaves attacking him and sending him flying through a wall, as well as ripping apart his coat, while the golden light disappeared to reveal Luke in all of his glory, his arms, legs and face now covered in what appeared to be golden colored dragon scales "You picked a fight with us Jose and now you're getting exactly what you asked for. The glowing magic energy, the dragon scales, the incredible power that stands with yours, this is the power you wanted to see. The power of Dragon Force."

Jose pulled himself out of the rubble and removed the destroyed sleeves of his coat "I must admit it is truly a sight to behold. Dragon Force is the final form a Dragon Slayer is able to take, the form they take when they take on the power of a dragon, the power to destroying everything in their path. I must say that I'm very intrigued, I would love to see the fabled power in battle for myself."

"Oh trust me you're about to, but the downside is that you'll be the one on the receiving end for this one." without missing so much as a beat Luke blitzed through Jose, leaving only a shallow cut on his cheek but at the same time obliterating the wall behind him '_So this is just how fast I can go when I'm using Dragon Force at full power, it feels even more incredible than it did during training. I feel like I can really win this- No, I have to win this. If I don't then he'll kill everyone else. I'll use this power like I promised myself, to protect all of them!'_

"A simple increase in power won't do you much good." Jose quickly charged forward and started unleashing a barrage of punches and kicks.

Luke dodged and weaved his way around every strike, as well as managing to parry any blasts of magic energy being hurled at him, but eventually he grabbed Jose by the arm and dealt him a spin kick to the torso, sending him skidding backwards.

"**DEAD WAVE!" **Jose stopped himself before he could be thrown off his feet and fired a blast of magic energy from both hands.

Without missing so much as a beat, Luke whipped out his sword from its sheath and with a mighty roar he cut through the blast, sending the energy to blow apart the rest of the room as well as part of the surrounding rooms.

"You think cancelling out one attack will be enough to stop me?!" Jose promptly charged at him again.

Luke gladly met the charge as they began trading even blows, quickly taking the upper hand as he dealt Jose a kick to the chest, an uppercut to the jaw and a quick slash across the arm from his sword.

"**SHADE ENTANGLE!" **Jose summoned his magic ghosts in an attempt to grab Luke and strangle him.

Luke dodged the ghosts with a series of backflips and blitzing away, leaving the ghosts to further wreck the Phantom building, while he quickly emerged before the explosion that took place as a result of them, and he charged forward while dodging the barrage of magic bullets being shot at him and started firing off a barrage of punches, kicks and sword slashes of his own.

Jose dodged and blocked most of the strikes being thrown at him, receiving a few slashes here and there, and he eventually managed to force his way through to Luke and tried to hit him with a Dead Wave at point blank range.

Luke blocked the Dead Wave using only the blade of his sword, and he dealt Jose a quick kick to the torso and dodged every attack thrown at him afterwards "**Lightning Dragon…. IRON FIST!" **he blitzed through Jose's barrage of attacks and slammed a lightning enhanced fist into his gut, sending him crashing through several walls behind him '_I can't believe it, I'm actually keeping up with one of the Ten Wizard Saints. I guess he trained me up better than I thought he did. At least now I know that I'm strong enough to protect them. But I don't have any time to brood over that, there's no way someone like him would go down that easily.'_

Sure enough, after but a moment Jose burst forth from the rubble with a burst of magic power looking a little bit battered and slightly injured, but he simply dusted himself off and gave a malicious smirk "You know the thing that irks me about Fairy Tail the most?"

"I have a feeling you're going to tell me either way."

"It's the fact that there are so many spectacular and powerful wizards like yourself who would willingly align with Makarov. Since you can't be tempted to join Phantom Lord there's only one way to change that, I'll have to kill you with my own two hands. That will send the wretch into the deepest of despair, one that he's long deserved. Imagine how he'll feel when he finally awakens only to find his dear guild hall completely obliterated and all of the children he loves so dearly dead and gone, he'd be lost and completely consumed by sorrow. Once he's been reduced to that miserable state I can swoop in and kill him, but first I'll be sure to make him suffer. I'll torture him until he has no choice but to wither away and die. For as long as I can remember Phantom Lord has always been at the top, we have the most powerful wizards with the strongest spells. We also have more capital and more members than any other guild. However, in recent times Fairy Tail has begun to catch up and our position as leader is in jeopardy. Various names such as Luke, Erza, Gildarts, Laxus and Mystogan became widely known, and stories of people like the Salamander and the so called Thunderclap spread across the land like wildfire. Now in these times Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail are considered to be equals, the top two guilds that are representing this kingdom. I'm utterly disgusted by a thought like that. I refuse to be equated to such a feeble guild!"

"So you mean to tell me that we're fighting for our lives because you're having some kind of jealous temper tantrum?"

"Jealous temper tantrum you say? Don't be absurd, we simply wanted to prove to the kingdom that we are the dominant guild."

"You're trying to slaughter innocent people for something so petty, wow the Magic Council just doesn't have any standards for the Wizard Saints do they?"

"I will ensure that my guild is known by everyone to be the strongest in all of Fiore, but the first step to that is ending your life here and now!" and so with a mighty roar he let out a massive shockwave of black magic energy, ripping his cloak apart and shattering the wall surrounding them with the sheer potency, as well as rippling through the entire Phantom Giant.

Luke was forced to brace himself from the shockwaves '_This is insane, I've never felt this much power coming from one person before. I guess that means that he's finally getting serious, which means that I'm gonna have my hands full with this one.'_

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The Phantom Shade Jellyfish monster continued pummeling away at the guild hall despite the attempts everyone was making to stop it, with Cana being the most vocally devastated about these events.

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Gajeel glanced up at the sound of a roar and a massive storm of magic power flying overhead, and he gave a smirk "Took that bastard long enough to piss of Jose to the point where he actually starts fighting seriously." he glanced over at Lucy "What the hell are you doing?"

Lucy held out the key of Saggitarius "I call upon thee in the world of the Celestial Spirits! I beckon you to my side at once! Pass through the gate! **Open, Gate of the Archer, Saggitarius!"**

The gate was opened, and before them appeared what looked like a guy in a horse costume with a bow and a quiver of arrows, and he saluted her "Horse! Well howdy do my lady."

"Wow, holy crap I can't believe that actually worked. Look I don't have enough time to explain right now but I need to know if you can shoot some fire."

"I'm afraid not, but I'm quite proficient in archery, yes indeedy."

"Oh boy, now we're in trouble. And who exactly are you saluting to right now?"

"Hey Lucy take my advice, clear the hell out of the way." Natsu told her.

"Way ahead of you." Lucy pulled both Happy and Sagittarius aside, but then went into anime style depression "Jeez, I feel so completely useless."

"Hate to break it to you blondie but now's not the time to hear about your lack of self confidence, I've got shit to do! **Fire Dragon Sword Horn!" **Natsu slammed straight into Gajeel with a fire enhanced headbutt, only to end up feeling an intense amount of pain.

Gajeel shot him a cocky smirk "I've got a fire in my belly now Salamander, but what the hell happened to yours? You know a lot of people don't know just how much iron they need in their diet! **Iron Dragon Club!" **he used his Iron Dragon Club to brutally drag Natsu's face across the ground.

Lucy was horrified by what she was seeing '_I can't believe this, he's so strong but he's so insane too! This is just horrible!'_

"Okay now I'm starting to get bored with you Salamander, take my advice and get the hell lost already."

'_No way… he beat Natsu… This can't be happening! Natsu can't just lose, can he? Get up, please just get up Natsu! Get up!'_

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Black and purple flames surrounded the area.

Jose burst upwards from within the rubble to reveal himself shirtless, rippling black and purple energy surrounding his body and his sclera having turned black "I have returned."

Luke promptly readied himself into a stance with his sword drawn '_His levels of magic power just shot right through the roof, looks like you poke the sleeping dragon and he's bound to roar your head off. Not that it helps that he has the temper control of a 5 year old, or Natsu. Either way this is bad, I'll have to be careful I don't let my guard down or I'm as good as dead.'_

"Come child of Makarov, come and face your inevitable death!" Jose suddenly burst forward at full speed.

Luke met his charge full force, resulting in the two of them trading even blows faster than any of those still involved in the battle would've been able to notice, if they were present to see the battle unfold. Anyway, Luke dodged, blocked and countered most of Jose's attacks before catching his fist with his hand "Looks to me like you finally got serious."

"I will never allow myself to fall to a child of Makarov!" in his rage, Jose hit Luke's hand with a point blank Dead Wave, the force blowing Luke off his feet and sending him tumbling backwards through a wall, and with a mighty roar he fired off a follow up Dark Pulse blast in his direction.

Luke rebounded and escaped right before the blast could hit him and landed on top of a nearby wall.

"**MURDER BULLETS!" **Jose fired off a barrage of magic bullets from his fingertips, creating a barrage of explosions all throughout the Phantom building.

Unable to dodge or escape, Luke was forced to shield himself, only for his head to snap up once the bullets subsided '_Dammit, I fell for that!''_

"**DEAD WAVE!" **Jose leapt high into the air and fired another Dead Wave at Luke.

"**Dragon Sword Style: THUNDERCLAP STRIKE!" **Luke thrusted his sword forward and unleashed a blast of lightning from the blade, countering the Dead Wave before it was able to hit him, but at the same time it resulted in him being trapped in a beam struggle.

"This farce of a battle has gone on long enough!" with a roar Jose poured more power into his Dead Wave, overpowering Luke's attack and allowing the Dead Wave to engulf him in the blast, sending him flying high into the air and engulfing him in the massive explosion that followed the blast.

Luke burst out from within the smoke and charged at Jose with his sword drawn, resulting in him stabbing Jose through the shoulder while simultaneously receiving a hand pierced through his own shoulder, before the two of them engaged in a power struggle.

"To think that you have the ability to harness this much power? You're as persistent and stubborn as Makarov!"

"And I'm damn proud of it!" the power struggle resulted in the building being damaged even further, but it ended when Luke slammed his knee into Jose's gut.

Jose spat out some blood and dealt Luke a kick to the chest, sending him skidding backwards, and then he followed up with another Dead Wave.

"**Lightning Dragon Iron Fist!" **Luke attempted to negate the Dead Wave with a Lightning Dragon Iron Fist, but it detonated too close to him and the resulting blast sent him flying away as a result.

Jose blitzed above Luke and dealt him a brutal uppercut, sending him hurtling high into the air, and then he followed up with another Dead Wave, sending him flying higher into the air and engulfing him in the explosion that followed, and he smirked despite the pain "Such is the fate of all who ally themselves with Makarov."

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"Dammit!" Cana tried to rush forward to stop the Phantom Shade Jellyfish monster from destroying the guild hall, only to be held back by Erza "Dammit Erza let me go, I have to stop that thing!"

"Cana stop it, there's nothing we can do." Erza told her firmly.

"Dammit just let me go, Luke trusted me with protecting the guild! I can't just sit by and let it get destroyed-" but then Cana noticed something out of the corner of her eye and her protests died in her throat.

Erza followed her gaze and nearly froze at the sight that awaited them in the form of Luke being hurled high into the air by Jose's blast, wounded, charred and unmoving, before freely falling back to the ground "Luke… no…"

"Dammit Luke don't you dare quit on us like this?!" Cana pretty much exploded with tears streaming down her face "No matter what kind of threat you faced and no matter how dangerous it was, you've always just charged in without so much as a second thought! If there's anyone among us who can defeat that ass clown then it's you! I believe in you Luke, and so does everyone else, so get the hell up! Get up Luke! GET UP!"

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"Get up Luke! GET UP!"

'_Cana…' _despite the searing pain and being stuck drifting in and out of consciousness, Luke was able to hear her calling out to him '_She needs me… she's depending on me… All of them… All of them are depending on me… and I made a promise… I will… I WILL PROTECT THEM!' _and with a furious roar, his Dragon Force flared back into life as he landed back on the ground with a massive crash, where Jose was waiting for him, on the roof of the Phantom Giant and they locked eyes "Not yet… I'm not done with you Jose, not yet."

"Such a stubborn one." Jose let out a chuckle "And here I thought you wouldn't have any more stamina."

"I won't give you the satisfaction of taking me out, not when I still have people that I have to protect."

"Honestly, just how many times do I have to knock you to the ground or blow you high into the sky before you finally realize that you can't defeat me?"

"Do you not hear the crap you're spewing out?" Luke coughed up some blood, but his magic energy surged even higher than before "Cana and Bolt, Natsu and Gray, Elfman and Lisanna, Erza and everyone else, they put their faith in me to win this battle. I swear on that faith and on my vow to protect them, that I can't and won't back down."

"Be silent, such disgusting things are meaningless before true power such as what it is that I possess!"

"And that just proves why you'll never surpass Makarov." the two of them charged at each other again, trading even barrages of punches and kicks, but Luke quickly gained the upper hand in their clash.

'_His power and speed have increased exponentially, now he may have even surpassed me! _No it's impossible, I refuse to accept it! How could one of Makarov's brats possible be able to defeat me?!"

"Have you still not figured it out?" Luke caught both of Jose's hands and dealt him a kick to the chest, and he began dodging and countering every attack Jose was throwing at him as if it was second nature to him "The difference is that people in Fairy Tail don't fight only for themselves or to prove their own superiority, we fight because we bear the hopes of each other on our shoulders as well. As members of Fairy Tail we have people who push each other to become stronger both as wizards and as people, not only do we actually care about our comrades and treasure them, but knowing that we're out there, knowing that they're part of a real family, that's what gives us the strength to keep moving forward. I know for a fact that I could never have come as far as I have if it wasn't for them. It's because of Fairy Tail, and because of Makarov, that we're all here now standing together and fighting as one. We may fight all the time and we have our fair share of incidents and we may not always get along, but we're all here now trusting each other and fighting side by side. That's what makes us more than just guild, and we're more than just friends. Things like that are what make us a family."

"SILENCE!" Jose dealt Luke a sharp kick to the head, sending him tumbling backwards across the Phantom Giant, and he followed up with a Dead Wave.

Luke blitzed out of the path of the Dead Wave "**Dragon Sword Style: THUNDEROUS PURGE!" **he slashed through the air and pressed his hand to the blade, resulting in Jose being engulfed in a massive blast of lightning.

Jose burst out of the blast with considerable burns and fired a barrage of magic energy bullets from his fingertips.

Luke blitzed through the barrage and appeared directly in front of Jose "**Lightning Dragon… IRON FIST!" **he dealt Jose a lightning enhanced fist to the gut, sending him hurtling backwards and crashing into the shoulder of the Phantom Giant "Now do you get it Jose, this is the power of Fairy Tail, a power you'll never understand, and it's at the top of the long list of reasons why you'll never surpass Makarov."

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Gajeel grabbed Natsu by the hair and pulled him upright so that he could see out the gigantic hole in the wall "No need to get too down about this or anything Salamander, at least you get one last look at your guild hall before the remodelling is done." this was followed by the Fairy Tail guild hall completely crumbling into rubble "Okay I might be a little bit late on that one, that one's totally my B."

Natsu's eyes snapped wide open when he saw '_The guild hall… it's gone… The place where I became a member of Fairy Tail… the place where I met people like Luke, Gray and Erza… the place where I met Lisanna and Happy… and where I met everyone in the guild… the place where I found my family… and now it's gone…' _with these thoughts in mind, Natsu slowly pulled himself back to his feet and slowly stumbled his way forward.

"Natsu please, just don't do this…" Lucy pleaded "Let's just give them what they want, maybe if I just let them take me then they'll leave you alone."

"Lucy you know there's no way in hell any of us would ever let that happen, you've been in Fairy Tail long enough to know better than that."

Gajeel let out a growl "Your guild hall is in shambles and you can barely stand, take my advice and call it quits." he elbowed Natsu right in the gut, sending him flying into a wall and knocking him to the ground.

Lucy was mortified by what she was seeing '_I can't stand watching this happen!'_

"Like I said Salamander, take my advice and stay down. I'm personally starting to get bored with this shit and frankly now I'd rather be working on my music."

Happy was horrified by this "Natsu took down the Jupiter cannon and he had to fight two of the Element 4, he used up way too much of his magic power! If only he could just eat some fire then he'd be strong enough to beat this guy!"

"Hate to break it to you Salamander." Gajeel held up his Iron Dragon Sword over Natsu "But this is the end of the line."

"Just a moment." this was when Sagittarius spoke up with an arrow armed and ready "It would appear that I didn't quite understand what it was you were asking of me earlier, when I arrived you inquired as to whether or not I was able to shoot fire, and I answered that I did not have the power to do so. However, now I see it's the fire itself that's important. It doesn't matter that I can't produce the fire itself as long as it is produced, which means that in this case I must use my surroundings to my advantage."

"This is it Salamander, it's over!" Gajeel prepared to cut down Natsu, only to promptly be cut off by Sagittarius firing a barrage of arrows at the machinery nearby, causing it to explode and blow them away.

"Depending on the force one applies when shooting an arrow and the trajectory that is followed by said arrow, it's possible to pierce or shatter steel."

"Okay that man horse thing is pissing me off right about now."

"It is my job."

Lucy had hearts in her eyes now "You're like an archery genius Sagittarius!"

"Well I do aim to please."

"...Dude if you're salute then do it to my face."

Natsu wasted no time in devouring the flames, restoring his strength and with it his confidence and cocky smirk "Just what I needed, thanks for the pick me up Lucy." he was met with a confident thumbs up.

"So what?!" Gajeel promptly charged at him "You can eat all the fire you want but you're still not going to be able to take me down!" he aimed a fist at Natsu, only to be met with a blast of fire to the face, sending him flying into the massive metal horn in the center of the room "Ow."

"Levy… Jet… Droy… Lucy… Gramps… Erza… Luke… all of my friends… my guild… Fairy Tail.

"**Iron Dragon Roar!"** Gajeel breathed out another roar.

Natsu deflected the roar with his bare hands.

'_What the hell, he deflected my breath attack and he did it with just his bare hands!'_

"I don't know how many more people you and your guild have to hurt before you're finally satisfied."

"It depends on the kind of mood Jose is in."

"I don't care, it ends here and now."

'_There's no way, I can't lose to this punk!'_

"I'm gonna make you pay for what you and your guild did to me and my friends! Messing with the Fairy Tail guild is the biggest mistake you've ever made!"

"The only mistake I made was not pounding your ass into the ground! **Iron Dragon HARD FIST!" **Gajeel charged forward and let a fist fly, only for it to be met with Natsu's own and a surge of fire that cracked his iron scales instantly upon contact '_No fucking way, he shattered my iron scales?!'_

"I'M TAKING YOU DOWN BLACK STEEL! **DRAGON SLAYER SECRET ART: FLAME LOTUS: FIRE DRAGON FIST!" **in his rage Natsu dealt Gajeel a furious barrage of fire enhanced punches "For Levy! Jet! Droy! Nab! Macao! Wakaba! Gramps! Erza! Lucy! FOR EVERYONE IN FAIRY TAIL YOU GUYS HURT, FOR ATTACKING THEM AND DESTROYING OUR GUILD HALL!" and with one final punch he sent Gajeel flying across the Phantom Giant, blowing its head clean off in the process.

"No… No fucking way… You can't… defeat me…"

"Yeah you wanna bet? Well I think I just did." and then Natsu fell back himself, and he let out a sigh "Well that was definitely a lot of fun, but I think I'm just gonna rest here for a few minutes okay?"

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Luke blitzed through the barrage and appeared directly in front of Jose "**Lightning Dragon… IRON FIST!" **he dealt Jose a lightning enhanced fist to the gut, sending him hurtling backwards and crashing into the shoulder of the Phantom Giant "Now do you get it Jose, this is the power of Fairy Tail, a power you'll never understand, and it's at the top of the long list of reasons why you'll never surpass Makarov."

With a burst of purple light, Jose emerged from within the rubble, clearly wounded and with the vein in his forehead throbbing visibly "You know, while I'm going to make your death almost as slow and painful as what I have in store for Makarov there's one thing I think you should be made aware of. While I've never been particularly fond of your guild, my distaste for it was not what acted as the trigger for this war. We were hired by the patriarch of the Heartfilia family to find his missing daughter."

"You mean Lucy."

"Yes, the child of one of the wealthiest men in the entire kingdom is now a member of the Fairy Tail guild. So Makarov is trying to buy his way to the top isn't he?" his body began radiating more black and purple magic with his rage "Now that your guild has unfettered access to the fortune of the Heartfilia family, it's only a matter of time before that happens. That is, if we don't completely wipe all of you off the face of the Earth before that happens." he scowled when he was met with only a chuckle.

"It's absolutely hilarious how much you're whining about something as pointless as the ranking of your guild, but what's really making me laugh my ass off is how wrong your information is about Lucy."

"What's that?"

"Lucy came to us as a runaway, she doesn't have any access to her family's fortune. She rents an apartment in Magnolia for 70,000 Jewel a month, she works as hard as the rest of us just to make a living, she fights alongside us, she laughs with us and she cries with us. As far as any of us are concerned, Lucy is no different than any other member of the guild. And you expect me to believe that she's the reason we're at war? It doesn't matter if she is the daughter of the Heartfilia family, just as flowers don't get to choose where they bloom children don't get to choose their parents. You don't know a damn thing about Lucy or the tears that she's shed."

"Well I'll find out soon enough."

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"What else? I have no intention of handing her over to her father without reaping a benefit of some sort, I'll make her my prisoner until her father meets my demands. I'm going to bleed the entire Heartfilia family of their fortune and their precious money making business, and then everyone will truly know that the Phantom Lord guild is the greatest of them all! None will dare to look down on us again, and all of that starts with the complete annihilation of Fairy Tail and its members! Your guild hall has already paid the price." he pointed down to the remains of what used to be the Fairy Tail guild hall "And now your comrades will pay as well, and I'll let you die a slow and agonizing death while mourning over the vow you could never fulfill!"

"...And just like that I'm done wasting time with you." Luke clenched his fists, gritted his teeth and tightened his combat stance "Trashing our guild hall is one thing, but to go out of your way to hurt my friends, to threaten them right in front of me, that's more than enough incentive for me to MAKE YOU SUFFER!" with his Dragon Force burning brightly and crackling with electricity, Luke surged forward with even greater speed than ever before and slammed his fist directly into Jose's face, then followed up with a quick flurry of kicks.

Jose blocked every kick but was thrown to the ground, but he quickly rebounded and attempted to smash Luke into the ground.

Luke blitzed around his attacks and dealt Jose a Lightning Dragon Iron Fist, sending him hurtling into the air.

Jose rebounded and landed on some rubble "**SHADE ENTANGLE!" **he fired off the magic ghosts of the Shade Entangle.

Luke used small concentrated blasts of lightning magic to dance his way along the magic ghosts and push himself closer and closer to his target as he prepared another Lightning Dragon Iron Fist.

Jose tried to fire another Dead Wave at point blank range, resulting in the two of them clashing in mid air in a brilliant display, gold and purple dancing in mid air for all of Magnolia to see, before they started skidding down opposite sides of the now pretty much wrecked Phantom Giant, only for Jose to be met with a kick to the torso that sent him skidding to the ground along the shore a mere few feet away from where Cana, Erza and the others were.

Luke landed on the ground in front of him, taking a mere fraction of a second to simply catch his breath '_I can feel my Dragon Force about to fade, if I'm gonna take him down then it'll have to be with this next attack.' _he spared a quick glance over at the others, a certain brunette in particular '_Good thing I know what I'm fighting for.' _he charged forward as he condensed his magic energy into his left arm.

Now losing any cool he may have had, Jose tried to annihilate Luke with a barrage of Dark Pulse blasts.

Luke cut through each Dark Pulse blast with his dragon scale sword, which he wasted no time in stabbing into Jose's gut "And now for the coup de grace, straight from the handbook of the lightning dragon Kaminari, and on behalf of the Fairy Tail guild! **Dragon Slayer Secret Art: ROARING THUNDER!" **and using all of the magic power he was able to muster, Luke fired the powerful golden colored blast of lightning from his hand, engulfing Jose in it at point blank range as he pushed it as far and as hard as he was able to.

Jose could only cry out in agony as he was sent flying high into the air by the blast, leaving him to be engulfed in the massive explosion that lit up the skies of Magnolia.

With the battle appearing to be over, Luke finally powered down from Dragon Force back to his normal form and held up a fist "And that's why… you don't mess… with Fairy Tail…" and as the exhaustion finally got to him he fell flat on his back, but he glanced over to see everyone else from the guild cheering for him '_Everyone…' _his gaze softened in the direction of a certain brunette "Cana…"

"You idiot…" Cana slowly made her way over to him and knelt down beside him "You just keep pushing yourself harder and harder to the point where you can't even stand up, you just can't help yourself can you?"

"I did what I had to do… to protect you all." he suddenly found himself being pulled into a tight yet gentle hug.

"Thank you." her voice was soft and gentle.

"Like I said, I did what I had to do." Luke glanced back to see a short shadowy figure appear on the scene and he let out a chuckle "You took your sweet time getting here master."

Sure enough, Makarov appeared before them and made his way over to Luke, his expression remorseful and filled with suppressed rage "We have shed the blood of our children, you have been made to suffer because of the incompetence of your parents. Jose is to blame yes, but I am just as much as he did. And yet you were able to clean up an old man's mess better than he ever could."

"Oh come on, you could've beaten him no problem. I barely managed to scrape by with a win and I can barely stand now because of it. Besides, if two Wizard Saints went at it then it would've created a catastrophe."

"Especially if it were be and Jose. It's been six years since we last came face to face with each other, back then Phantom Lord was ranked at the top and no one knew how large Fairy Tail was going to become."

"And now it's been reduced to rubble."

"The building is just that, a building. A guild is made by the wizards and the bonds they forge with each other, and as long as we stand together there is nothing we can't overcome." he gave a small smile and patted Luke on the head "You did well my child, as did the rest of you. Be proud that you are members of Fairy Tail."

"I know I am." Luke glanced over to see Jose crawling his way out of the water, badly wounded but still alive "Oh crap."

"Don't worry, he doesn't have enough magic energy left to fight with. You've done more than enough this day Luke, let me deal with him." Makarov made his way over to Jose "You know I saw your battle with my child Luke, you have so much power at your command that I can see why the council named you one of the Ten Wizard Saints. However, you're misusing that power for your own personal gain. You could've become a role model for the younger generation, and yet instead you've become a lesson in what not to do in life."

"Oh please." Jose spat out "What is this, some sort of lecture?"

"For my children, not for you. For you it is both a threat and a warning. You will never bother my guild or my children again, do you understand me? I'm sure the Magic Council will be watching us after all the chaos that we've caused, you'd better be on your best behaviour from now on because I know I will." he turned around.

That was when Aria appeared behind him '_Our master has fallen, how sad. But the old man's left himself open again, this is my chance!'_

"Nope." and then Makarov took him out with one punch without even looking at him "This war is over, there is no reason for us to fight anymore. But let me warn you now, if you push me to the point of anger then I'll wipe out your entire guild without hesitation. Now just go on and get out of here, and take Jose with you okay?"

"ALRIGHT, WE BEAT PHANTOM!" and then everyone started cheering over their victory despite the pain they had endured.

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Porlyusica stood in the East Forest outside her home, her mind drifting with the wind '_I can feel their fear. The trees, the earth, the air. This is exactly why… _I HATE HUMANS DAMMIT!" she kicked a crate of apples in frustration and several other things around her "They're so dim witted they have no idea how to solve even a simple problem without raising their fists! You're an absolute nit wit Makarov, I tried to warn you but of course you never listen to me!" she glanced over at a nearby tree and ceased her angry tirade "Mystogan."

Sure enough, Mystogan sat in front of her holding an apple "Do you mind if I have this?"

"I was wondering how the old geezer was able to recover from the spell so quickly, now it all makes sense. When Makarov was hit by the drain spell you gathered his lost magic."

"Wise as always." he bit into the apple.

"Hey, I never said you could eat that!"

"This war is over now."

"I'm not a proponent of any sort of violence, even between loathsome humans. That being said, aren't you one of Makarov's men? You shouldn't be wasting your time here, your allies could have used your help."

"I am aware." the wind scattered around him, revealing a large number of flags with the Phantom Lord guild mark on them.

'_The flags of Phantom Lord, there are so many. He must have overthrown every single one of their branches in the kingdom.'_

"Would you mind if I take another apple for the road?"

"You are going to pick up this mess you made before you go right? Honestly, I'll never understand humans. They thirst for power and find themselves at war, they forget how much pain and sorrow it can bring All that matters to them is their victory."

"I believe that there is a way to save them from that pain and sorrow, it is a sacred light that guides all of us."

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Makarov made his way over to where Luke (being supported by Cana due to the fact that he was pretty much unable to stand) and the others were "We are victorious this day, but I had next to nothing to do with this victory. This victory belongs to you my children!" he was met with various cheers.

Bolt and Happy shared a fist bump between cats "Bout time we managed to pull the sticks out of their asses, Jose had that coming for a damn long time."

"Yeah, sure they did…" Lucy just looked away sadly.

"Hey blondie you alright?"

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Natsu lay sprawled out amongst the rubble of what used to be the Phantom Giant, and he gave a small smile "For once I'm glad Luke got the win, I doubt we could've done it without you ya smug son of a bitch." he glanced over to where the bruised form of Gajeel lay a short distance away from him "Hey Gajeel, can you hear me?"

"No…" Gajeel grumbled "I can't hear a damn thing."

"I just wanna know where you learned to use Dragon Slayer magic."

"I told you I can't hear you ya dumbass."

"You're the second wizard I met who uses Dragon Slayer magic like I do, Luke was the first guy and we both learned it from dragons. Come on man, just tell me where you learned it."

"Just shut up."

"Oh come on, don't be like that!"

"...Oh fine fuck it, I learned it from the iron dragon Metalicana."

"Holy shit, I figured you might have been taught by a dragon. So where the hell is Metalicana right now?"

"The hell if I know."

"TELL ME WHERE HE IS DAMMIT!"

"I SAID I DON'T FUCKING KNOW!" they started to butt heads like a couple of idiots, but then they proceeded to nurse their newly bruised foreheads "Dammit, I feel like I've lost a crap load of my brain cells just by talking to you."

"Hey watch it asshat."

"...He just up and vanished without a trace."

"What?"

"Yeah, I had been training with Metalicana but then one day he just up and vanished without even saying a word to me. Talk about a selfish prick."

"Yeah, the same thing happened with me and the fire dragon Igneel, and Luke and the lightning dragon Kaminari." then Natsu felt it click in his head "Wait a second, he didn't happen to disappear on the 7th of July 7 years ago did he?"

"Yeah that's right, why are you saying you know where Metalicana is?"

"I don't have a clue but I've been looking for Igneel and Luke's been looking for Kaminari, and the last time either of us saw him was 7 years ago on July 7th."

"So all three of our dragons vanished seven years ago, year 777 on the seventh day of the seventh month-"

"Dammit what the hell is it with all of the sevens?!"

"How the hell should I know?" they butted heads again "Look I don't even care what happened to him."

"You know what fuck it, just get the hell out of here already."

"Hey you're on our turf you little shitstain, if anyone should leave then it's you!"

"Well you don't have to be such a douche about it."

"Just get lost before I kick your ass!"

"Well just let me know if you hear anything about Igneel okay?"

"Are you fucking with me, why the hell would I do you any favors?"

"Because you and me and Luke are all alike, we're fellow Dragon Slayers."

"Oh screw that, the next time I get my hands on you you're dead meat! I'll have you begging for mercy!"

"You know you don't have to so brutal, I was thinking about calling a truce but if you're gonna throw a tantrum like that then I don't know."

"I'm brutal?! Give ma fucking break, just take a look at what you and Thunderclap did to our guild hall!"

"Yeah but only after you assclowns totally demolished ours first! Oh you know what fuck it, I'm never calling a truce with you!"

"I never wanted a truce with you you little bastard!"

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Hours passed, and things seemed to calm down somewhat, but the damage had still been done.

Makarov observed what remained of the guild hall and let out a sigh "Looks like they really did a number on it huh?"

"Master…" that was when Lucy approached the front of the crowd, her expression solemn and guilt ridden "I'm so sorry…"

"Child you've been through quite a lot lately, but there's no need for you to let it get you down like that."

"But…"

"Come on Lucy, quit pouting and show us that smile already." Luke, now covered in bandages due to the injuries he received from his battle with Jose pulled himself back to his feet, wincing at the pain.

"Luke, you're okay…"

"I drop kicked a Wizard Saint and came out alive, yeah I think that counts as okay. Besides, our team with the best name is back too." he jerked a thumb over to where Levy and the others were making their way onto the scene "Seriously though, we beat Phantom so you don't have any reason to be sad now. It doesn't matter if they destroyed our guild hall, we'll just have to rebuild it bigger and better than before."

"Yeah, I guess…"

"Sorry about worrying you like that Lucy, I didn't mean to get you all upset or anything."

"No, it was all my fault."

"Lucy we all know about your secret, there isn't a single person in the guild who thinks you're to blame for what happened."

"But…"

Freed nodded "Luke speaks the truth, in fact I owe you an apology myself. I allowed Gajeel to get the better of me, and because of that you were captured."

"Freed, don't…"

"Lucy, listen to me." Makarov spoke again "Though we may not be able to share our feelings of happiness and sadness entirely, we do share them to some extent. That's what happens when you're part of a guild. When one person is happy then everyone becomes happy, when one person is angry then everyone becomes angry, and when one person sheds tears then they shed tears for everyone. There's no reason for you to feel guilty, so don't cry. You should already know how much everyone here cares about you. Hold your head high my dear, because you are a proud member of the family that is Fairy Tail."

Lucy said nothing, she was unable to contain it anymore and finally started sobbing openly and loudly.

'_While I'm glad everything worked out I'm worried about the Magic Council, they'll be absolutely furious about this without a doubt. I hate to think it, but I might even end up looking at prison time.' _and then he started sobbing as well.

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Days passed, and things felt like normal again.

Luke observed the scene of where the guild hall used to be with a small fond smile '_It's been about a week since the incident with Phantom, now we've started rebuilding the guild hall and everything feels like it's back to normal. Of course after we did beat Phantom it didn't take long for things to take a turn for the worse, mainly because we got confronted by the army of Rune Knights that work for the Magic Council. They rounded everyone up, Natsu taking a little bit longer to get to cooperate, and they took all of us to a military post to question us about the incident. We had to endure a week of daily interrogations, but now it seems like everything has blown over. From what we've been told so far the council has decided to make a ruling on Fairy Tail being punished at a later date. Lucky for us I don't think they're gonna be too harsh, all of the evidence and eyewitness reports they've received clearly shows that Phantom Lord were the ones who threw the first punch and started this whole war in the first place.' _he winced at the pain of his wounds '_The wounds from my battle with Jose still haven't fully healed yet.'_

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Lucy sat at her desk in her apartment writing away, but her thoughts were drifting '_You know something mom, I can't help but wonder if dad really was the one behind all of this. You don't think he would go that far, do you? Now that I think about it, he probably would without giving it so much as a second thought. I just don't understand why he's so desperate for me to come home all of a sudden, it's not like he cared about me being there before. Not since… Mom, he would do it again wouldn't he? He'd use his money to try and control me, and now he's dragging everyone else into it. No, I won't let that happen, not this time.'_

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Construction continued to get underway.

Gray rolled his eyes as he watched Natsu take on too many support beams at once and collapse to the ground "You see that's exactly what you get for carrying too much shit at once you moron."

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU CALL ME?!" Natsu pretty much exploded.

"I called you a moron because that's exactly what you are, you got a problem with that?" they wasted no time in getting up in each other's faces.

"Yeah, I've got a problem with the ass wipe that is your face!"

One noteworthy difference from the past week is that Juvia was now stalking Gray from afar with hearts in her eyes '_Oh Gray my love, I wish you would carry me too!'_

"Cut it out!" Erza wasted no time in bashing their skulls into the ground with a support beam of her own "Both of you get back to work right now, we have a lot to do so we don't have time to deal with the two of you messing around!"

Luke let out a sigh "Well I know I wouldn't want to work for Erza, speaking of which did you requip into that outfit?"

"Your point being?"

"...Nevermind, at least even the master is hard at work. Hey boss, where do you want me to put these few?"

"Just stick them over there." Makarov pointed over to some random area.

"Way ahead of you." Luke grabbed 5 pillars with one arm and made his way over to the area designated to him, but then he stopped "Why the hell did I just call him boss? Hey you know what, screw it. Hey Natsu, Gray, if you guys are done with your little game of whack a mole then we could use a little bit of help here."

"A little bit on the big side isn't it?" Bickslow pointed out.

"Yeah well we figured we might as well expand the place. I've got the plans right here, feel free to go ahead and take a look."

"Seems a little bit like overkill but whatever the hell you guys want I guess, so what's it gonna look like now?"

"Go ahead and see for yourself."

Bickslow took a look at the plans, and his gaze dulled from behind his hood '_This looks like some stupid little kid did it, and it's in color pencil. _Okay first question, which way is supposed to be up? Second question, what idiot came up with these?"

"The one that told you to go fuck yourself with that stupid mask."

"...So it was you then?"

"Maybe."

All the while, Juvia was watching Gray with hearts in her eyes '_My dearest Gray, he can be so cold to others and yet he is so warm to me!'_

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About an hour later…

Gray let out a sigh "Dammit I'm starving, isn't Erza at least gonna give us a lunch break or something?" he was promptly swamped with a stream of water that appeared out of nowhere, leaving a lunch box in his lap as a result "What the hell was that?"

"Hey check it out." Bolt hopped into Gray's lap and opened it up "I wonder where the hell this thing came from."

Gray looked inside and was instantly freaked out by what he was seeing "Is that my face made out of veggies?"

"It still looks pretty tasty, plus just imagine what would happen if Natsu found out your face was actually edible."

"Add that to the list of reasons why I can't eat this, along with it being way too weird. I can see something oozing out of the side."

From her hiding place, Juvia was crying pools worth of anima tears '_This is absolutely heartbreaking, I spent three whole days making that lunch for him!'_

"Well if you're not gonna eat it then I'm just gonna take it for myself, might as well see if it at least tastes good." Bolt promptly scooped up a piece and started eating "Hey what do you know, this actually isn't half bad."

"Seriously? I might as well try it too I guess." he promptly took a bite "What the hell do you know, this is actually pretty good."

Of course, Juvia let this go to her head and the hearts in her eyes pretty much exploded '_He likes my cooking, he really likes my cooking! This is a sign, we'll get married and have 33 babies together! I'm so happy I could cry!'_

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Luke on the other hand met Elfman in front of the tree at South Gate park "So what's up, what's so important you wanted to call me out here like this?"

Elfman breathed a deep sigh and turned to face him "First off, I talked with Cana a while back, and I just want to tell you that I don't blame you for what happened to Mira. That's the kind of guilt I've been feeling myself ever since that day, both for what happened to her and for you leaving for so long."

"Looking back that's not something I'm proud of, all that time I was running from the guilt I felt about her taking that hit for me, but at the same time it was the only reason I was able to grow as much as I did."

"We can't dwell on the past anymore than we already have, but with that being said Luke I called you out here because I want to ask you to help me with something. I need your help to train and become a better man, a real man."

"Where exactly are you going with this?"

"Luke you actually managed to defeat one of the Ten Wizard Saints in battle, that's something only a real man could do. I want to fight you, just like what you did with Erza. I want to test my Take Over magic against your Dragon Slayer magic and your swordsmanship skills, I have to improve on my powers and fighting against you will help me to become more of a man."

"Elfman I'm pretty sure you're as much of a man as that stereotype can get, besides you already did your Full Body Takeover without losing control so I'd call that a win."

"It's not enough, not for any of us. Back then I wasn't able to save Mira from the monster or myself, and this time I couldn't save Lisanna without turning into a monster, even if I did manage to regain control. I was supposed to protect them and I just wasn't good enough. I'm her brother, I have to do what I can to protect Lisanna, like how I failed with…"

"With Mira, we both did back then. Truth be told, after what happened there were a few points where I actually considered not going back to the guild at all."

Elfman's head snapped up with disbelief "Are you kidding me?"

"But the guy I was training with, he's a Wizard Saint too, he gave me a reality check I seriously needed. I was being nothing but a pathetic coward. Even if I did quit the jobs and the dangers wouldn't stop coming, and someone will have to do it. The people I care about will end up taking those jobs again, with someone else being there with them. They'll end up facing the same risks, and there was always a chance that at least a few of them wouldn't make it, ones I might have been able to save if I had been there to protect them. How would I end up feeling then? He told me that I had a chance to reflect on the mistakes I've made and to learn from them, to use my failures to make myself a better wizard, a better person. I wasn't helping anyone by running away and not looking back, instead I should be trying to make myself stronger for their sake if nothing else, so that next time the job goes perfectly and everyone got back safe. I had a choice to make, I would either carry the spirit of the dragon that taught me what I know, or I would be a pathetic sniveling coward. I made my choice, and it's why I'm here now. So going back to your request, we both want the same thing, to protect the guild and its people." he slowly held out his hand "I'm gonna train you hard, so that means I expect you to put in 150% every time like any real man would."

Elfman gripped the hand, then pulled Luke into a bone crushing hug "You're a real man Luke, so thank you."

"And you're crushing my shoulder, still sore by the way." he was promptly released.

"Sorry."

"Forget it, I've dealt with worse."

"So this is where you guys were."

Luke and Elfman glanced over to see Loke coming up to them holding something "Hey hold on, aren't those Lucy's gate keys?"

"Yeah I found them in town a little while ago, I was hoping you could give them back to her for me?"

"So that's where you ran off to, you mean you went to get her Gate Keys? Plus you look even paler than Natsu that time he punched Erza, are you okay?"

"Yeah yeah I'm fine, I just got a little bit beat up fighting with Gajeel. Plus you know how it is with me, being a gentleman is pretty draining."

"I don't have a problem with that."

"And you beat a Wizard Saint, I doubt it's the same thing."

"Anyway I haven't seen Lucy around in a few days, from what I know Jose did some fucked up stuff to her so she's probably too sore to help out. Speaking of which I think I'm gonna go and check on her, you gonna come with me?"

"No thanks I think I'm gonna pass, you know I'm no good around Celestial wizards. I'll see you later." and then he left.

"You know I can never get a read on that guy. So Elfman you gonna come?"

"Thanks but I'm gonna get a jump start on my training, I'll be ready and waiting for you and ready to become a real man." and on that high note, Elfman took his leave.

"...Well okay then, I guess I might as well go find Bolt and Cana and see if they wanna come and check on Lucy. Erza and the others have enough shit to deal with."

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Meanwhile, with Loke…

Loke made his way through the streets of Magnolia, only to suddenly freeze in his tracks, his expression one of horror '_Karen, you don't have to rush me… please… I need more time… just a little more time…'_

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"Hey blondie!" Bolt popped up in the window to Lucy's apartment "How ya holding up these days?"

"For crying out loud, don't come in through the window cat." Cana poked her head out from her place coming in through Lucy's chimney.

"Look who's talking." Luke just calmly came in through the door "At least I have the common decency to use the door."

"Since when are you the stickler about manners?"

"Since someone has to be to balance out all of the crazy in our guild."

"Point taken, so where is blondie anyway? You'd think she'd be screaming at us to get out of here."

"That's actually a fair point, where would she go? _In the bath maybe? Well I'm probably gonna regret this but better than the alternative.' _he poked his head into the bathroom "Sorry about this but it's gotta be done."

"She's not here." Bolt poked his head out of the tub.

"How the hell did you get in there?"

"Looks to me like she isn't home." Cana pointed out "So then where the heck did she run off to?"

"No idea, but it doesn't feel the same without Lucy."

"Speaking of blondie, we're probably not gonna get another chance like this." Bolt opened up one of Lucy's drawers and his jaw pretty much dropped "Holy crap."

"For crying out loud Bolt what the hell is wrong with you, going through Lucy's underwear is a serious violation of- Holy shit, where do you buy underwear like that? I don't think I've ever seen anything like that."

"I can think of one place."

"Not the time for that, just close it up before she barges in and accuses all of us for peaking in her stuff when really it was just you."

"I probably would've too." Cana pointed out.

"Yeah there's about a 70% chance of you being drunk right now, as far as I'm concerned you have a bias- Hold that thought, check this out." Luke reached down underneath Lucy's desk and pulled out a box of letters "Damn there's a lot of these things, and all of them are still sealed up. I wonder who they're to?"

"Let's find out." Cana promptly opened one up "Dear mom, today was a very special day because I joined the Fairy Tail guild."

"Hey what the hell Cana, don't just go reading her stuff!"

"It was all thanks to this lightning magic wizard named Luke and his flying cat, yes it's as weird as it sounds. Luke seems like a really nice guy and he's seriously powerful, but at the same time he has kind of a sad feel to him. He's actually the most normal person in the guild, compared to everyone else always fighting and screaming at each other all the time, but they're all pretty cool in their own rights."

"...Go on."

"That's all it says about you."

"Dammit." Luke took a quick glance through the letters in the box "Looks like all of these are addressed to her mother."

"But then why would she never mail them?" asked Bolt.

"I have a few theories in mind, it's not exactly pleasant."

"No need for the theories, I just found this on her desk." Cana held up a note "If I had to guess then I'd say Lucy left this for us, it says that she's going home."

"...Oh crap."

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Lucy made her way down the cobblestone road to the giant mansion, her resolve never wavering as she took notice of one of the servants before her "Miss Spetto."

Almost immediately the old woman's eyes started watering and she started bawling in a comical fashion, the same with pretty much all of the other servants "MISS LUCY HAS COME BACK TO US!" and they latched onto Lucy "I'm so glad you're alright, I was so worried!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry all of you like that." she was met with only more comical sobbing from pretty much all of them, unaware of the figure watching her and the rest of them from a window '_Well I guess I shouldn't be surprised, they haven't changed a bit.'_

"Miss Lucy." that was when another one of the servants came up to her "The master has requested your presence in the study." and that pretty much killed the entire mood.

'_His runaway daughter finally comes home after an entire year and he sends a servant to request my presence for him? I see he hasn't changed either since I've been gone.'_

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An hour passed.

Lucy found herself being stuffed into an elegant yet extremely stiff dress, but she just grinned and endured it for the time being '_I forgot about the dresses and how uncomfortable they can get to be, it's been awhile since I've had to wear one.'_

The servants looked at her with sheer adoration "It's not too tight for you now is it miss? It looks like the sleeves may be a wee bit too short for you now."

"It's okay, really. _I guess I've gotten taller, has it really been that long? _Well then I should probably get going."

"Yes ma'am."

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Jude Heartfilia stood in the study, staring out at the estate through his window '_So she's finally home…'_

"Excuse me father, it's Lucy. May I come in?"

"Yes, you may." Jude turned to face her, his expression as cold as ever "You ran away without saying so much as a single word to me, how could you?"

Lucy bowed her head slightly "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have left the way I did without speaking to you first. It was a poor decision on my part, one I've deeply regretted since then."

"Well I'm glad you finally came to your senses and left that guild, a lady of your status should never be affiliated with those ruffians. I certainly wasn't looking forward to wasting any more of my money to have it eradicated. I certainly wasn't looking forward to wasting any more of my money to have it eradicated. You forced me to go to extremes Lucy. If you hadn't acted so selfishly then I wouldn't have had to lash out at your guild. You're the one who brought trouble upon your friends."

"Yes, I know."

"It's better that you don't associate with them anyway, you're a member of the Heartfilia family after all. You have nothing in common with peasants such as them, you come from a completely different world than they do. Which brings me to the reason why I wanted you home in the first place dear, it's about our family. I have made arrangements for you to marry Duke Sawarr, the heir to the Junelle family."

"Yes, I suspected that might be the case."

"Try to think of it as an investment in your future, once you're married we'll have access to the vast lands in the south belonging to the Junelle family, which will allow us to expand the Heartfilia railway and bring in millions."

"I see."

"And I expect you to give birth to a baby boy, we need a Heartfilia heir. That is all for now, you may return to your room."

"...I'm sorry father, but that's not going to happen." this caused his entire delusion of controlling her again to shatter "I didn't come here to make amends, I came here in order to say my final goodbyes. I realize that it was wrong of me to just leave without saying anything, it's a decision that I've regretted every single day since then. And that's part of the reason why I came back to tell you exactly how I truly feel before I leave for good."

"Lucy…"

"All of the money in the world can't buy you happiness, I figured out something as simple as that when I was just a child. Finally I'm truly happy, and I have no intention of letting you ruin that for me or for anyone else. I'm going to warn you once and only once, you had better not mess with Fairy Tail ever again!" and so to further demonstrate severing her ties with him, she then proceeded to rip her dress apart "It doesn't matter that you're my father, if you threaten us then we will crush you just like we would any other enemy!" this left him speechless, and she went on with a sad sigh "You know it didn't have to be this way, you and I could've sat down together and talked things out. But now I can't trust you, because your actions have hurt too many people that I care about. I don't need fancy dresses, a big house or lots of money to be happy, I just need to be surrounded by people who accept me for who I am. And I'm not Lucky Lucy Heartfilia anymore, I'm Lucy of Fairy Tail. The people there treat me like family, something you haven't done in a long time. It was really hard for me to leave this house, but that's only because I have so many fond memories of living here with mom. I care so much about Ms Spetto, Bello, Ribbon and Aido, and it's really hard for me to leave them behind like this, but I know that it's time for me to move on. And you know something else, I truly believe that if mom were still alive then she would tell me to always be true to myself, and to do whatever makes me happy."

Jude froze as he saw an image of an older blonde woman appear where Lucy stood '_Layla…'_

"So this is goodbye then, daddy." and with that, Lucy took her leave.

'_Layla… You would be proud of our daughter for acting like this wouldn't you? She's so much like you, stubborn as a rock.'_

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Hours passed, and the sun was setting.

Lucy glanced up at her mother's gravestone, reading from X748 to X777 "Well mom, I think it's time for me to head out before everyone else shows up and storms the place again."

"Yeah I wouldn't bet on that."

Lucy jumped and whipped around to find Luke, Bolt and Cana standing behind her "What the heck-"

"Awhile back we had to reach an agreement with the council that if we do storm a place then we can't do it more than once a month, so… yeah."

"I mean when the heck did you get here?"

"Around the time you started staring into space."

"Oh. Listen I'm sorry for worrying you guys, but this was something that I had to do by myself."

"Hey we've all been there at some point or another."

"Yeah." Lucy turned back to the grave This… This is my mom's grave. She was a Celestial Wizard you know, she was the owner of Aquarius and Cancer's keys before I got them."

"Sounds like she was quite the wizard."

"Yeah, she was. I just wish she could've seen everything I've been up to."

"I think she's still watching over you, and I think she's proud of you for being so stubborn and lucky at the same time."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

Lucy gave him a small smile "Thanks. Well anyway let's get going." and so they started walking away, though as she did she noticed all of the servants waving and crying in her direction, so she gave them a simple wave "Seriously though sorry guys, I didn't mean to freak you out or anything like that."

"Hey look it's fine, some things just have to be done. Of course Bolt and Cana wasted no time in jumping to conclusions."

"You were convinced by that too." Cana pointed out dryly.

"I was not, be realistic for a second Cana. And Bolt was crying."

"Pull your head out of your ass." Bolt let out a snort "Eesh, the guy takes down a Wizard Saint and suddenly he's a Gary Sue."

"Hey me drop kicking Jose was your idea, and besides I barely managed to pull out a win against the guy. You know what, time for a change of subject. I have to admit I'm really starting to dig your hometown Lucy, it seems like a pretty peaceful place."

"Oh this isn't a town, this is just part of our garden."

"Hold on, what now." Cana shot her a look.

"Oh yeah, the Heartfilia estate goes all the way to that mountain over there." she received several looks of disbelief "Hey what's the matter?"

"HOLY CRAP SHE'S RICH, AND SHE'S ACTING LIKE IT'S NOTHING!" and then she started jigging, whatever the hell that means.

"One of our best is down for the count!" Bolt quickly sprouted his wings "Captain Luke of the SS Insanity, what are your orders?"

Luke was just starting up at the sky in some kind of daze "Oh wow, the sky really is so beautiful isn't it?"

"New plan, we need a medic! The only sane person in the guild has a screw loose!"

"UPA!" Cana promptly salluted.

"And she's kind of drunk, it was a long train ride."

Lucy was weirded out by this, but she simply let out a chuckle and gave a small smile '_Mom, I know you're looking down on me from heaven. You always taught me that I should follow my dreams, so I'm sure that you would agree with my decision to leave. My friends in Fairy Tail are so special to me, and I couldn't be happier. Fairy Tail is my family now.'_

**A/N:**

**And thus the war between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord comes to an end as a result of two climatic battles, Luke vs Jose and Natsu vs Gajeel. I knew right from the beginning that I was going to have Luke fight Jose, since Luke is the main character of this story and Jose, well he's a gigantic prick.**

**Now then, due to recent activities with my reviews, I've decided to just come out and say this. A certain someone who will remain nameless has left me several negative reviews of this story, and for a time I was perfectly fine with that. However, now it's gotten to the point where he's spamming the same review for every chapter of this story. Leaving one review saying that you didn't like my story is one thing, that I'm okay with, I know that my stories aren't for everybody. But seriously, if you don't like it then don't read it. Don't just spew hate all over a story solely for the sake of spewing hate. To put it simply, quit spamming your hate reviews for no other reason other than to be a jerk. Seriously, if you want some Fairy Tail stuff that you like then either watch the actual anime, read someone else's story, write your own story, or just go and spew your hate on someone else, because I'm not going anywhere!**


	11. Omake I

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**Altajir95: **I'm just going to say this to reply to all of the reviews you've left so far. Thank you for all of the positive feedback, and I'm impressed you guessed that Luke would defeat Jose using Dragon Force. I hope I continue to please you with what I write.

**Ragnas Bredvolts: **Yep, that was the climax of the war with Phantom Lord and it definitely showed with all of the chaos, drama and character development, and in this case especially for Elfman and Luke. As for my hater who shall not be named, I knew that if I didn't call him out then he would just keep spamming hate reviews on this story, so I basically told him to get lost because I have no intention of stopping anytime soon. I hope I continue to meet your expectations, and you have a nice day as well.

**Cameron: **Thank you, I'm glad you enjoy it.

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"_In a land far far away lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small and peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most people, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards and mages, and banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore, but there is a certain guild in a certain town that stands high above the rest of them, one from which countless legends have been born, a guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. This guild is known as Fairy Tail."_

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The members of the Magic Council were present and pissed as hell about what was happening in the courtroom.

Luke let out a sigh "See this is one of those moments that makes me question every decision I've ever made." he promptly elbowed the sleeping form of Makarov in his tiny gut "Master wake up, we're in court!"

"I'm here I'm here!" Makarov promptly bolted upright "What's going on?"

"We're in the middle of court and you fell asleep once they started talking."

"I did? Oh yeah, sorry about that." he let out a nervous chuckle.

Luke promptly slammed his head his face against the stand.

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One remarkably painful court session later…

Luke made his way down the halls of the Council building, his expression one of clear exhaustion "First I have to fight a Wizard Saint, then I get put on trial with the master for being the one to fight the Wizard Saint, which is pretty much hell. I love being part of Fairy Tail but I wish there would be a little more sanity."

"Then you have the right guy waiting for you."

Luke glanced up and let out a groan "Great, more insanity. Didn't expect to find you in Fiore of all places God Serena."

Sure enough, before him stood God Serena, top ranked Wizard Saint, a guy with spiked orange hair jutting out at the top like rabbit ears and with a scar on his nose, and he started posing in a dramatic fashion "Indeed, I am… HERE!"

"As much of a jackass as you were the last time we met."

God Serena posed again, and then pointed at Luke "I'm flattered that you remember me as you always did my young apprentice.

"Drop the act Bunny Hair, it's just you and me."

"So it is." God Serena dropped the pose and let out a chuckle "So since I'm in Fiore on some business being the top ranked Wizard Saint, what do you say you and I go and grab a bite to eat somewhere, and you can tell me about how you drop kicked that little prick?"

"Works for me."

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About an hour later…

Luke sat with God Serena in a restaurant not too far away, discussing the recent events of the war with Phantom Lord and his battle with Jose "So Fairy Tail was found not guilty in the grand scheme of things, my guess is that Yajima had a hand in that."

God Serena munched on a french fry "Wouldn't be surprised, he's probably the only one amongst those old blowhards who doesn't hate on you and your guild because they don't have lives of their own."

"Phantom Lord on the other hand got disbanded, and Jose got thrown in prison and stripped of his title as one of the Ten Wizard Saints, so that's pretty much what I expected."

"I said from the beginning that making that sadistic little prick a Wizard Saint was a bad idea, but nobody listens to the guy with the cool haircut."

"Or the guy with the awesome red cowboy boots, thanks again for those by the way."

"No one liked them?"

"Mystogan did, and I'll take that."

"Works for me."

"So you gonna drop by the guild at any point, I'm sure everyone is gonna piss themselves when they see the strongest mage on the continent at the guild."

"I might, if for no other reason but to see how they compare to you."

"Natsu would definitely try to fight you."

"I'd probably kill him."

"You do that and I'd have to kill you." he let out a snort "Yeah like I could, as strong as I am right now you could just oneshot me without even batting an eye."

"Don't give me a reason to and I won't." God Serena glanced out the window "You know on my way in I heard Makarov talking with Yajima about retiring and choosing a successor as the master of the guild."

"Oh don't even think about trying to talk me into becoming the guild master, the sad thing is that if anyone is gonna be the next master then it would probably be Laxus, and god only knows where that prick is right now."

'_I see, so he still doesn't know. Well I'll let someone else tell him then. _Hey how about once we finish eating we head out and do a little bit of a training match, just like old times sake?"

"Fine by me, maybe see how I stack up against you."

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Construction continued to get underway.

"Listen up everyone." Erza quickly got everyone's attention, although it was mainly because they were scared shitless "Starting today, everyone from the guild will be able to take on job requests again. You'll have to excuse the mess while we're under construction, but at the very least you'll be able to get back to work." this left a good majority of the wizards considerably pumped up.

Lucy glanced over and noticed a bunch of nameless wizards (background characters that have no relevance to the story) lined up at the request board "What's up with these guys? Most of the time a good chunk of them would just be sitting around loafing around the guild hall all day and doing nothing."

"That about sums up at least 60% of the members of the guild." Cana pointed out as she took a sip from her mug of booze.

"Hey I don't suppose you've seen Loke around have you?"

"Oh great, another chick with a big rack that fell for Fairy Tail's resident playboy."

"No it's not like that, it's just that apparently he's the one who found my keys. I just wanted to find him and thank him for doing that for me."

"Yeah sure, if I see him then I'll let him know. So were any of your Celestial Spirits pissed at you for losing your keys the way that you did."

"Well yeah I guess you could say that, and there was one spirit in particular who was really pissed off about it." she cringed and held her obviously bruised ass "Just thinking about it makes my butt sting."

"I can help." Gray summoned some ice "If you want then I could cool it for you."

"That just sounds like sexual harassment on a whole new level."

"Hey Lucy, how about you show us how red your ass is." Bolt shot her a huge shit eating grin.

"And with that comment you've crossed the line."

"We're in Fairy Tail, there is no line to cross. Plus Luke is gone with the master and I'm bored as hell. Hey Natsu get over here, I wanna see how Lucy would react if we make her ass sting even more!"

"And it's official, you're the devil!"

"Just ignore the cat." Cana promptly hit him over the head with a book "He only does it these days because Luke won't, he's really matured in the time he's been gone. He's kind of compensating."

"So Luke was a sadist?"

"He was a snarky jackass, basically like Natsu but with lightning instead of fire." she gave a small smile "Still though, even when he was little and snarky he was always tough as hell and always had a good heart, even when we first met."

"You guys have known each other for a really long time huh?"

"Yeah, since he joined Fairy Tail around 7 years ago, not long after Natsu did. Everyone was still a bunch of little kids at the time. Natsu and Gray being two little balls of hate trying to strangle each other every time they saw each other, only to incur the wrath of Erza in the process."

"Doesn't sound like anything has changed."

"With those two nothing ever does. Luke on the other hand has changed a lot, he was pretty much the same way with the master's grandson Laxus, partially because Laxus was a prick and the other part was because they both use lightning magic. Luke and Natsu weren't that much different back then since they were always getting into fights, of course Natsu acted like that was what he wanted, but whenever Luke was alone I'd notice him with this really sad look on his face, probably thinking about the dragon that raised him. I was only around 12 when I finally confronted him about it."

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(Flashback, 7 years ago)

The rain was pouring down over the skies of Magnolia.

Luke sat on the edge of the shore behind the guild hall, brooding to himself '_It's been about a year since you left. I can't help but wonder, will I ever see you again Kaminari? Father?'_

"You know you shouldn't be out here while it's like this, you'll get sick."

Luke glanced back to see a young girl standing behind him in an orange dress with her hair in a ponytail, holding an umbrella "I could say the same about you. You shouldn't be out here, now go back inside, uh…"

"My name is Cana."

"Right, you're the girl that isn't an order driven lunatic or a complete sadist."

"Erza and Mira aren't that bad."

"Says the one that isn't on the receiving end of their obsession with bitch slapping each other on an hourly basis."

"More like I've been in the guild long enough to know how to avoid things like that. So what are you doing out here? It's a lot more comfortable inside."

"I'd rather not be surrounded by people who mock my father, why do you think I waste so much time trying to punch out Laxus?"

"Because he acts like a total jerk sometimes."

"Make that two reasons then."

"So is it really true that you were raised by a dragon?"

"You gonna make fun of me like he does?"

"I'm pretty sure he's one of a kind, and that's a good thing. Anyway I think it's pretty cool you were raised by a dragon."

"You… You actually believe me?"

"Why not? Let's just say that I have my fair share of problems with my dad too."

"Fair enough. His name is Kaminari, he's a lightning dragon."

"You think I could meet him someday?"

"Yeah sure, once I find him that is."

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Inside the guild hall…

A young man with blonde hair and a scar running down his right eye shot a look of disbelief and disinterest at Macao and Wakaba "Seriously, that kid? Don't tell me you actually believe he was raised by a dragon or any of that crap."

Macao gave a shrug "I don't know Laxus, keep in mind Luke does use Dragon Slayer magic and who else would know it but a dragon I guess, right?"

"You realize that sounds like total shit right?"

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Lucy glanced over at Cana "Wow you weren't kidding, he does kind of sound like a jerk. And you said he was the master's grandson?"

Cana let out a sigh "Yeah, I don't get it either. Anyway, Luke and I started training together and eventually we ended up going on jobs together." then her face fell "But then he went on to become an S class mage."

"And you're not allowed to go with him on those huh?"

"Not like he didn't try, but the master wouldn't let him, or me." her face fell slightly "And not long after that… he left."

"Left for what?"

"In his words, to do a lot of growing that he couldn't do here. There was… an incident and one of the guild members didn't make it, and Luke blamed himself for it. So he left to train across the continent and get stronger, and no one from Fairy Tail saw him for a year and a half, until he came back to Magnolia with you."

"Wow, that's… pretty heavy actually."

"Yeah. Luke was a lot more laid back and easygoing back then, but after that incident and after he came back he changed a lot. Now he's made himself into a protector of Fairy Tail through and through."

"So, he's not the same person anymore?"

"In a lot of ways he is, he was always caring and compassionate, but now he's a lot more focused and less willing to take risks. If this were 2 years ago then he would never have wanted to retreat from Phantom even after the master got hurt."

"Yeah, he definitely seems a lot more rational than most of the people in the guild. But then again it isn't that hard."

"True that." Cana promptly downed a mug.

"So do you mind if I ask you one other question?"

"Go for it."

"How do you and Luke feel about each other?"

Cana froze mid gulp "Crap, you had to go there didn't you?" she blushed slightly and looked away "Well…"

"Hey ladies." that was when Bolt suddenly popped up in between them "We're getting the team together to get some shit done until Luke and the Master get back, as in me and the other cat, his footstool, the stripper and Erza. Also Gray, put on some pants."

"Since when are you a team player?"

"Since this was Erza's idea and I'm smart enough to know not to piss her off."

"This was Erza's idea?"

Erza nodded "That's right, I mean we've all been working together since the Lullaby incident with Eisenwald so I guess that makes us a team of sorts now."

"And it took you this long to figure that out? We've known since Luke drop kicked the Lullaby demon, and then you, and then that demon on Galuna Island, and then Jose, wow Luke has been drop kicking a lot of people."

"That's besides the point."

"Still though, you're only just calling us a team? Well I guess I shouldn't be surprised, knowing you."

"Ignoring that, what do you say we make it official, the six of us working as a team?"

"Ahem." Bolt and Happy both shot her a look.

"Alright fine, the eight of us. Better?" she received two simultaneous nods "Okay good."

Lucy seemed rather nervous about this "I don't know Erza, are you sure you want someone like me on your team?"

"Not someone like you Lucy, what we want is you specifically. After everything we've been through, having someone other than you out there with us would just feel wrong."

Cana nodded "Yeah, you've got heart even if you are still just a newbie, and with you on it now that officially makes this the strongest team."

"Really, you think I'm one of the strongest?"

"You've got that psycho chick Aquarius, the pervert bull guy, the crab with a fucked up sense of style, the Archer horse guy, and the chick in the maid outfit. Plus you're a real firecracker and you've got heart, as far as I'm concerned you're an essential asset."

Natsu and Gray on the other hand, well they were less than thrilled about the prospect of forming an official team '_I've gotta team up with him?'_

"Is there a problem boys?" Erza shot them a dark look, which promptly sent them into their defensive mode of hugging each other.

"Oh no, we're absolutely thrilled!"

"Anyway Bolt and I already have a job lined up for our team, taking down an arcane cult in the castletown of Lupinus, so are you with me?"

"Yeah!"

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Luke followed God Serena to a large open grassland a fair distance away from the city, and realization immediately dawned upon him "This place is…"

God Serena nodded "Yeah that's right, it's back where we first started training together almost a year ago. I figured it wouldn't hurt to do a little bit of reminiscing before you head back to your guild."

"I was still doing a lot of brooding back then."

"Well I was able to knock that clear out of you, and I even taught you how to activate Dragon Force at will."

"Only thanks to that little something Kaminari implanted into my back before he disappeared, but yeah your training did help me out a lot."

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**(How the training went, at least at the beginning)**

The rain was pouring down over the grassland.

"**Lightning Dragon IRON FIST!" **Luke charged at God Serena at full speed, the electricity covering his body growing more and more potent with each passing second '_Dammit, all I can see when he attacks are some kind of blur!'_

"Don't think you can get cocky with me, if you can barely see my attacks then what chance do you have to dodge or counter them!" God Serena wasted no time as he dodged, blocked and countered every attack being thrown at him, and he quickly kicked Luke's legs out from under him.

"**Lightning Dragon TALON!" **Luke didn't miss a beat as he launched a lightning enhanced kick.

God Serena blocked the attack with his bare hand and dealt Luke a kick to the chest, sending him skidding backwards "So that's what passes for a Dragon Slayer trained by the actual thing then does it?"

"Hey I worked hard to get to the level I'm at right now."

"Not hard enough. I'm going to level with you, not long ago I met with your guild master during a meeting of the Magic Council."

"So then you know what happened, and why I'm here in the first place."

"Yeah. He told me about how you blame yourself for what happened, how you left to become stronger to protect them, and how you sought me out because of the type of magic that I use."

"And what else did he say exactly?"

"He told me that it sounded like you handled yourself about as well as one could up to this point, but at the same time he confirmed just how much more powerful you could and would have to become. Peaceful days like these won't be able to last forever, sooner or later dark guilds like the Balam Alliance are going to start to make their move and if you're not prepared then not only will you die, but just about everyone in your guild that depends on you. Plus there's _him _to take into consideration after all, and there's no telling when he's going to strike." his magic took on a green hue as it flared around his body "I hope you're ready for this one kid, because from here on out things are gonna get kicked up a notch."

"I wouldn't expect anything less. I'm ready God Serena, if I'm gonna protect the guild then I'm going to need to be stronger than I've ever been before. **Thunder Drive!"** and so as rain began pouring down from the skies above, Luke activated his Thunder Drive technique and surged forward.

God Serena dodged and weaved his way around every attack being thrown at him "Well I think it's about time for me to try some offense myself, so get ready. **Purgatory Dragon… BLAZING INFERNO!" **he promptly slammed a blast of fire directly into Luke's chest, sending him flying backwards and engulfing him in an explosion.

When the smoke cleared moments later, Luke pulled himself back to his feet, still alive and wounded but his fighting spirit wasn't diminished "Is that all you've got?"

"Looks like someone's got some moxy, I'll be sure to beat that out of you soon enough. But until then, DODGE!" and so he charged.

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Hours passed, and the rain was now pouring down from the skies above.

Luke was quickly sent crashing to the ground, but he wasted no time in pulling himself back to his feet and readying himself for another round "I'm nowhere near done… not by a long shot… I have to get stronger… so much stronger than I am right now… for the sake of protecting my friends… for the sake of protecting my family… for my father Kaminari… I can't let any of them down…"

God Serena studied Luke intently for a moment '_Undying fighting spirit, fiery determined look in his eyes, current capability of harnessing and controlling magic power… Yeah it's about what I expected.' _he shook his head in what looked like disapproval "I was expecting something along the lines of this to happen at some point, all you're doing is psyching yourself up way too much for your own good."

"What?"

"Telling yourself that you have to win isn't the same as actual training, it's not going to get anything done. Actions speak far louder than words, which means that you have to be willing to face the reality and put in the effort, and if you can't tap into the power you've got inside of you then all of the motivation in the world won't be enough for you to come out on top, let alone protect your guild and the people you care about, especially the brunette girl with the Card magic or the talking cat."

Luke's expression was one of horror '_Cana… Bolt… everyone…'_

"Sure there are times when having something you have to protect that can push you on an emotional level, but when your emotions dominate your reason and cloud your judgement they become more of a hindrance than a help. What you want is for your emotions to complement your strength, but as you are now they're just weighing it down, so now your strength will just be compensating for it. If you're too desperate to win and if love makes you afraid then you won't be able to assess the situation from a logical standpoint, you'll misjudge the powers and abilities of the foes you face and if that happens then you won't stand a chance!"

"So that's it… That's what I've been doing wrong… If I had understood that from the beginning then… then maybe Mira wouldn't have…" furious with his own lack of understanding and clarity, Luke let out a roar as he activated his Thunder Drive.

"There's no such thing as a fight that you can't lose or a fight that you can't win, if you fail to reach your goal then your friends are going to die. Your family is going to die. Your entire guild is going to die. But before all of that, if you can't reach your goal then YOU yourself are going to die, and that is a fact you have to accept and come to terms with as well. Only then will you be able to succeed where others have failed."

Luke said nothing, he just powered down his Thunder Drive.

"Looks to me like you understand exactly what I'm saying. I have faith that you'll be able to pull through, if I didn't then I wouldn't be wasting any time training you. I have faith in you to come through, your guild has faith in you, so have some faith in yourself. That's the only way you'll be able to pull through."

"God Serena… I won't let you down, _any _of you."

"Then prove it."

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Days continued to pass, and the training continued in earnest as the skies above thundered away and rain pounded down on the ground.

Luke blitzed across the battlefield after God Serena, his body crackling with electricity while at the same time being covered with burns and wounds all over, and his exhaustion was beginning to catch up to him, not that he would let it '_He's like a monster, I can barely stand and he barely has a scratch on him! Training with him is way more intense than what I expected, but at the same time it's exactly what I need to get strong enough to protect them.'_

"Well I think it's safe to say I've gotten about as much of a warm up from you as I'm actually going to get." God Serena removed the wheel of blades from his back and promptly threw it to the side "From here on out I'm taking off the gloves, now I want you to come at me with almost everything you've got. But don't activate _that _power just yet, I want you to restrain it until the moment is just right."

"Right, I'm hearing you loud and clear." Luke's body crackled with even greater amounts of electricity.

"You're already powerful by the standards of a normal wizard, that much I'm not going to deny, but the problem is that you have another glaring weakness, and unless you're able to overcome that weakness you won't last long against any opponent, and if you do fall then your guild won't be far behind you." God Serena flared his own magic power, his pupils dilating and turning white, and his irises turning dark blue "Do you have any idea what exactly that weakness is?"

"I have a feeling you're going to for me to figure it out either way."

"You're damn right I am, now come at me."

"As if you had to ask." and so the two of them charged at each other, resulting in an explosive collision, trading even blows with each other with neither of them gaining any apparent advantage over the other, at least not until Luke dealt God Serena a sharp kick to the face "And now for the follow up! **Lightning Dragon IRON FIST!" **he dealt God Serena a lightning enhanced fist to the gut, sending him skidding backwards.

God Serena recovered merely seconds later and blitzed behind Luke with a knee aimed directly at his skull.

"**Lightning Dragon TALON!" **Luke blocked the knee and aimed a lightning enhanced kick at his skull.

"**Cavern Dragon TERRA FISSURE!" **God Serena leapt over the attack and fired a blast of green colored magic energy at him.

Luke forced himself to roll out of the way, leaving the attack to create a massive fissure in the ground '_Dammit that was way too close, if that had hit me then I would've been a dead man for sure!'_

"I told you before I was taking the gloves off, it's not my fault you didn't bother to listen to me before." God Serena blitzed in front of Luke and slugged him in the gut, causing him to cough up blood, and then he caught him in a chokehold "And to think you were doing so well up to this point, don't tell me this is seriously all that you've got. You can't blame me when you end up blacking out."

"I… I can't afford… to give up… not yet…" Luke tried to force himself free, only for the grip to tighten, and for his vision to start growing blurry "What the… How the hell… How are you so powerful?"

"Use your head dumbass, I'm the top ranked Wizard Saint for a reason. Sure I have 8 Dragon Slayer lacrimas inside my body, but it doesn't mean anything if you don't know how to use them properly." God Serena tightened his grip, causing Luke to finally power down and pass out, but he quickly revived him with a quick blast of lightning to the chest, leaving him in a coughing fit as a result "Alright that's enough kid, it's over now. You're pretty tough by normal standards, you've got moxie and I don't think anyone else aside from the other Wizard Saints have lasted this long against me in a fight, training or not, but your biggest problem right now is a lack of the heart you need to call yourself a true warrior. If you have a chance to win then you have to be willing to close the deal, and this is something that you're gonna have to deal with before it gets out of hand. Power usually leads to one thing, arrogance and I would know. I'm trying to make sure you don't experience it first hand."

"I already did. If I hadn't been so careless back then, maybe Mira wouldn't have…"

"Don't bother getting lost in your guilt again, that won't do any of us any good. Everyone is born with the potential for power but at the same time there are those who get high on the power and enjoy it too much, instead of using their strength to win their arrogance left them to being defeated by someone stronger or smarter. How do you think I became the top ranked Wizard Saint in the first place?" he received a look "Not the point, right. The point is that if you left yourself succumb to the same feeling they did then you're gonna lose no matter how much power you may have."

"I see."

"You have to become a true warrior, regardless of who your opponent is you fight with everything you've got, otherwise your journey will have been meaningless."

"...Alright God Serena, I get what you're saying. I'm not going to let you down, not like I did with them. **Thunder Drive!" **Luke's Thunder Drive flared back into life, his magic power flaring around his body even higher than before.

"You know damn well that's not what I want to see from you kid! Show me the power that you have dwelling deep inside you, the power that you can tap into at will, something that can't be said for every other Dragon Slayer! I want you to show me the warrior that you're striving to be!"

"You wanna see what I can do when I'm at full power?! Well fine!" and so with a thunderous roar that drowned out even the thunder across the skies, Luke's golden magic power exploded in such a way that it blew away the storm clouds and reveal the bright blue sky. When the light subsided, Luke stood before him with his Dragon Force fully activated "So how about it now, do you like what you see so far?"

"That's perfect, now come at me with one final attack and we'll see just how well you're able to do with it."

"Fine by me." both of them readied one final attack.

"You ready?"

"I was born ready. **Dragon Slayer Secret Art: ROARING THUNDER!" **Luke let a ball of lightning crackle into life in his hand as he surged forward.

"**Purgatory Dragon BLAZING INFERNO!" **God Serena charged forward with a ball of fire condensed into his fist, the two attacks colling in an explosion that shook the landscape.

When the smoke cleared, Luke was left shakily standing, scorched and covered in blood all over his body, but his Dragon Force quickly faded and he fell to the ground as he lost consciousness.

God Serena on the other hand was left with only a few scratches, and he looked down at the unconscious form of Luke "Well what do you know, if I hadn't countered with my own Dragon Slayer magic then I might have been in trouble for a minute there. If you can fight like this and boost your magic power then I'd say even the likes of a Wizard Saint won't be able to take you down. But at the moment you didn't have what it takes to close the deal. This is the same thing that happened during that incident with the Take Over siblings, you lowered your guard and because of that the Satan Soul user acted without thinking, and that led to what you're doing right now. I'm not saying that was totally your fault, I'm pretty sure that's just a thing with all Dragon Slayers, but if you don't want your comrades to make sacrifices like that then don't give them any reason to. Remember this if nothing else, stay focused, drop your arrogance, keep your guard up until your enemy is defeated. Only then will you be able to come out on top, and with any luck you might be able to defeat _him _too. Someday."

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God Serena ran a hand through his hair and let out a sigh "Yeah, you were a real stubborn one back then."

"Stubborn for good reason." Luke pointed out "But seriously though I do have to thank you, if it wasn't for all of that time I spent training with you then I would never have been able to take down Jose the way I did."

"You did that on your own, unless…"

"I never used _that _ability, Dragon Force was more than enough."

"Just checking. Anyway don't bother with thanking me, you've still got a long way to go before you're good enough."

"I know that."

"I don't think you do. I believe that the power of Dragon Force is only a fraction of what a Dragon Slayer is truly capable of, we pushed through one wall and now it's up to you to break through the next. You can't tell me you're not curious, that you don't want to know just how strong you actually could become. Don't settle for being better when you could be the best of the best. You've already proven yourself capable of tangling with the likes of the Ten Wizard Saints, but that's not the end goal for you. Take your power and put it to good use, hone it and harness it as much as you possibly can."

"Oh trust me, I have no intention of slacking on my training now."

"Glad to hear it."

"Well in the meantime, I'd better get back and pick up the Master and then head back to the guild. Later." and with that, Luke disappeared in a flash.

'_He's got heart and the resolve to keep pushing himself to get stronger. Who knows, he might actually be able to beat him someday after all. But then again that's a pretty tall order, asking him to tangle with the likes of Acnologia.'_

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Nightfall came, and the moon was shining over the night sky.

Luke made his way back through the Magic Council building, and found Makarov sitting alone on a bench drinking the night away "Just brooding to yourself huh?"

"You could say that." Makarov downed another mug of booze "That makes 7."

"That's a rare sight, you usually don't go past 5. Something on your mind?"

"You could say that. Yajima suggested that it's time for me to retire, after all with a new guild hall under construction perhaps the guild could use a new master as well. The question is, who would make the best choice?"

"Well that's a tough call honestly. Laxus is insanely powerful but he needs to get his attitude sorted out before he gets control of the guild."

"I know that all too well."

"Mystogan is unwaveringly loyal to Fairy Tail, but he's a silent recluse and no one really knows anything about him so I doubt people would accept him as a leader."

"Of course there's Erza but she's still rather young."

"So if I had to pick one then I would have to go for Gildarts."

"Depending on wherever the hell he is right now, besides his wandering and the century quest keep him away for far too long."

"So who do you have in mind then?"

"Well to be honest, if I had to pick anyone… you."

"...Come again for Thunderclap? Look master as flattering as that is, there would never be a better master than you."

"I tend to disagree. What I look for in every member of Fairy Tail, that is a prime understanding of what Fairy Tail is meant to be, cherishing of life and everything it has to offer, and will put his life on the line time and time again. You show all of those qualities, and you will rise to the challenge whenever it may present itself-"

"Master… I can't." Luke stopped in his tracks "I can't be the master of the guild. Don't get me wrong, I will protect the guild and everyone in it with every ounce of strength in my body, but I can't do so from behind a desk or on top of a countertop or anything like that. Laxus for all of his serious issues, he understands that kind of responsibility better than I ever could. The harsh decisions that have to be made, they change a person. If it's all the same to you, I think I would rather be a good man than a great master."

"...Is this you speaking, or the man who trained you while you were away?"

"Yeah well when you speak it reminds me of my father, so I say that's fair. God Serena has nothing to do with this master, but during my time with him I saw a lot of things both good and bad. I know that I can do a much better job of protecting Fairy Tail out there rather than back in Magnolia."

"...The irony is quite painful."

"How so?"

"One child who wanted the position too much, and another child who outright refuses the position."

"The position means nothing, master or not my purpose is to protect my family and those I hold dear."

"Very well then, as a parent I suppose I'll just have to respect your decision. A child has to follow their own path, I cannot force you down one you are not meant for. All I can do is pray that you are satisfied with the decision you make, and wish you the best of luck as you go down the path of life."

"I'll try to live up to the example you've set for me."

"If that is what you want."

"Come on, let's go home." and with that, they began the trip back to Magnolia, unaware that the moment of peace they were enjoying was just the calm before the storm…

**A/N:**

**And thus we see into a little bit of insight to the younger generation of Fairy Tail, as well as a certain new character debuting much earlier than in canon. All things considered, this chapter was meant to be more of a breather chapter after how hectic things got with Phantom Lord, and before we start to get into the chaos within the Tower of Heaven.**

**The main intentions of this chapter was to give a little bit of development to the relationship I've built between Luke and Cana (at least how they actually became friends, along with some insight into how they feel about each other) and debut God Serena a hell of a lot sooner than in canon (along with showing the dynamic between him and Luke, as well as some insight into their training together).**

**In regards to the training scene between Luke and God Serena, I tried not to make it an absolute slaughter, but at the same time I tried to make it clear that he's nowhere near as strong as he is shown to be during the war with Alvarez, keeping in mind that in this timeline, that's about a full decade away.**


	12. Loke

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**OriginalNameByMe: **Duly noted.

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"_In a land far far away lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small and peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most people, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards and mages, and banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore, but there is a certain guild in a certain town that stands high above the rest of them, one from which countless legends have been born, a guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. This guild is known as Fairy Tail."_

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A few weeks had gone by since the war between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord, and aside from the construction of the new guild hall, things had mostly returned to normal.

Gray and Natsu were doing their usual routine, as in beating up a bunch of thugs as part of a job request "Well this is about as underwhelming as you can get. So who the hell did you guys steal from, old ladies and little kids or something?"

"Don't act like this is over already…" one of the thugs grumbled "You punks are gonna be sorry soon enough, Lord Devon is gonna make you pay…"

"I'm pretty sure you mean this guy right?" that was when Luke came into the room with their boss slung over his shoulder "So how are you guys doing on your end?"

"How do you think? We're kicking ass."

"And you're also lacking any clothes."

"FUCK!"

"Seriously man." Luke blitzed over and slammed one of the thugs into the ground "Like I told you before, I don't care if you don't wear a shirt as long as you at least wear pants.

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Soon enough, Luke and the others (Erza, Natsu, Gray, Lucy and the 2 cats) were making their way down the road back in the direction of Magnolia "Well it might not have been a real challenge, but after all of the hell with Phantom Lord I think it's safe to say a little bit of light work never hurt anyone."

"Oh come on!" Natsu let out a snarl "I wanna fight some more!"

"Yeah you would, but just put the dragon back in the cave and save your obvious anger management issues for the next job." Luke glanced back to see Juvia watching the group from afar '_I wonder how long that's gonna go on for? Oh well, I might as well talk to her and see if she wants to join Fairy Tail so that at least then she'll have a valid reason for watching Gray's every move.'_

"Hey Luke check out this gem I got, pretty cool isn't it?" Bolt held up a small diamond in his paws.

"Hate to break it to you little buddy, but stealing from thieves is still stealing."

"Two wrongs make a right."

"That's the exact opposite of what's true."

"Hey isn't that Loke stalking us from afar again?"

"And now you're just changing the subject." Luke glanced back "Oh wait, actually yeah I think that is Loke."

Sure enough, Loke was making his way over to them "Hey guys, what's up?"

"Nothing really, just the usual routine of beating up a bunch of thugs that are all bark and no bite."

"Same old same old, huh?" but then he saw Lucy and he almost immediately started losing his shit.

"I'm actually glad we ran into you." Lucy waved and shot him a smile "I never got a chance to thank you for-"

"Sorry but I'd better hit the road, so long!" and then he promptly ran away in a comical fashion, leaving the others dumbstruck and Lucy pretty much livid.

"What the hell is that guy's problem?!"

Luke let out a sigh "I don't know what sort of problem he has with you, but whatever it is you really freak him out because of it."

"Hey it's not my fault he's insane!"

"You're in Fairy Tail, I think you'll find pretty much everyone is at least a little bit insane one way or another."

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Loke sat in a field by himself not too far away staring at the flower he held in his hand, only for it to wither away almost instantly, and his face fell '_It must be almost time…'_

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Luke looked down at what was left of the enemy base "Well that's done, now we might as well just head back home and see how the new guild hall is coming along."

"I don't know about that." Lucy gave a shrug "I was actually thinking that since we finished a job early for once, what do you say we stop by a hot spring or a spa and take it easy for a day or two?"

"I'm okay with that. Any objections?" he received no reply "Sounds like a plan to me. _Plus maybe I can see what Gray's new stalker wants, or at least confirm that she won't be a threat to the guild at some point.'_

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"_Hosenka Village, the most popular resort in all of Magnolia. Famous for its spas, this flamboyant if somewhat dodgy tourist attraction was designed by a duke who was fascinated with the Orient and its architecture."_

Lucy sat in the hot springs, brooding over Loke and his behavioral patterns "I just don't get it, I mean why would Loke be so afraid of me?"

"Quite the nice moon tonight isn't it?" Erza pulled herself to her feet, only for the steam to reveal that she was still wearing her armor "The bath feels quite nice as well."

"Hold on a second, you're bathing in your armor?!"

"I always feel more relaxed when I have my armor on."

"Really, doesn't it feel kind of weird?"

"Now that you mention it, yes it actually does. I may need to reconsider me definition of the term relaxation."

"Yeah, I don't think taking it easy is your strong point."

"Perhaps." Erza promptly requipped out of her armor.

"Oh wow, you look just as awesome without your armor!"

"Is that so? Well then, perhaps I should walk around the guild like this."

"Uh…"

"That was just a joke for the record."

"Right…"

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"Hells to the yeah!" Natsu burst into their room carrying a crap load of pillows "I say we get this party started Fairy Tail style!"

"Oh for fuck's sake." Gray let out a sigh "Look I'm trying to sleep here, do the world a favor and take the party outside."

"Hey come on man, it's a sleepover so you know what that means. We've gotta bust out our Pillow Fu on each other's asses, or are you too scared?"

"Of you, in what world?"

"In the world of fuck you, that's what!"

"Well since any chance of me getting any sleep while I'm sharing a room with the two of you is out of the question…" Luke pulled himself back to his feet "I might as well let you know that when it comes to pillow fights, I'm a god."

"WHAT IS A GOD TO A NON BELIEVER!" Natsu promptly threw a pillow at Luke at full speed.

"Come on you guys would it kill you to-" Gray was promptly cut off by Luke ducking under the pillow, causing it to slam into Gray's face instead "And now you're officially in for it so called non believer!" he bolted to his feet, only to end up "Well what do you know, would you look at all of these free pillows."

As it turns out, those were courtesy of Juvia, who was hiding a short distance away from their room behind a rock '_Go get them my prince, I'm here to support you every step of the way.'_

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3 ½ minutes later…

Luke loomed over the downed form of Natsu with a pillow smashed over top of his face "So tell me, do you believe now?" he received a squeal of pain in response "That's what I thought. And then there were two."

"THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!" Gray hurled a pillow at him at full speed.

Luke cranked his neck to the side and dodged it with ease "Not too shabby, but there's one thing you might want to consider."

"And what's that?"

"I have a cat."

"What?"

"DIE NON BELIEVER!" Bolt slammed Gray with a pillow from behind, blowing him clear through the wall and then crashing to the ground.

"That's playing dirty…"

"It's a pillow fight you little bitch, there's no such thing as playing dirty."

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Lucy on the other hand, she was just making her way through the streets with Plue right by her side, and she nonchalantly stepped over the unconscious form of Gray "At this point I think it's better not to ask. Honestly, at this point I don't even think any of those guys are human. Well I mean Bolt and Happy don't count since they're cats. That can talk. And have wings. Well you're a dog aren't you Plue?" she was met with a simple wave from Plue.

"Actually I'm a human, just like you!" it looked like a voice was coming out of him.

"Oh yeah, that's- Wait a second… Holy crap, you're a human?! I didn't even know you could talk!"

"Yep, I can talk alright Loony."

"Loony?"

"I come from a faraway land in search of free rides in cabs, the blessed weed, and Doritos. But mostly the weed."

Lucy glanced ahead to see a yellow tail poking out of a nearby bush "Very funny, now stop screwing around and get your yellow butt over here Bolt."

"Oh damn you caught on that fast? I bet Happy that I could keep it up for at least a day or two since you're so gullible."

"Oh joy, I can't tell you how much it thrills me that you think so highly of me." her tone was laced with sarcasm.

"What the heck are you doing out here anyway?"

"Just taking in some of the cool night air, what about you?"

"Waiting until World War Pillow Fight is over."

"The guys are having a pillow fight?"

"Natsu didn't last 10 seconds, but Luke and Gray are going at it pretty hot and heavy."

"You might want to rephrase that, it kind of sounds like-"

"I know what I said."

"...Well okay then."

"Yo yo yo, what up girl?" this was when two guys got her attention, both looking incredibly douche-like "That outfit looks so kickass on you, are you a tourist? We came here on vacation from Oshibana yo, I say the three of us have a funky good time yo!"

"You guys just can't be for real, anyway sorry but I'm just hanging out with some friends of mine tonight."

"Aw now don't play us like that yo!"

"I'm just gonna go."

"By friends you mean the douchey little cat and the snowman dude? Yo I've gotta admit, your friends are pretty funky. They can tag along with us yo." so they grabbed Lucy "There's no need to be shy."

"You guys are kind of pushy aren't you, come on Bolt do something!"

Bolt just looked up at her, suppressing a huge shit eating grin "Meow?"

"What the hell do you mean meow?!"

"She thinks here kitty can talk." the douchey looking guys both let out a chuckle "Isn't that so hot?"

"You've got it all wrong, he's just trolling you to screw with me!"

"Come and party with us girl, it's about to get funky yo!"

"Look guys I already told you I'm busy, so knock it off!" and that was when Lucy noticed that something was horribly wrong '_What the- What's going on? I can't move!'_

"Don't worry baby, we're gonna have a great time. It's gonna be a funky party yo."

'_These guys are wizards? Oh man, this is bad!'_

"You ready yo?"

"Lucy get down!" that was when Loke suddenly burst onto the scene and kicked one of the guys out in a single move.

"Woah, that is whack you!"

"Then how's this?" Loke slugged the other guy across the face, sending him tumbling backwards in a heap.

Lucy opened her eyes and locked gazes with him "Loke…"

"Hey, you're not hurt are you?" he suddenly hid behind a tree a few feet away, his air of confidence having vanished "I'm really sorry."

"For what?"

"Well you see these two guys are renegade wizards, they've been targeting female tourists they catch walking alone. I was actually looking to collect the bounty on them, so you actually helped me out."

"Oh. Huh."

"Yeah, anyway I'd better turn them in before they decide to wake up and cause any more problems. I'll see you later." he promptly started dragging them away.

"Hey hold on a second Loke."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for rescuing me from those guys, and for getting my Gate keys back to me after the whole thing with Phantom Lord."

"Just forget it, it's nothing really."

"Hey how about this Loke, how about you and I go out together."

"...Huh?"

"Yeah."

Bolt promptly let out a wolf whistle "Well hot damn, the blonde likes to get things hot and steamy."

"I didn't mean it like that."

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"_The world renowned restaurant Super Express, a popular spot in Hosenka, offering its patrons a culinary adventure. While the forehead of its silent chef is certainly captivating, its wide selection of exquisite dishes is the true draw for locals and tourists alike."_

Lucy glanced over to where Loke was sitting at the other end of the bar "You know you don't have to sit so far away like that."

"Uh yeah, sorry." Loke nervously sat down next to her.

"You know I've been meaning to ask you this for awhile, is it true that you have a bad history with Celestial Wizards?" she received no reply "Look if you don't want to talk to me about it then I suppose I should respect that, but I don't think it's fair for you to judge me just because I am one."

"Yeah, you're right about that. I'm sorry, I honestly wasn't trying to hurt your feelings or anything like that. I'm not good for you, so it's best for you to just forget about me."

"Okay, so why exactly are you giving me some cheesy breakup line?"

"That came out funny didn't it?"

"Oh for the love of-"

"You know I didn't mean it like that."

"Wait, you weren't serious were you?"

"No, I was just thinking about something that happened a while back."

"You think you can tell me about it?" Lucy glanced over to see the chef holding up what looked like a sad music album "Thanks but no thanks." she glanced back towards Loke and promptly let out a sigh "Well whatever, I figured it couldn't hurt to ask. Thanks again for saving me from those guys back there, I think I can finally see why you're so popular with the ladies. This was actually nice, things were starting to get a little bit awkward, so it felt good to be able to just sit down and talk to you like that. Anyway I'd better get going, see ya." she started walking away, only to be stopped by Loke grabbing her by the hand "Uh…"

"Wait." Loke suddenly stood and then pulled Lucy into a tight hug.

"Um, yeah?"

"Lucy…"

"What is it?"

"The truth is that I don't have long to live."

"What…? You… What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

Loke paused, then let out a chuckle that actually sounded somewhat bitter as he forced a clearly fake smile "I sure fooled you with that one, but it does make for a pretty good pickup line with the ladies doesn't it? It pulls at the heartstrings every single time, you should've seen the look on your face." he was met with a stunned look of disbelief, followed by an angry slap across the face that knocked his shades clean off, the slap receiving a nod of approval from the chef as a result.

"You jerk, I can't believe I bought into that! Bolt, Plue, we're leaving!" she promptly grabbed both of them by the tail and stormed out of the building.

Unfazed by this, Loke just reached down and picked up his shades '_What the heck am I even doing? This is just ridiculous. I can't let my feelings get the best of me, and I can't drag Lucy into something like this. It's too late for me, and I won't put her through that.'_

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The next day came, and things at the sight of the guild hall were, well they were about the same as normal.

Cana glanced over to see Natsu and Gray snarling at each other like a bunch of pissed off animals, a usual routine for them "So what got those two so pissed off this time?"

"Last night we ended up in what Bolt is referring to as World War Pillow and it got way out of hand within the first 10 minutes." Luke told her flatly.

"Meaning that both of them got curb stomped?"

"Oh big time, but Natsu didn't even last 10 seconds and he's kind of in denial about it. Case and point."

Gray promptly rounded on Natsu "What the actual fuck were you getting so worked up about you idiot?!"

"Because I give everything 100% ass clown!" Natsu barked "Just like when I 100% knocked your ass out last night!"

"Are you just delusional or are you lying on purpose!"

"You're lying because you're the one who lost!"

Unknown to them, Juvia was watching them, or more accurately Gray, from afar with hearts in her eyes '_My beloved prince is always the winner in my heart, nothing is ever going to change that.'_

"LUCY! I WON THE FIGHT SO TELL HIM!" Natsu and Gray promptly rounded on Lucy in hopes of a tiebreaker.

Lucy just turned from her place at the bar and shot both of them a dark glare "Both of you put a sock in it."

"...We're sorry ma'am, we promise we'll be quiet now." and then they were promptly sent on their way.

Lucy then went back to brooding to herself.

Luke let out a low whistle "Okay pulling an Erza by scaring Natsu and Gray into crapping themselves, not to mention brooding to yourself. What happened?"

"Nothing I want to talk about."

"But you're going to end up talking about it anyway, that's how it works when you've got friends who won't butt out when you want them to."

"...Dammit." Lucy let out a sigh "Look I'm really sorry, I've just got a lot on my mind right now is all."

"You wanna talk about it now or later?"

"Thanks but I think I'm going to pass, I'm not really in the mood to talk."

What went unnoticed was that Loke was watching her sadly from afar in a hiding spot '_This is my fault, all of it.' _he glanced down and noticed his hand was fading away '_My time is almost up now, if I had to guess then I'd say before tomorrow morning.'_

That was when Bickslow showed up at the scene looking like he went through some kind of natural disaster "Hey guys, what's up?"

"What the heck happened to you?" asked Lucy.

"You can thank Loke's girlfriends for this, they've been looking all over for the guy because over the past few nights he broke up with all of them, and now they're trying to find him and claw out any details they can get on the guy, even if it means they have to go through other members of the guild to get them. You might wanna stay out of sight for the time being."

"Good to know-"

"Is this the one?!" this was when the previously mentioned army of ex-girlfriends showed up looking mad as hell, and their angry gazes were locked onto Lucy "So this is the girl that was good enough for our Loke?! She thinks she's such hot stuff, she dresses like some random little slut! Don't tell me Loke's gonna marry her!"

"Oh heck no to the heck no, I'm out!" and so Lucy promptly ran, with the angry army of ex girlfriends all right on her tail.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"_The one and only public bathhouse of Magnolia. In addition to its ability to relieve fatigue from its users, it also restores the magic energy of all who bathe here.'_

"Bathhouses are so manly!" Elfman made his way out of the Men's side.

Lucy on the other hand, she made her way out of the Women's side "I like my bath at home but this place takes the cake, nothing beats soaking in a big tub." she glanced over and her eyes widened slightly "Loke?"

"Hey." Loke gave a small smile and handed her a small bottle "Try this, this kind of stuff really hits the spot after a bath."

"Oh, some flavored milk? Thank you, that does sound nice."

"Yeah, I thought I might have one with you if you don't mind."

"Just so you know, I had a pretty rough day today thanks to you and your stupid possibly rapid fan club."

"Let's just put that one behind us alright? Here's to you and your beautiful eyes, to which I say cheers." they both did a toast and downed the stuff.

"Good stuff isn't it?"

"Yeah no kidding."

"And the sky sure is pretty tonight."

"Yeah."

"Hey cool check it out, there's a shooting star up there. You know it sounds kind of silly now that I think about it, but I've always wondered where those fallen stars end up."

"I kind of feel sorry for them. Just think, once they fall from the sky they can never return to Heaven. Doesn't that seem sad?"

"Loke… Wait a second, that's another one of your sappy pickup lines isn't it? I can't believe that you actually almost fooled me like that twice."

"You saw right through me, didn't you?"

"I mean come on, can't you go like 5 minutes without trying to pick up a girl?"

"You know, I know I can be a real pain but I really am glad we got to talk again. Goodbye, take care." and without so much as another word, Loke took his leave and disappeared into the dark of night.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lucy later sat in her apartment, contemplating the mystery behind Loke "I just wish I knew what his deal was, maybe… Yeah, he should be able to tell me." she prepared to pull out a Celestial key, when…

"You don't need a key when you've got someone who can tell you what you need to know right here."

Lucy let out a shriek of terror and whipped around to find Bickslow sitting in her window with his tongue sticking out like always "What the hell?!"

"Calm down, it's just me."

"Yeah I know, I'm just not used to freaky looking guys climbing in through my window while my back is turned. No offense."

"I've been called worse. Anyway for reasons I'm not gonna explain yet I myself have been keeping tabs on Loke for the past few days because of how he's been acting, and because I know things about him that nobody else in the guild does."

"So you know what's going on with him, like whichever Celestial Wizard he had a thing with in the past?"

"I can tell you who he had some history with, but the how of it is his story to tell and not mine, so no luck on that."

"Fine, would you just tell me the stuff you can?"

"About 3 years back, Loke had a connection with the Celestial Wizard named Karen Lilica."

"Wait a second, you mean _the _Karen Lilica? I remember her, she was a Celestial Wizard from the Blue Pegasus guild. She was super famous a few years back, I actually had the issue from when she had been profiled in Sorcerer Weekly, but then she got killed on a job. They said that her master told her not to take it but then she did anyway. So what about Loke then, what kind of relationship did he and Karen have in the first place?"

"You're gonna want to hear that from him personally, coming from me would just make it sound totally psychotic."

"That sounds about right. Well I could go ahead and call on Grandpa Crux to do a search for me, but knowing him he probably wouldn't be able to tell me more than that anyway." but then she froze at her sudden realization "Hold on a second…"

"What is it?"

"Loke said something about a Fallen Star, but then… No he couldn't be."

"I've got a pretty good idea of exactly what you're thinking of right now, and if I'm right then it means you're right too, which leads me into my other reason for coming here. Apparently about an hour ago Loke quit the guild and ran off to god knows where."

"Wait what?! Did he say why?"

"No one else has a clue, so now everyone else is out looking for him all over the city. All they know is that he's been acting weird lately so this caught them way off guard."

"So then why do you…?"

"Oh my Human Possession magic let me figure that out, but enough of that. If you wanna help him before it's too late then follow me, I know where he's going."

"...How much time have we got before it's too late to help him?"

"Not much, so we've gotta move at my levels of speed." so Bickslow hoisted Lucy over his shoulder.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Loke made his way to a small cliffside outside of the city limits that was towered over by a massive waterfall, but in front of him sat a simple gravesite '_Karen Lilica, it sleeps a Celestial Wizard of Blue Pegasus. Yeah, because of my fuck up.'_

"So this is where you went."

Loke glanced back to see Lucy and Bickslow appear behind him "Lucy. And Bickslow? Okay, I didn't see that coming."

"The whole guild is out looking for you."

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"That's Karen's grave isn't it?"

"Yes."

"She was a great Celestial Wizard, and she had a contract with you didn't she? Loke the Celestial Spirit. No wait, that's not your real name is it? Your name is Leo, Leo the Lion of the 12 Zodiac spirits."

"Well… I guess there's no denying it, especially if you had Bickslow confirm it."

"Plus keep in mind that I'm a Celestial Wizard too, and I happen to have contracts with a lot of spirits. Even if Bickslow here hadn't indirectly blurted it out I probably would've been able to figure it out myself without too much difficulty. Still though, you should've come and talked to me about this. Normally whenever the owner of a Gate Key dies the contract between the spirit and the wizard is terminated, and the spirit is then formed back into their own world until the key falls into new hands and a new contract is made. Your contract with Karen should've ended on the day that she died, I don't understand why you're still here. I've never heard of something like that before, I mean that's just not the way that it's supposed to work right? I know your kind can't survive in the human world for long, just like humans shouldn't be able to survive in your world, it will slowly sap away at your life force until finally there's nothing left for it to drain away."

"Yeah that's right, and it's been three years now."

"Wait, three years?! I didn't even think one was possible!"

"Pretty amazing isn't it, but I don't have the strength to keep it up anymore."

"Hold on, there has to be some way that I can save you! Why can't I just open a gate for you to pass through, just tell me why you can't go back to the Spirit World."

"You don't need to save me."

"What the heck are you talking about, if you don't get some help soon then you're as good as dead!"

"Look, even if I wanted to there's no way that I would be able to go back."

"But why?"

"I broke a fundamental law that applies to both wizards and their spirits, and as a result I was banished from the Celestial World for eternity."

"Loke… just what did you do?"

"I can't deny my crime, nor do I intend to deny it, so I have no choice but to face the punishment that awaits me. I'm a traitor to my own kind, I was contracted to Karen. But she died, and she died because I'm the one who killed her three years ago." that revelation shook Lucy to her very core.

"What…?"

"I'll just… you know, leave you guys to it and I'll let everyone back at the guild know that we tracked him down." despite receiving no reply, Bickslow promptly bolted back towards the guild hall '_Well at least someone tracked him down, and lucky him it's someone who's basically a gigantic "Fuck You" to tradition and junk like that anyway.'_

"I… I can't believe it. You had a contract, and you killed her?"

Loke nodded "I did, and spirits who kill the wizards they're contracted with are forever banished from the Celestial world, so I'm just going to disappear right here in front of her grave."

"Loke…"

"It was about three years ago, Karen was a wizard working for Blue Pegasus and I was contracted to her, along with another Zodiac spirit, Aries the Ram. What sickened me about that was that Karen just used Aries like a pimp uses a whore, using her to entertain some of her pathetic lovestruck fanboys. She saw spirits as nothing but tools, like we don't have minds, hearts or feelings of our own. What made it even worse was that when Karen was in a really bad mood, she would beat Aries just to let her anger out. But then she tried to force Aries to stay in the human world for an entire week just to torture her, and that was the last straw for me. I tried my best to stop her, but I couldn't do much because Aries and I were still bound to her by a contract, so I did the one thing that I could. I demanded that Karen release me and Aries from our contracts with her, but she refused, and since she wouldn't be able to summon another spirit while I was in the human world, combined with the fact that I was able to use my own magic to come to the human world, I decided to stay for as long as she refused to terminate our contracts with her. She spent days trying to goad me into going back, begging me and even lying to my face about treating Aries better, and when that one didn't work she beat me and kicked me out of pure spite. About three months passed before I finally decided to forgive Karen, and I was planning to threaten to leave again if she kept abusing Aries. But then Master Bob came to see me and dropped the bomb shell that sealed my fate. Karen defied Bob's orders and took a job request without his permission, she gambled on the fact that a Celestial Wizard could summon more than one spirit at a time even though the process requires the wizard to expend massive amounts of magic energy. I guess she thought she could handle it, but in the end her body just wasn't able to take the strain. It was my fault, and I've lived with that guilt ever since that day three years ago. When someone dies it means they're gone forever, I wish that I could bring her back but it's just not possible. The only way I could make things right is if I were to die as atonement." but then his legs suddenly gave out and he began fading away.

"Oh no, Loke!"

"I guess… I guess this is it for me… It's my time…"

"What the hell do you mean it's your time?!"

"For me to disappear… forever…"

"But you can't just give up like this!"

'_Karen… _Ever since that day, I've been banned from the Celestial World…"

"Loke, your hands…"

"When I caused Karen to die… I broke a fundamental Celestial Law… and now I have to pay the price… for my actions… There isn't a day that goes by… when I don't think about her… or about what I did to her… I try to stay distracted… so that it wouldn't constantly be on my mind… but it's like she's always haunting me… I've been waiting for this… for my magic energy to finally run out… and now it's about to happen… right in front of Karen's grave… and then I'll be free… free of the guilt that's been burdening me for so long… But before I go… I do want to thank you… You were the one… who restored my faith… in Celestial Wizards…"

"Wait! I can save you Loke, you can't just give up yet!"

"Please tell everyone in Fairy Tail… that I said goodbye…"

"But it's just not fair!"

"Lucy…"

"I won't let you die! All you have to do is go back to the Celestial World and then your life force will be restored right? There has to be a way that I can send you back!"

"I'm afraid that's impossible… I broke the law… and now I'm being punished…"

"Even so, this just isn't right! You didn't kill Karen, it was just an accident! It just wasn't your fault!" she threw her arms around him.

"But Lucy… I…"

"Open Gate of the Lion, take Leo back to the Celestial World! Please! OPEN!" and then she finally broke down sobbing "Please…"

"Calm down Lucy… It won't work, it's okay…"

"It's not okay, I can't just sit here while my friend disappears right before my eyes and I know I can help him!" the two of them were suddenly engulfed in a pillar of golden light "**OPEN GATE OF THE LION!"**

"Just stop it Lucy, you're gonna use up all of your magic energy like this!"

"I DON'T CARE LOKE, I'M GOING TO DO WHATEVER IT TAKES IN ORDER TO SAVE YOU! I'LL OPEN YOUR GATE! I WON'T GIVE UP, I PROMISE YOU I'LL GET YOU TO THE CELESTIAL WORLD!"

"It's too dangerous!"

"**OPEN, GATE OF THE LION! OPEN!"**

"It's not going to open for you Lucy, as far as they're concerned I'm responsible for what happened to Karen! They're not going to let me go back! Lucy just cut it out, you're starting to assimilate with me! If you don't stop this then you're going to disappear too!"

"I'm not going to stop until the Gate is open, I won't let you die! What's the point of having magic power if you can't use it to save the people you care about when they need you the most?!"

"Please don't do this, please don't make me live with the guilt of killing you too!"

"You didn't kill Karen, whoever decided they were responsible needs to know that their decision was wrong!" but then the golden light suddenly vanished and the two of them stopped fading away as a vortex opened up over the waterfall "Holy crap, what the heck is going on here?!"

"No, that's impossible… It's him… it's the Celestial Spirit King. What in the hell is he doing here of all places?"

"You mean he's the king, like the ruler of the Celestial World?"

"Yeah, it's him."

Sure enough, before them appeared the Celestial Spirit king in all of his glory "**Hello Leo, my old friend. As you know all too well, both wizards and spirits must obey Celestial Law, and taking the life of a keyholder is forbidden under any circumstances. Though not by your hand, you are still responsible for the death of your keyholder Leo the Lion, and as such you have lost the trust of many of the others of our kind, and as such, though it brings me great pain, you had to be banished from the Celestial World for eternity."**

"Now hold on a second!" Lucy protested "That doesn't seem fair, that sounds like a total load of crap!"

"**Old friend, human girl, I have made my judgement, and despite the pain such a decision causes me I cannot take it back. Leo had broken a Celestial Law."**

Loke looked on in disbelief '_You've gotta be kidding me, did he just show up because Lucy just blurted out something about him being wrong? That's crazy, why would he care about what one human thinks?'_

However, Lucy wasn't done trying to defend Loke "You call Loke a friend but he's been suffering in the human world for three long years, he didn't kill Karen but he did stand up to her because somebody had to protect Aries!"

"**As I stated before, I take no joy in this and I do find it heartbreaking to see my old friend in such a fragile condition."**

"What the hell is wrong with you, an old friend is still a friend isn't he?! Well there's one in front of you right now asking for a second chance, so do all of us a favor and open your eyes already Stache Face!"

"**...Stache Face?"**

"The only reason Karen died was because she took on a job she couldn't handle despite being told not to, he had nothing to do with it! You have to change your verdict, because he's totally innocent!"

"Just drop it already!" Loke protested "It doesn't matter if the verdict is changed, the other spirits won't trust me! I'm not looking for any forgiveness, I want to disappear and finally be free from this guilt!"

"I WON'T LET YOU!" Lucy was suddenly bathed in another golden light "YOU JUST UP AND DISAPPEARING ISN'T GOING TO BRING KAREN BACK TO LIFE! ALL IT'S GOING TO DO IS CREATE MORE SADNESS! YOU DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG, BECAUSE IT CAN'T BE A CRIME TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE THAT YOU CARE ABOUT!" and then she summoned every spirit that she had a contract with, from Taurus the Bull to Horologium the Clock and all of the others.

'_Unbelievable, she summoned all of her spirits at once! Not even Karen was able to do something like that!'_

"What about all of your friends, are you just going to leave them?! If you were to die then you would leave me and Aries, along with everyone else from Fairy Tail behind! Think about all of us, and think about how miserable we would be without you!" but then all of her Celestial Spirits disappeared, as did the golden light, and she finally collapsed to the ground.

"Lucy!"

"All of my friends who came forward just now… They feel the exact same way that I do right now…" Lucy shot a glare back at the Celestial Spirit King "If you're a Celestial Spirit too then you can sympathize with what Loke and Aries went through!"

"Would you just stop it, you're gonna end up like Karen if you keep this up! Don't risk your life to save mine!"

"Not an option, you're a member of Fairy Tail so you should know that all too well!"

"**...Perhaps you do bring up some valid points. Hearing you speak so highly of my old friend does bring a new perspective on these events, that intention does matter almost as much as the law, if not moreso. Leo had no choice in committing his crime, or else his brethren Aries would be forced to suffer at the hands of an abusive master, and the human girl is willing to risk her life to save Leo, one that she considers to be a friend as well. While I am moved by how commendable your bond of loyalty to each other is, it is not enough of a reason. However, taking the circumstances into consideration, I suppose that I can make an exception in this case, but this is once and only once. Leo the Lion of the 12 Zodiac spirits, you are hereby granted return passage to the Celestial World."**

Now in high spirits thanks to the good news, Lucy gave the Celestial Spirit King a wink and a thumbs up "Alright you're awesome, thanks a ton Stache Face!"

"**Just please, never call me that again. You are exonerated now, be grateful to the guidance of the stars." **the king started fading away.

However, Loke still wasn't satisfied "I have to make it up to her… Please sir, I just have to do this."

"**Very well then, if you insist on atoning for your actions in the past then I hereby order you to live your life in service of your friend, the human girl who was willing to risk her life in order to save yours. You are fortunate to have found such a loyal friend. I suggest that you protect her with your life, just as she fought to save yours." **and with that, the Celestial Spirit King faded away as time started anew.

"I…"

"You heard the guy." Lucy shot him a grin.

Loke looked at the grave and saw what looked like a vision of Karen smiling at him and fading away before his very eyes, and he wiped away his tears and smiled "Hey Lucy."

"Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say thank you, and tell Bickslow I said so to him too." and then he disappeared as well.

Lucy looked down and noticed a gold Zodiac key lying in her hand "Sure thing, and I'll be sure to let everyone back at the guild know that you're okay."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It didn't take long for the news about Loke to spread to everyone else in the guild, and by that I mean everyone found out by the next morning.

Luke raised a surprised eyebrow, with pretty much everyone else being jaw dropped "So you're actually a Celestial Spirit?"

Loke gave a shrug "Yeah that's about the sum of it, sorry I never told you before."

"Hey don't worry about that, I completely understand. You know looking back it was actually kind of obvious, I mean now that I think about it you smell different compared to everyone else in the guild."

"Yeah I guess so."

"Still though I'm surprised that I never caught onto you, but then again you don't really stand out in comparison to the rest of the Celestial Spirits like Taurus or Aquarius or Cancer."

"Well to be fair a good number of them do like animals, but to be fair Virgo has a human form too so you can't just assume that we're all animals."

"Yeah you say that, but I saw her before she became one of Lucy's spirits and she was a literal gorilla." Cana pointed out.

"That's just an ability she has, and truth be told no one actually knows what she looks like when she's not contracted with anybody. Truth be told I'm actually a lion spirit."

"You mean as in a big cat, that kind of lion?" asked Bolt.

"Yep, that's exactly what a lion is."

"You just lied right to my face. I respect that."

"Thanks."

"So are you actually okay though?" asked Luke "I mean shouldn't you be resting back in the Celestial World and recovering your power?"

"Yeah but I'm doing a lot better than I was before, I just wanted to come and say hi. Well that and I couldn't wait to see Lucy again."

"You try carrying her away like a crazed stalker or something and I'm sending you back to the Celestial World in a bodybag."

"Sorry did you say something?" Loke was already walking away carrying the squirming and protesting form of Lucy in his arms, only to be grabbed by the hood of his jacket and yanked back a few yards "Ow, okay maybe I deserved that."

"What. The fuck. Did I just say?"

"I don't know, I wasn't listening to you." he set Lucy back down and wrapped an arm around her waist "I was a little bit preoccupied with the princess right here."

"Alright you know what, I think you'd better go back now." Lucy held up his key "You need to be careful though, I mean you're back up to full strength just yet."

"Yeah I figured as much, but before I go I got you something." he held out to them what looked like tickets "Here you go."

"What are those?"

"These are tickets to some awesome beach resort, you did so much for me it's the least I could do for you."

"The beach?! Holy crap a vacation, that sounds amazing!"

"I already gave Natsu, Gray and Erza their tickets and I hope you guys have a good time down there."

"Come on you three, chop chop! We don't have time for lollygagging!" this was when Erza came along dressed for a vacation, with Natsu propped up on the massive cart of luggage she was carrying with her (out of commission due to motion sickness) and Gray just following behind her without a shirt on "Now hurry up or I'm leaving the three of you behind."

"You don't need that much stuff!"

Luke on the other hand glanced back at Loke "So are you okay now, I mean with what happened to you in the past?"

Loke nodded "Yeah I think I am, I mean I'm always gonna have to live with what happened in the past, but now thanks to Lucy I have the courage to start moving forward again."

"I know how that feels, I used to be pretty much the same hot mess as you were after what happened to Mira. But I knew that getting rid of myself wouldn't fix anything, and I knew I couldn't take back what happened, so now I'm doing what I can to make sure that what happened to her never happens again. Now I'm not just another member of Fairy Tail, I'm on a different path. The path of the Draconic Guardian of the Fairies, but then again that title sounds pretty stupid. To put it in simple terms, I'm a dragon guarding the Fairies."

"And thanks to Lucy I'm not just another member of Fairy Tail anymore either, I'm her Celestial Spirit. Now that she's my wizard I promise to always protect her, and I'll be there for her whenever she needs me, her valiant knight."

"But she's not just your wizard, she's one of your friends too."

"Yeah, I know that. I can't wait for when I get to start working with her. All of you be sure to take care." and with that, Loke disappeared in a flash.

"We will, and I'll make sure of that."

That was when Erza came up to him "Are you packed yet? The rest of us are about ready to leave."

"You know I'm just doing some thinking. I'm in the same situation that Loke was in, so I know exactly how he feels and the kind of guilt that those things can cause. The guilt over those kinds of things never goes away, at least not completely, because I took that guilt and turned it into resolve. And besides, I know that I have people that I care about and care about me here at Fairy Tail. All things considered we're all pretty lucky, lucky to be part of a family as awesome as this one."

Erza gave him a small smile "I couldn't have said it better myself. Now let's get going, after everything that's happened I think it's safe to say we could use a vacation."

"Soaking up the sun, doing some swimming in the ocean… one other thing I have no intention of mentioning in front of you guys. _Cana in a bikini, both top and bottom.'_

"I think I know what that is, now let's go and have some nice and relaxing fun for a nice change of pace."

"Sounds good to me."

Things seemed so calm and peaceful for once for the lot of them, and Luke couldn't help but notice how happy Erza looked in particular.

But little did any of them know that what was about to come next would quickly wipe the smile off her face…

**A/N:**

**And thus we learn the truth about Loke, or Leo the Lion as he is truly know, as well as giving Bickslow of the Thunder Legion a little bit of spotlight, and a small bit of foreshadowing of the Tower of Heaven arc next to come. **

**I don't think many people will disagree when I say that out of everyone in the Thunder Legion, Bickslow is the most underutilized, especially considering he apparently knew about Loke being a Celestial Spirit before anyone else in the guild did, which is why I decided to give him some screentime in this chapter by having him help Lucy track down Loke, as well as catch her up to speed on some of Loke's past.**


	13. Tower of Heaven I

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**Antianti12: **I didn't intend for it to be cringy, it was just meant to be an effective attention grabber, to get readers interested in my story.

**Ragnas Bredvolts: **Yeah, like I said Bickslow is by far the most underutilized member of the Thunder Legion, and since they're still here unlike Laxus, which is for reasons I'll be including in the arc after the Tower of Heaven. Yeah, Lucy did that in the actual episode so I didn't see any reason to cut it out. As for World War Pillow, there's nothing wrong with even the most serious of characters engaging in a little bit of mindless fun once in awhile. As for God Serena, like I said it's almost a full decade before his debut in canon so I decided to make the most of what I could with what I feel like he could've been back then, especially if he and Luke had a sort of master/student relationship going on. And for the record, he won't be as insane as he was in the anime, at least not to _that _extent. Also, I do intend to expand on the different types of Dragon Slayer magic he uses as much as I can. He'll be getting on hell of a showdown with Luke before he goes down, trust me. That's all I have to say for now, and I hope you have a nice day as well my friend.

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"_In a land far far away lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small and peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most people, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards and mages, and banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore, but there is a certain guild in a certain town that stands high above the rest of them, one from which countless legends have been born, a guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. This guild is known as Fairy Tail."_

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"_Akane Resort, the most popular vacation spot in all of the Fiore kingdom, where its citizens are able to relax and enjoy themselves in a number of ways. Both the amusement park and the hotel adjoined with it are rated as first class. One visit to its white sand beach will make you want to come back again and again. All of this is overlooking the ocean water as it sparks for as far as the eye can see. Using the tickets given to them by Loke previously, Luke, Cana and the others take some time off to enjoy some well deserved fun in the sun."_

"FORE!" Luke (wearing a black t shirt and a pair of blue swim trunks) promptly spiked a volleyball full force, slamming it directly into Gray's gut and sending him flying "And that's how a Dragon Slayer does it, take notes."

"How about this for taking notes!" Cana (wearing a revealing two piece bikini, much to Luke's hidden delight) spiked the ball at him and it slammed right into his face, but then it popped upon contact.

"I think you need to do a better job of listening."

"Oh come on, being tough is one thing but how the heck does that make sense?"

"Probably the same way that girls try to kick certain guys in the crotch and they end up hurting themselves instead." that was a Bleach reference for those who weren't picking up on it.

"I hate that."

"Well I don't, women will never know the kind of pain that we feel down there whenever they aim for the forbidden zone." Bolt pointed out.

"Give me back my bathing suit you jackass!" Gray barked from a short distance away, having to use Bolt to cover his… aforementioned forbidden zone "You think I want to use one of the cats to cover my stuff?!"

What went mostly unnoticed was that Juvia was watching them, or Gray in particular, from afar with hearts in her eyes '_My beloved Gray, he's such a hunk!'_

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Sunset came, and the day was winding down to a conclusion.

Erza was just sitting in a lounge chair on the balcony of her room, taking in the rays of the setting sun with her eyes closed and a content smile on her face '_I really did have a great time today… It was wonderful…' _she didn't even realize it when she dozed off.

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Unfortunately, her dreams were nowhere near as pleasant as the mood she was in while she was awake.

Now I won't say what she dreamt about, just that it was forcing her to relive memories that she had long since tried to suppress.

But what she didn't know was that she was about to get, well in simple terms, a very painful blast from the past.

"_Don't you see Erza? There is no such thing as freedom in this world."_

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Erza's eyes snapped open and she bolted upright, panting heavily but she was able to calm herself down after a moment '_It was a dream, just a dream. I must have fallen asleep without even realizing it.' _she made her way back into her room and stopped in front of a mirror, and then she promptly requipped back into her armor '_It's strange but I always feel more at ease wearing armor, although as a choice of wardrobe I suppose it really isn't the most feminine of outfits.'_

That was when a knock sounded from her door as Luke poked his head in, wearing what looked like a red collared shirt and a pair of black pants "Hey Erza, you decent?"

"I'm dressed if that's what you're asking."

"Just making sure. Anyway why don't you get out of the room and come have some fun with the rest of us, Cana and the others are downstairs so do you want to go find them and play some games, and maybe stop Cana from getting too drunk?"

"Oh yes that's right, there's a casino in this hotel isn't there? Well in that case…" and so in a flash she requipped out of her armor and into a new outfit, consisting of a stunning purple dress covered in red roses, a pair of white gloves that went up to her elbows, and her hair was tied back in a bun "So how do I look?"

"A little bit on the glitzy side like you're overcompensating on some level, so yeah I'd say that's perfect for going to a casino. You know this kind of stuff feels pretty good, sure people like us can train until our bones shatter and wither away into dust for the sake of protecting the people we care about most, but there's nothing wrong with enjoying ourselves once in awhile now is there?"

"No, no I suppose there isn't."

"You just head down there and start enjoying yourself, I just have one thing I have to check on and then I'll join you." and then he disappeared in a flash, leaving Erza rather perplexed.

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Juvia stood in the hallway of the hotel, admiring her appearance and her outfit, which in this case consisted of a blue dress with a necklace with a golden Fairy Tail symbol hanging around her neck "I'm sure this will please my beloved, without a doubt."

"Your appearance however, well that's more questionable."

Juvia jumped and whipped around, only to see Luke standing before her "Oh, you're from the same guild as my beloved Gray."

"And you're from Phantom Lord."

"I was. If I recall, you're the one who defeated Master Jose in battle."

"I did what I had to in order to protect my guild. I heard Phantom Lord was disbanded, but even before that was actually made official you've been stalking our guild for the past few weeks."

"I haven't been stalking your guild, I've simply been admiring my beloved Gray from afar."

"Which raises the question, what do you plan to do?"

"I have no ill will towards you or your guild if that is what you're implying. After all, now that Phantom Lord is no more I'm free to join any guild that I want."

"And judging by the necklace I'm guessing you want to join Fairy Tail?"

"Yes, very much so."

"I see." Luke let out a sigh and gave a small smile "Well okay then, as long as you don't have any ill will towards the people of our guild then that's good enough for me. I'll put in a good word with the master when we get back to Magnolia."

"You would really do that?"

"It's how our guild works, it's what makes Fairy Tail Fairy Tail after all."

"Oh, well…" Juvia bowed to him "Thank you, I promise to do whatever it takes to prove myself to everyone. But at the same time, I do have one other request."

"Which is?"

"There's one other person I know of who's having trouble finding work, so would it be alright if he joined too?"

"Sure, who did you have in mind?"

"Well…"

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The scene in the casino was now in full swing, and everyone was having a good time. Well, almost everyone.

Gray glanced back to see Natsu throwing a tantrum "For crying out loud, how much of a sore loser does a guy have to be?"

"Gray my darling."

Gray looked up to see Juvia approach him "Aren't you…"

"I'm Juvia, do you remember me?"

"Yeah, you're the chick from Phantom Lord."

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Meanwhile, in another area of the casino…

"Alright asshats, I'll see your 10 chips and raise you 20." Cana (clad in a black cocktail dress with a pair of black heels) placed down a hand of cards "Who's next?"

"I'm all in." some random guy placed down his cards.

"I'm calling, reed them and weep. Full house, kings over queens. This game goes to me."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." another random guy placed down his cards "Four of a kind sweetheart."

"Again? Oh that's just bullshit, you have to be cheating!"

"Hey that's just offensive, show some dignity!" but then a card suddenly fell out of his sleeve, drawing _a lot _of attention "Uh… I have no idea how that got in there."

"He _is _cheating, get this son of a bitch!"

Luke promptly moved several feet away from the brawl that ensued "Honestly, a good chunk of the time it feels like I'm the only sane person in the entire guild."

"Better them being insane than a bunch of sadists."

Luke glanced over and his attention was immediately captured by a figure with a head of shaggy brown hair clad in a white collared shirt, a pair of black pants and a pair of black gloves "Wait a second, aren't you the guy from Galuna Island?"

"Name's Noah, how ya doing Thunderclap?"

"Just call me Luke, if not then I'm going to have to start calling you Aftershock."

"Aftershock huh? Not bad, I was gonna go with Quake personally but yours is actually a lot better actually." Noah looked around "Magic slot machine or cards and other bullshit forms of poker."

"There's also another room with a couple of pool tables. If we're both on vacation then you want to shoot a game or two?"

"Full game or 9 ball?"

"Whatever works for me."

"And then maybe spar down on the beach? It should be abandoned at this time of night."

"Sounds good to me." and so

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At the same time, Natsu was throwing a tantrum over his bad luck at gambling, only to be confronted by, restrained by, and was met with a gun pointed at his head courtesy of a guy in a suit with a block shaped face by the name of Wally.

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Gray sat with Juvia at a nearby bar, discussing the recent disbandment of Phantom Lord "So I heard about how Phantom Lord got disbanded and your master was thrown in prison, that had to be pretty tough on you."

Juvia nodded eagerly "At first it was yes, but now I'm a free wizard and I can join any guild that I want."

"I see, and judging by that super tacky necklace I'm guessing you're wanting to be a member of Fairy Tail then huh?"

"Oh yes, very much so."

"I don't know, after everything that just went down with Phantom Lord. I mean I personally don't mind, but who knows what everyone else is going to say."

"I promise I'll do whatever it takes to prove myself!"

"I'd be careful if I were you, don't rush into making promises like that one so soon or you might bite off more than you can chew."

"Excuse me." this was when another guy showed up, this one being a guy by the name of Simon, having an eye patch, a turban and an armored metal plate covering his jaw "You wouldn't happen to be Gray Fullbuster would you?"

"Yeah, and you are?"

"This isn't personal." and cue the explosion.

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Luke was now in a separate room with Noah shooting a game of pool, when he noticed the explosion sounding in the distance "What the hell was that about?"

"Probably the fireworks." Noah waved him off nonchalantly "After all tonight is the night they're supposed to have some big parade outside."

"Makes sense. So are you actually with a dark guild or something?"

"I do what I have to do in order to make a living, but I've never killed anyone if that's what you're wondering. At this rate all I'm doing is so I can see Jishin again, and maybe it's for this girl I'm kind of into."

"Romantic type huh?"

"If by that you mean the only one in that guild aside from the master who took it seriously when I said was raised by a dragon, then yeah. Plus she's got her own issues herself."

"Fair enough. Well whether you're from a guild of assholes or not they did a pretty good job training you."

"Nothing compared to what you've got going on, word on the street is that you actually went to to toe with one of the Ten Wizard Saints."

"I was barely able to take him down, if it wasn't for my 6 months of training with the top ranked Wizard Saint then he would've killed me without hesitation."

"Which raises the question. How exactly do you know how to use Dragon Force at will? I still have to eat a crap load of rock and earth just to enter it once."

"Aside from 6 months of training with a Wizard Saint like I literally just mentioned, there are actually three types of Dragon Slayers. There's First Generation, which are Dragon Slayers taught their magic by actual dragons. There's Second Generation, which involve regular wizards being implanted with Dragon Slayer lacrima, basically making them artificial Dragon Slayers. I have no idea where the hell Dragon Slayer lacrima come from though. Then there's Third Generation Dragon slayers, they're taught by actual dragons and they have Dragon Slayer lacrimas implanted in their bodies, which allows them to activate Dragon Force at will, but it still requires a lot of training to be able to master."

"Educational as that may be, not exactly what I was talking about. I know enough about the top ranked Wizard Saint to know that he's a disappointment as a man."

"That is true."

"And he's a major drama queen."

"That is also true."

"My point is, what in the name of hell drove you to put yourself through 6 months with that lunatic?"

"...Shit, you had to ask didn't you?"

"Yeah, so what's your shtick?"

Luke gave a small sigh "I got a serious wake up call awhile back. There was an accident on a job and I couldn't protect one of my comrades. She and I were never even really friends but she still took a hit for me... she didn't make it. I can't take back what happened that day, but what I can do is make sure that what happened to her never happens again. And in order for that to happen, I had to get stronger, a lot stronger than I was. I knew that if I didn't, then I wouldn't be able to face any of them again."

"Well shit, sounds pretty rough."

"It's my life, all I can do is work with what we've been given right?"

"I guess that's all any of us can do." Noah looked down at the pool table, then promptly snapped his pool cue in half "You. Me. Out on the beach, 1 round of sparring."

"No way out of this is there?"

"What the hell do you think?"

"Fine, nobody down on the beach right now so that makes it perfect. Let's move." and so they did.

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Erza looked up from where she was playing cards with Lucy and Cana "What's all the commotion about over there?"

"I wouldn't worry about it too much." Cana promptly downed a drink "From what I've heard it's just that parade starting somewhere outside."

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"Juvia!" seeing Juvia face down as the smoke cleared, Gray promptly rounded on Simon "What the hell is your problem?"

"Like I said, this isn't personal." Simon told him "I just need to know where Erza is."

"Erza? What the hell do you want with her?"

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Back with the woman in question…

Erza laid down her hand of cards "Well what do you know, it would seem that I have what they call a straight flush. It would seem that today is my lucky day."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Cana placed her hand down "Royal flush, bring in the chips bitches.

"And thus my hot streak has officially come to a brief hiatus."

"Dealer change." that was when a new dealer (one with blonde hair, dark beady eyes and a tattoo beneath his lower lip) showed up and sent the old one on his way.

"But you never know, my luck may turn around faster than you would expect."

"Is that so?" the dealer shot her a grin "If that's the case then I've got quite the special game for the lot of you folks tonight." he dealt a few cards in front of them, only for them to end up spelling DEATH "And while we're at it, what do you say we raise the stakes a little bit higher sister?"

That was more than enough to leave Erza shaken to the core "No, it can't be… Sho, is that really you?"

"So you do remember me after all."

"You… You're alive?"

"Alive, what's that supposed to mean?"

"No… I mean…"

Cana and Lucy shared an uncertain look '_What the hell is going on?'_

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Gray found himself in a staredown with Simon "You really think I'm just gonna go ahead and tell you where Erza is?"

That was when Juvia materialized between Gray and Simon "I have no intention of allowing you to lay so much as a finger on my beloved, you'll have to go through me first."

"Juvia…"

"Erza need your help right now, I fear she is in grave danger."

"Yeah, I can't argue with you there."

Unfortunately for them, Simon was then contacted by Sho through telepathy magic "I see, so you've located her. Yes I see, so I should clean things up here. I understand." and then the room went black for everyone but him.

"What the hell, what happened to the lights?"

"This is magic of the dark lineage. **Dark Moment." **Simon promptly blitzed behind them and prepared another spell.

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Natsu was less than pleased about not being able to see "Hey what gives, who the fuck turned out the lights?!"

"I can't see, Natsu where are you?!" Happy cried out.

"I'm right here, wherever the hell that is!"

"Time for you to say goodnight boy." Wally shot a menacing grin at Natsu through the thick black darkness.

"No way, not a fucking chance!" and cue the gunshot.

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Cana and the others head the gunshot from across the room "A gunshot, what the hell is going on over there?" but then the lights came on.

Erza whipped around only to find that Sho was no longer behind the dealer's table "Where did he go?"

"Where else, I'm right here sister." Sho blitzed in front of them, revealing his deck of magic cards with everyone else from the casino trapped inside of them.

'_He trapped them inside the cards?'_

"What do you think, pretty cool huh?"

"You mean… you can use magic?"

"You got that right, you're not the only one with powers anymore."

"But who taught you that?"

"Meow meow." that was when a girl with cat features used what is called a Nekosoku Tube to quickly bind Lucy and Cana in some sort of constrictors.

"Lucy! Let her go!"

"Well aren't you all rosy." and then it registered with Erza just who she was.

"Miliana… you can use magic too?"

"It's been a while hasn't it Erzy-werzy?"

"Please, you have to let her go. She's okay, she's a friend of mine."

"Meow, a friend huh? We used to be friends of yours too remember, good friends."

Cana glanced between Erza and the others '_Looks like Erza has some bad luck in terms of the company she keeps.'_

"Yeah we were really good friends, at least we were until you decided to betray us." Sho spat out, leaving Erza shaking as a result.

'_Looks like Mr Personality here has some serious issues with her though.'_

"Why don't you cut the dame a little bit of slack pal." that was when Wally materialized in front of them "Keep those emotions in check and everything will be just dandy.

'_And now a blockhead too?'_

"Very nice, life on the outside has been good to you huh doll?"

It didn't take Erza long to recognize him "Wait a minute… Wally, is that you?"

"Yeah I've gone through some changes myself, old Mad Dog Wally has seen a lot since the old days. You see, I'm a hell of a lot smoother now."

"You mean… you practice magic as well?"

"Why are you so surprised?" that was when Simon appeared behind her "All things considered, it really isn't that hard once you get the hang of it. But then again, you already knew that didn't you?"

"Simon…"

"Erza what the heck is going on?" asked Cana "Who the heck are these guys, why is the creepy blond kid calling you sister?"

"He's not actually my brother, but the truth is that we all grew up together."

"What do you mean? We were only little girls when you just joined Fairy Tail, I know because I was there."

"This was back before I joined the guild." Erza looked back over towards Simon and the rest of them "Why did you find me here, what is it that you want?"

"I'm sure you already have an idea, we came here in order to take you back with us." Simon told her.

"I'm begging you, please just release Lucy and Cana."

"Who cares about her." Sho shot her a wicked grin "You're the one that we want sister."

"Sho…"

"Listen to me bim, you don't want to make this ugly." Wally summoned a rifle on his arm and aimed it at Lucy.

"No Wally please, don't hurt her!" but then Erza got shot in the back by Wally in a dirty move, and as a result she was knocked out cold.

'_I wish it didn't have to come to this.' _Simon reached down and gently picked up Erza into his arms "We have what we came for, now let's go home."

"Are you sure she's okay?" asked Sho.

"She'll be fine, remember that he said we need her alive."

"Hold it!" Cana tried to free herself, only to end up struggling in her bonds "Where the heck do you jerks thing you're taking her? When I get out of these things, your asses are grass and I'm gonna mow it! You're gonna pay for this, I'll make sure of it!"

"Yeah hate to break it to you toots, but the two of them are gonna be licking pavement for a good long while." Wally told her.

"What?"

"The two of them were nothing but talk, now they're sleeping with the fishes."

"Natsu and Gray are tougher than you think, and even if you did get them while their backs are turned we still have Luke on our side."

"I think we'll see about that meow." Miliana promptly tightened the bonds that she was using on them, causing Lucy to cry out in pain and Cana to grit her teeth "Give it another 5 minutes or so and you're gonna be all twisted up like a yummy little pretzel."

"Hey Miliana, if it helps I scored a little something for you." Walla promptly summoned the unconscious forms of Bolt and Happy.

"Meow meow, a little kitty of my very own! They're both such little cuties!"

"That's enough, calm down and tie Erza up." Simon told her, only to be ignored "Okay time for plan B, Wally and Sho you tie her up."

Sho on the other hand had tears in his eyes "Sister, after all this time I can't believe you're finally coming home to the Tower of Heaven. I know Jellal will be happy to see you after all this time too."

"Where the hell are you taking her? Come back!" but Cana's cries went unheard as they simply teleported away "Dammit she's gone, now what the hell are we supposed to do?"

"Dammit!" Lucy on the other hand was rolling around all over the floor "I swear I'm gonna get out of this thing somehow, and when I do you're gonna pay!"

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The scene on the beach was night and calm.

Luke found himself facing off against Noah, only to tense up as he heard a gunshot ringing from the casino "That's not a good sign." he glanced back at Noah "Let me take a wild guess, you liked through your teeth."

"Hey I didn't lie, I said I was on vacation." Noah told him "I just never got around to telling you that it's a working vacation."

"And you're not gonna let me go help them?"

"Last a minute or two against me and we'll find out."

"Fine by me, then come at me."

"As if you had to ask." Noah blitzed out of view.

'_Looks like he's faster than he was before.' _Luke blocked the fist with his own, blowing away the ground beneath them and resulting in the two of them trading even blows that sent out some powerful shockwaves across the shores '_He's got this huge grin, that must mean he's still holding back.'_

'_This is a guy who took down a Wizard Saint, I'm pushing him as far as I can in this fight.' _a flash of light resulted in the two of them breaking away from their clash "Pretty impressive, I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"You're no slouch either, whoever trained you in that guild really knows what they're doing in a fight. But at the same time, it feels like you're still holding back."

"I just wanted to see if you were gonna take this fight seriously, I guess I'll have to push you for now." Noah's body was surrounded by an orange glow.

"If that's what you want." Luke's body pulsed with electricity as his muscles bulged "Come at me bro."

"As if you had to ask." they both charged forward and began trading even blows.

Luke dealt Noah a palm strike to the chest, sending him skidding backwards "**Lightning Dragon… ROAR!" **he let out a lightning enhanced roar.

"**Mountain Dragon ROAR!" **Noah let out a roar of his own, the roars colliding and sending a series of explosions across the shore.

Luke flared his magic power slightly to clear away the flames and smoke, his fist crackling with electricity "Alright listen up Aftershock, my friends need me so we're gonna keep this brief, so one more attack from each of us."

"Fine by me." Noah's hand was covered in brown colored dragon scales "Come at me bro, if you can."

"**Lightning Dragon… IRON FIST!"**

"**Mountain Dragon… TERRA FIST!" **the two attacks collided, resulting in an explosion, and when the smoke cleared both of them had burn marks on their arms "Pretty impressive for a jackass from Fairy Tail."

"This coming from the guy in a dark guild, still pretty impressive though. I don't have any more time to screw around with you though."

"Fine by me, if we're gonna do this then you're gonna have to bring your A-game. We'll finish this up at the Tower of Heaven." and so Noah disappeared using teleportation magic.

Luke wasted no time in blitzing back in the direction of the hotel.

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"Come on, come on!" Lucy pulled one of her Gate keys out of her bag "Open, gate of the Giant Crab! Cancer!" nothing happened "Uh… okay Cancer come on! Fine, what about Taurus? No, what about-"

"No three strikes rule." Cana cut her off dryly "Whatever these things are, they're cutting off our magic power."

"Cana! Lucy!" that was when Luke flashed onto the scene and wasted no time in cutting both of them free "You guys okay?"

"Bent like pretzels but we're not dead, where were you?"

"I ran into another Dragon Slayer and we had to go a round down on the beach, then I came back here as fast as I could. So what's the situation?"

"Whoever the heck these guys are, they took down Natsu and Gray and they took Erza and the cats with them."

"Dammit, I told Bolt to keep out of the complementary liquor stache. Look just stache the people in the cards somewhere on a shelf or something, we'll come back for them after we know that the others are safe."

"Right." and so the three of them bolted, only to end up finding Gray lying unconscious amongst the rubble "Dammit, I guess you weren't kidding."

"Oh no, Gray get up!" Lucy tried to shake him awake, to no avail "Come on Gray snap out of it, talk to me please!" she felt his face "He's so cold." and then she reeled back when she saw Luke drive his sword into Gray, causing him to shatter into ice "Luke what the hell?"

"Sorry Lucy but we don't have time to be blunt, that wasn't Gray. He used an Ice Make magic to create a clone of himself, so the question is where did the real one end ip?"

"I assure you, there's no need to panic." that was when a mass of water materialized in front of them, revealing Juvia.

"And you're here, but seriously where the hell is Gray?"

"Calm down you guys, she's not our enemy anymore." Gray appeared from within the mass of water.

Juvia nodded "Yes that's right, I pulled my precious Gray inside of me in order to ensure that he would be safe."

"Is it just me or does that seem really weird?" asked Lucy, only to be met with a look of triumph and malice from Juvia.

"What's the matter, are you jealous that he was inside of me and not you?"

"Not really, he's all yours in that regard."

"Don't lie to me, Gray is mine!"

"This guy that found us cast some kind of darkness spell on us, so I used my Ice Make to create a decoy to distract him until I was able to figure out a plan to attack him." Gray quickly got things back on track.

"And I wanted to keep the real Gray safe from harm, so I pulled him inside of my Water Lock spell until I was sure that the danger had passed."

"Yeah but I couldn't do anything from there, thanks to you the creep got away." he was met with a yelp of disbelief "Do you guys know where anyone else is?"

"I have no idea where Natsu is, but whoever these guys are they took Erza and the cats with them when they left." Cana told him.

"GOD DAMMIT!" with a fiery roar Natsu burst up from within the rubble, but then the fire fizzled out "The nerve of that square assclown!"

"Well I think we know where Natsu is now." Luke noted dryly.

"What the hell kind of asshole shoots people in the mouth?! Someone could actually get seriously hurt!"

"I'm pretty sure that was meant to kill you, the fact that you're god knows what is the only reason you don't have a hole through your skull."

"WELL THAT'S IT, I'M GONNA SHOW THAT BLOCKHEAD! HE'S NOT GETTING AWAY WITH THIS!" and then he bolted off like a rocket in some random direction.

"And there he goes."

"Should we follow him?" asked Juvia.

"No give him a minute, it'll take some time for him to realize he has absolutely no idea where he's going."

"But at the same time Natsu does have a nose for prey that would put most wild animals to shame." Gray pointed out.

"Which is counterbalanced by the fact that most wild animals are smarter than him."

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Meanwhile, with Natsu…

"I'M COMING FOR YOU BLOCKHEAD!" Natsu burst out of the hotel and bolted along the shore of the beach like a wild animal.

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Meanwhile, in the aforementioned Tower of Heaven…

A figure with crimson red hair, black eyes and a simple red collared shirt appeared in one of the highest levels of the Tower of Heaven appeared before Jellal "I just received a telepathic message from Noah, it seems that the mission to retrieve Erza was a success and they're on their way back as we speak."

Jellal smirked from beneath his hood and gave a nod of approval "Excellent Sanguine, thank you for telling me this."

"I have to ask though, what is it you hope to accomplish by capturing a traitor like that in the first place? Finishing her off would've been easy work for someone of your level of magic prowess." he was met with only a chuckle.

"In my opinion, such an approach to a problem such as this would be rather pedestrian. But with that being said, now that the Tower of Heaven is complete to allow her to live would prove to be quite a thorny issue indeed. So the time has come at last, Erza Scarlet is the perfect sacrifice to ensure that my dreams are made into a reality."

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A certain ship was sailing across the seas in the direction of the Tower of Heaven.

Erza opened her eyes and found herself tied to a thick wooden pillar "This place… where are we?"

"We're inside the hold of a ship at sea." Sho made his way into her field of vision.

"A ship?"

"That's right, and our course is currently set for the Tower of Heaven."

"...I see, I should've known. Would you please untie me Sho, I promise I won't cause any trouble for you."

"I'm afraid I can't, you've proven to us that you can't be trusted. I know what you're doing and it won't work, Miliana's bindings are able to conceal magic so you're struggling in vain and you'll find you have no luck in breaking free from them. The efforts will just tire you out needlessly."

"Fine, I won't resist. But please Sho, will you at least allow me to requip into one of my suits of armor." she started shaking "The tower, I'm afraid of going back there. I just want to have it on so that I feel safe."

"But the outfit you have on now is so lovely." Sho dropped to his knees and pulled Erza into a hug "Honestly, I didn't want to happen like this." tears started streaming down his face.

"It's okay, really."

"I missed you so much, it hurts me."

"I missed all of you as well."

"Please, just tell me why. Why did you do it? Why did you betray Jellal?!"

'_Jellal…' _and that was enough of a trigger to bring back some painful memories for Erza '_He once said that we would get back our freedom, our dreams and our aspirations.'_

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At the same time, the Magic Council was holding a meeting in Era to discuss the probability of the existence of another tower for something known as the R-system. They had the view of an eighth tower, and they suspected that the incident at the Akane resort was the doing of people now occupying the tower, only to be corrected by Siegrain that the R-system tower was actually referred to as the Tower of Heaven.

The council agreed that the tower would have to be destroyed, only to be taken aback by the fact that the builder, Jellal, was supposedly the twin brother of council member Siegrain.

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Morning came, and the sun was shining over the skies of the seas.

Lucy and the others were sailing across the seas in order to save Erza "I'm pretty worried about those who were stuck in the card, do you think they're okay?"

"Well we let the military know about them before we left, I don't think we really have to worry about that." Cana told him without looking up from her book.

"What are you doing anyway?"

"Trying to read up on this Card Dimension spell the blond guy used, see if I can make some use of it later on."

Gray looked around "Hey where the hell are we anyway?"

"I don't know, as far as I've been aware we've been following the Salamander and relying on him for directions." Juvia told him.

"Hey Flame Brain are you sure we're going in the right direction?" Gray glanced over, but his expression dulled when he noticed Natsu was busy puking out what little brain cells he actually had "For fuck's sake pull it together you idiot, we're relying on your sense of smell so we can track down Erza!"

"How dare you insult my beloved with your childish antics!"

"Now how are we supposed to find her?"

"We stopped following his nose about 2 hours ago, we've been following mine since he started puking out what few brain cells he has." Luke told him dryly.

"Oh. Well works for me. Still though, I can't believe how easily they were able to knock us out and kidnap Erza and the cats. We're pathetic."

"In our defense, they must have been very powerful wizards if they were able to defeat someone as strong as Erza is." Juvia pointed out.

"Try that again." Cana shot her a pissed off look "They didn't beat her, quit talking like you know her because you don't."

"Hey Cana take it easy, she didn't mean anything by it." Luke called her off.

"I know, I just… screw it. The guys that attacked us said that they were old friends of Erza from before she joined Fairy Tail."

"Looking back now, I guess we don't really know her that much better than Juvia does to begin with."

"Don't be like that."

"I don't want to be, but none of us know what her life was like before she joined the guild. For all we know this is a part of her past that she wanted to stay buried for as long as she could, but I guess it just came back to bite her in the ass." Luke glanced up and noticed some birds flying overhead, only for them to reach the ominous black cloud that lay ahead of them and for the birds to die instantly "I've got a bad feeling about this."

"It's a lot more than just birds." Cana pointed to several dead fish and wooden wreckage floating in the water "Even the fish too, I've never seen anything like it."

"Neither have I, and judging by the flag over there I'm guessing that's the wreckage from a Fiore naval ship."

"Hey guys check it out." Lucy pointed to the ominous looking tower that loomed overhead in the distance.

"That must be the Tower of Heaven."

"Don't worry, I'll be sure to protect us." Juvia cast a spell and a water dome formed around them and the boat "My Water Dome spell should prevent them from spotting us."

"Good, the less they know about us coming the better. _We're coming for you Erza, just hang on until we get there.'_

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By this point, Erza had been taken to the shores in front of the Tower of Heaven, and she gazed up at it with a mix of horror and disbelief "The Tower of Heaven… you mean it's actually been completed?"

"I don't know why you're so surprised." Sho commented "We've been working on it since you left us almost 10 years ago."

"Has it actually been that long? It's amazing how much you've all changed since then."

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Meanwhile, with Team Dragon…

It didn't take long for Natsu to reach his limit "I can't take it anymore! Someone get me off of this death trap!"

"Just bear it for a little while longer, we're almost there." Luke turned to the others "You see I told you guys we should've knocked him out before we left, maybe next time you'll actually take my advice. I'm a Dragon Slayer, I know these things."

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By this point, Sho and Simon had escorted Erza inside the Tower of Heaven and bound her in a cell "There ceremony is going to take place later tonight, you're going to be staying here until then." he failed to notice Simon walk away

Erza froze at what she heard '_Ceremony? That means they really are going to activate the R-system?'_

"I'm sorry but this is the price of betrayal, and although you've hurt him Jellal is going to be giving you quite the special honor. He's chosen you to be the sacrifice for the ceremony. Sure I'm said that I won't ever get to see you again, but you're going to help us get into Heaven. Oh I can see it, you're trembling. Are you afraid of being sacrificed, or does this cell just bring back memories?"

'_Yes I remember it all too well, we attempted to escape from the tower but the guards caught us before we could get out. The guards decided to punish only the one who came up with the escape plan, they said they were being nice. Sho was the one who came up with the escape plan, but he was too scared to confess so I decided to take the fall for him. But then Jellal did it before I could, but the guards believed that it was actually me. Jellal and Simon tried to defend me, but the guards took me away to receive my so called punishment.'_

"You're the one who ended up being punished, even though I came up with the plan, but I was too scared to say anything. I'm sorry, it was my fault."

"That's in the past Sho, but right now I'm worried that none of you realize how dangerous it is to bring back someone using the R-system."

"Oh wow, you know I actually didn't expect you to know what its purpose was. That's quite a surprise."

"The Revive System, in exchange for countless sacrifices it brings a single person back from the dead. It is inhumane forbidden black magic."

"Sure it's forbidden, but whoever said that magic had to be humane? I happen to believe that magic wears away at one's humanity."

"That's a philosophy of black magic, are you one of them now?"

"Are you seriously comparing us to those idiots? They thought this tower was only good for resurrection magic, but we know better because we've been enlightened. Jellal told us that he can use the tower to get us into Heaven."

"To Heaven?"

"Yep, you see once we use the R system in order to revive _him _the world will be reborn and we will become the ones who rule it. The cult members who kept all of us prisoner for all those years, the loved ones of the sister who betrayed us, the citizens who lived their entire lives blissfully ignorant, those fools on the Magic Council, we're going to put fear and sorrow in the hearts of every last one of them! They'll be stripped of their freedom and denied any rights once we're in control! They'll have no choice but to bow down before us-" his insane rant was cut off by a fist buried in his gut, causing him to fall to the ground and pass out.

"What in the-"

As it turns out, the one standing over the unconscious form of Sho was Noah, and he shrugged at the look he received from Erza "You know, even by the standards of these people that kid has some serious issues."

"He wasn't always like that. To be honest, I have no idea what could have possibly caused him to change so drastically."

"Well nothing you can do about it now but stick him in therapy. Oh who the hell am I kidding, there's not a shrink qualified enough to deal with that hot mess." Noah promptly made his way over to Erza and untied her.

"You're letting me go?" Erza promptly requipped into her armor.

"You would've freed yourself and decked the kid yourself if I didn't show up. Besides, I do what I have to do in order to see my father again and for the girl, but I'm no sadist and I don't slaughter people just for kicks. Go find your friends from Fairy Tail, but when do you see them tell Thunderclap that Aftershock is waiting for him."

"...Duly noted." Erza wasted no time as she bolted from the cell, her mind racing from pure anger '_Jellal, what has he done to them?'_

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At the same time, Bolt and Happy had come to in the feline fun house that was Milliana's room, only for her and Wally to learn from the guards that Erza had escaped from her cell.

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Jellal only let out a chuckle when he learned about Erza's escape "Well what do you know, it would seem that little Erza has grown into an amazing woman. I must say that I'm quite impressed. I can't wait to see how all of this plays out, will I prevail or will it be her? We're going to have a game that interweaves the past and the future, life and death."

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The Magic Council continued with their argument over the Tower of Heaven, but this was quickly interrupted when Siegrain called those present weak fools because of their so called resolve, and then he suggested the use of Etherion, an immensely powerful magic and the ultimate weapon of the Magic Council.

The council only reacted in horror, mentioning the severity and inevitable devastation that would result from such an attack, but Ultear and another member of the council agreed with using the Etherion.

Siegrain didn't hesitate in sticking to the idea, even though it would mean the death of his twin brother.

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At the same time, Erza had beaten down a group of guards in search of answers "Start talking, tell me where I can find Jellal!"

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Luke peered up at the Tower of Heaven "Looks like they have a lot of guards, these guys aren't stupid I'll give them that much."

"I say we just charge these assclowns!" Natsu hissed.

"And speaking of stupid, there's no way in hell we're doing that Natsu. Keep in mind that these guys have Erza, Bolt and Happy so any reckless moves on our part could end up putting them in serious danger."

"Dammit." Gray muttered "This is going to be tricky."

"Perhaps not." Juvia popped up from underwater "I was able to locate an underwater passageway that leads into the tower."

"Seriously? Nice work Juvia, way to go."

"Yes! Did you hear that Lucy, I was just praised by Gray and not you!"

"Yeah yeah." Lucy just waved off her insanity.

"We should all be able to swim there in 10 minutes."

"That raises some problems." Luke pointed out "On one hand, most of us should be able to hold our breath for a decent amount of time but I doubt Lucy would be able to hold out for as long as that."

"If that is the case then I suggest you wear these." Juvia held up a water bubble in her hand "This is a water shell containing oxygen, this way you will be able to breathe while underwater."

"Wow you're awesome, and who the hell are you again?" asked Natsu.

"Um…"

"Don't worry, he's just stupid." Luke assured her.

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It didn't take long for Luke and the others to reach the end of the passageway "So I guess this took us beneath the tower. The only question now is, where are they keeping Erza and the others? I guess we're in for the long haul on this one."

Lucy, at the same time, was admiring one of Juvia's water bubbles "You know these things may look kind of weird, but they sure do work."

"I'm actually quite impressed that you made it here, seeing how I purposely made your shell smaller so that you would have trouble breathing." Juvia told her, causing Lucy to sweatdrop at this.

"Gee, thanks for that."

"Stay focused guys, we've got company." Luke pointed forward at what was coming next.

"INTRUDERS!" sure enough, within a matter of seconds the path ahead was blocked off by a large number of guards "Identify yourselves!"

"And now we're gonna do this. You already know the drill guys, beat the ever loving crap out of them and get this over with."

"Way ahead of you!" Natsu's body started radiating magic flames "You assclowns wanna know who we are? We're the wizards who are gonna pound your asses into the ground! WE'RE FROM FAIRY TAIL MOTHER FUCKER! **FIRE DRAGON ROAR!" **he let out a fire enhanced roar that scorched several guards.

"**Ice Make: Lance!" **Gray fired a barrage of ice lances that pierced through a considerable number of guards.

"**Magic Card: Summon Lightning!" **Cana summoned a large blast of lightning from her magic cards that fried several of the guards in front of her.

"I don't need magic to deal with the likes of you guys." Luke started punching and kicking out every guard that was in his path.

"**Open, Gate of the Maiden: Virgo!" **Lucy wasted no time in opening the gate.

From said gate emerged none other than Virgo "Did you summon me princess?"

"These pervs have been eyeing me since we got here and they're kind of blocking our way, so in short they need to be punished."

"As you wish." Virgo wasted no time in motoring through every guard that stood in her way with ease.

Juvia on the other hand, well she didn't even need to use any spells to avoid the attacks being fired at her by the guards "My body is made entirely of water, your blades will have no effect on me."

"How about guns bitch?!" they started shooting at her.

"No, that has no effect on me either."

"What the hell is with this bitch?"

"Drip drip drop. **Water Slicer!" **Juvia quickly incapacitated the guards with a barrage of water blades, thus ending the onslaught from the members of Team Dragon "It would appear that that has done the job."

Luke nodded "They should be out for a good long while, I don't think we'll have to deal with them after this. That works out pretty well for us, our mission is to rescue Erza and the others so we don't have time to waste." that was when their attention was grabbed by a ladder popping out of the wall and lowering itself to the ground for them "So what do you guys think the chances are of that being their way of inviting us in?"

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Sanguine glanced over at Jellal "I don't understand, why would you invite them into the tower so nonchalantly?"

"As I told you before, this is all one big game." Jellal told him "They were fortunate enough to clear the first stage, but they still have a long way to go. I'm just trying to make things more interesting."

"But shouldn't we be concentrating on the ceremony? It's only a matter of time before the Magic Council catches onto our plans."

"Come now Sanguine, how many times have I told you not to worry about them? The Magic Council only wishes that they had the power to stop me."

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Things with the Magic Council grew more grim as Siegrain gained the vote of yet another council member, and now he only needed two more.

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By this point, the members of Team Dragon had made their way into a room inside the tower that, to the delight of all of them but none more than Natsu, had food, which led to them deciding to take a break and relax. Well, most of them anyway.

"HEY BLOCKHEAD! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"

"For crying out loud, will you keep it down!" Lucy hissed at Natsu.

"Don't bother." Luke just waved her off "It's not like there's a point in sneaking around anymore after all of the ruckus we caused by beating down the guards downstairs."

"What the hell are you guys eating?"

"Relax, if it was poisonous then Natsu and I would've smelled it. Take my advice and join in before it's all gone, we're gonna need our strength for what we have to deal with up there."

"Thanks but no thanks, I think I'll be fine."

"Suit yourself." Luke glanced over at the doorway across the room "The door that let us in was controlled by someone who uses magic, which means that they already know for a fact that we're here."

"But why did they let us in, does that mean they're trying to provoke us or something? I have a bad feeling about this."

"Not to be rude princess, but your bikini leaves little to the imagination." Virgo pointed out.

"So then should I change?"

"Yes, I'll help you."

"Wait, you mean right now?!"

Gray's jaw actually dropped so far that the turkey leg he was about to start chewing on literally fell out "Woah…"

"Not so fast stripper, you cover the hell up." Luke promptly covered Natsu and Gray's eyes, while his were covered by Cana.

Fortunately, it didn't take long for Virgo to dress Lucy up in a decorative green dress "I was able to bring this over for you from the Celestial World."

Lucy wasted no time in posing in her new outfit "So what do you think boys, do I look super cute in this outfit or what?"

"Yeah, I'll give credit where it's due when I say that Celestial Spirits apparently know their fashion pretty damn well." Luke noted.

"Well anyway thanks for the help Virgo, really."

"I wish you the best of luck princess." and so Virgo took her leave.

"Oh crap I completely forgot, did you guys want me to ask her to bring you a dry change of clothes too?"

"No thanks, I think this does the trick just fine." Gray told her from where he was drying his pants using Natsu's flames that were radiating off of his body.

"He's not a dryer you know!"

"The intruders, we found them now take them down!" that was when more guards showed up on the scene, only for them to be cut down almost instantly by a red haired figure wielding two swords.

"Erza, thank goodness you're okay!"

Rather than be relieved, Erza froze in horror when she saw them "It's you, but what do all of you think you're doing inside the tower?"

"What do you think, we came here to save you and our talking cats that can fly-"

"Just go home, you shouldn't be here. This place is far too dangerous."

Natsu wasn't having any of it "There's no way in hell you're gonna scare me into leaving, I'm not going anywhere until that blockhead gets a good feel for my foot up his ass! I'm gonna make him pay for shooting me in the mouth!"

"You have to go, now!"

"Your so called friends kidnapped Happy and Bolt, there's no way we're leaving here without either of them!"

"They got them too? It must have been Milliana."

"So where the hell are they keeping Happy?"

"I can't say for certain."

"That's it, this means war."

"Who exactly are you declaring war against?" asked Cana.

"Who else? I'M GONNA BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF THE ASSCLOWNS THAT WENT AND KIDNAPPED MY LITTLE BUDDY!" and then Natsu bolted past them in a comical rage, leaving a trail of dust in his wake.

Luke let out a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose "For crying out loud, why do we even bother with him? You know what screw it, let's just go help him and then tie him up and knock him out."

"No." Erza held out a sword to stop them "You don't have to worry about Bolt or Happy, I know for a fact that Milliana is a cat lover and she would never do anything to hurt them. I promise I'll bring both of them, as well as Natsu, back to the guild with me, but the rest of you need to leave right now."

"Erza now's not the time for you to pull a Natsu or a me, whatever is going on the rest of us can help you."

"I don't need your help nor do I want it. This is my problem, it doesn't concern any of you."

"How can you say that? You saw Natsu take off like that, and you know that Bolt is one of their prisoners so I'd say we're all pretty involved already. Erza we need to know what's going on, what's the deal with this tower and who exactly is Jellal anyway? Look if you don't want to tell us then I get it. From what I've heard these people used to be friends of yours right? Well we're your friends in the here and now, and we're here because we want to help you. It doesn't matter what you have to go through, we're always going to have your back just like you've always had ours."

"...Dammit." Erza's grip on her swords tightened "You need to leave, now!"

"Okay now I'm getting sort of freaked out, this isn't like you at all. What happened to the woman who would tell us to shut up and come along whether we wanted to or not? We all want to stay here and help however we can, if there's one thing we've all learned from the master it's that even the strongest of warriors and wizards need help from others every once in awhile."

Slowly, Erza turned to face them, revealing tears streaming down her face from only one eye, much to the surprise of the others, but she quickly wiped it away "I'm sorry, but there's nothing you can do to help me now. The odds are stacked against me, win or lose this battle I'm staring death in the face."

"What are you talking about?"

"There's no point in being afraid of the inevitable." she gave them a small sad smile "But what I can do is share my story with you while I'm still here. This building is known as the Tower of Heaven, and it's also called the R system. Over a decade ago a cult dedicated to the use of black magic began its construction, it would be used to cast a forbidden spell that brings the dead back to life. The spell required multiple human sacrifices, so the cult abducted citizens of the surrounding areas and forced them to build the tower as their slaves. The only reason why I know this is because I am one of those people. Anyone who dared to resist the cult or tried to escape from the tower would mysteriously disappear. We never had any peace of mind, we lived in constant fear. But at the same time, we bonded and made friends we could trust despite that, even though we knew we wouldn't be together for very long. One of my friends in the tower was a boy by the name of Jellal, and others included Simon and the others that you've already met before, as well as Grandpa Rob, an elderly former wizard of Fairy Tail. At one point we had attempted to escape from the tower but the guards caught us before we could get out. The guards decided to punish only the one who came up with the escape plan, they said they were being nice. Sho was the one who came up with the escape plan, but he was too scared to confess so I decided to take the fall for him. But then Jellal did it before I could, but the guards believed that it was actually me. Jellal and Simon tried to defend me, but the guards took me away to receive my so called punishment. I was kept chained and guarded, but Jellal was able to fight his way through to come and rescue me. However, one of the punishments that I had received was losing my right eye, which for Jellal was the last straw. We both knew that since he had saved me there was no turning back, so we only had one option: to fight. But as he was carrying me to safety, we were caught by magic soldiers and they decided to take Jellal in place of me. But I remembered what Jellal told me about fighting back against the ones that kept us as prisoners and as slaves and attacked one of the guards, and started a revolt. Not only did we take a stand for our freedom, but we stood to save our dear friend Jellal. He was like the leader of our group back then, he had a strong sense of justice that I truly admired. However, while we were revolting something happened to him. It's almost as if he had become an entirely different person compared to the one I knew before. There was only one word I would be able to use if I were to describe Jellal's persona, and that was pure unadulterated evil. To my understanding, he was able to withstand the torture they were putting him through and when the guards left he was, for the lack of a better term, possessed by what he said to be the spirit of Zeref himself, introducing the likes of hate into his heart, wanting him to give into it, and Zeref's spirit would become stronger because of it. While that was happening, the other prisoners were considering entering the room where they were keeping Jellal as a prisoner, but then the magic troops appeared and everyone began to run for their lives. I pleaded for everyone to fight and save Jellal, but none of them had been willing. That was when I was suddenly targeted by the troops, but then Grandpa Rob got in front of me and shielded me with his body. Using the last of his magic power, he continued to protect me and blasted away the troops using his fire magic, but by doing so he had ended up succumbing to death. I remembered how Grandpa Rob had taught me that the ability for one to use magic comes from one's heart. I expressed my wish to become a witch in the future so that I would be able to fly freely in the sky, and I promised Grandpa Rob that I would let him fly with me as well. Just moments before his death, Grandpa Rob told me that I would be able to fulfill my wish. Facing the loss of someone I truly cared about, that was the first time I was able to use all of my magic power, and I manipulated all of the weapons in the area and used them to attack the guards, obliterating them in an instant. After that I rushed to the room where Jellal was being held, but by then it was too late. The boy that I had once known, was now nothing more than a memory. All of the prisoners were on the ship waiting for us to leave, but the two of us just refused to, claiming that there was no freedom in this world and that the only way to get it was by bringing Zeref back from the dead. He killed the two guards that were torturing him even though I pleaded with him not to. He wanted me to complete the R system with her, and when I refused he just blasted me away and told me to leave with my so called freedom, but not to tell anyone or approach the tower, or else everyone there would die by his hand. He told me that he would keep the prisoners there to help him build the tower, which he believed to be the way to get into heaven. I don't really remember what happened right after that, but the next thing I do remember is waking up on a beach and breaking down over how powerless I was." and so with a heavy sigh over the painful memories, she finished her backstory "I have to fight Jellal. I have no choice, I have to do it."

Luke frowned in thought as he processed what they had been told "This definitely makes things a lot worse, after all Zeref is a legendary black wizard known for being the most evil wizard to ever exist."

"Exactly, keep in mind that the demon that you defeated that came out of the Lullaby flute was a demon created by Zeref. Also I never mentioned this, but I suspect that Deliora was a demon from the Book of Zeref as well."

"But I don't get it, if this is the actual Zeref we're talking about then why would Jellal want to resurrect him in the first place?"

"I don't understand his motives either, however my old friend Sho said something to me earlier about how Zeref would be able to get them into Heaven, and when that happens the world will be reborn and they'll become its rulers."

Lucy frowned in thought for a moment "Okay so there's one thing that's confusing me about these people who claim to be old friends of yours, why exactly are they accusing you of betraying them? Don't they realize that Jellal is the bad guy here?"

"It's not their fault, I wouldn't be surprised if Jellal fed them all sorts of lies about me after I left the tower. But that doesn't change the fact that I abandoned them so long ago, so in the end I guess you could say that I did betray them."

"Because he threatened to kill them if you ever came back, there was no way you could've saved them." Cana protested.

"None of that even matters anymore, if I can defeat Jellal then it will all be over, so please just leave it to me okay?"

'_Erza… Why do I get the feeling she's hiding something? Why would she say that she's staring death in the face, and what does that even mean?'_

"Please."

"Don't lie to them sister, that's not true and you know it." that was when Sho appeared on the scene "Why, why are you lying to them?"

"Sho…"

"Do you think by making yourself the martyr you're gonna get sympathy from your so called friends? Tell them the truth, that's not how it happened and you know it! You blew up the boats we were going to use to escape, and then you left on your own! We would've ended up at the bottom of the sea if it hadn't been for Jellal, he saved all of us! He warned us not to trust wizards like you who haven't learned to use their magic properly! He said that you had become drunk with magical power, and you didn't want anything to do with your past or the people that you left behind!"

Cana, by this point, wasn't having any of it "Did it ever occur to you that he might be lying to all of you? If you truly knew Erza then you know that she would never do something as horrible as that."

"Shut up! You only think you know her, you weren't there back then! You don't know anything about us! After she left the words of Jellal were my only salvation, and that's why I spent all these years working on to finish the tower for him! I did it for his sake, and now you're trying to tell me that all of it was nothing but a lie? You really expect me to believe that you're telling the truth and Jellal has been lying to us this entire time?"

"That's right." that was when a black haze materialized in front of them, and it disappeared to reveal Simon in its place.

Juvia was quick to hold out a hand and stop Gray from attacking "Please wait for just a moment my dear, he doesn't pose a threat and he never meant you any harm. When we fought back at the resort, he knew that he was attacking your ice decoy."

"But how could he have known that?" asked Gray.

"Since he was the one who cast the Darkness spell it had no effect on him, I came along in the hopes of discovering why he had made the choice to spare your life."

"I would expect no less from a member of the Element 4 of Phantom Lord." Simon noted.

"I don't understand." Sho muttered.

"I had to fool you and the others into thinking that I had killed him, but I had hoped that our attack would lure them here."

"So that means you were lying to us too? How could you do that to me?"

"I'm sorry for that Sho, I truly am. Jellal had you under his spell and there was no way I would be able to convince you otherwise, so the only thing I could do was play along until the time was right."

"So you knew all along?" Erza murmured "You believed in me."

"Of course I did, I've always believed in you Erza and there's nothing that could ever change that. I mean those words from the bottom of my heart." he pulled her into a tight embrace, which earned them small smiles from the rest of the group.

"Simon…"

"I had no idea…" Sho muttered with tears streaming down his face "I can't believe I followed him so blindly for all these years… I doubted you because you left me all alone! You have no idea how much that hurt!" he slammed his fist into the ground and finally broke down sobbing "I don't know what to do, I don't even know which one of you I should believe anymore!"

Erza slowly stepped forward and knelt down in front of him "I know it must be difficult to take this all in at once, but Sho there's something that you should know. I know that it's been many years, but I have never once forgotten about any of you." she pulled him into a gentle hug "I'm truly sorry I wasn't able to stand up to him, but I was so weak back then. Please forgive me."

"But now you're stronger and ready to face him isn't that right?"

"Yes, it is."

"I've waited all these years for this very moment, when a group of powerful wizards would gather here."

"Which raises the question, what exactly do you have planned?" asked Luke.

"We're going take down Jellal, we can do it if we work together. But first, we have to prevent the clash between Wally and Salamander.

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As the council meeting progressed, Siegrain and Ultear received another vote in favor of firing the Etherion at the Tower of Heaven, so now only one more vote was needed.

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Meanwhile, with said Salamander…

By this point, Natsu had reached Milliana's room while searching for Happy "For fuck's sake what's up with this room? There are cats all over the place- Holy crap there's a gigantic kitty head, it looks like some kind of mask!" he promptly stuck it on his head "Alright then, now let's get going Happy! Aye sir, hell yeah I would make an awesome cat." he tried to pull the mask off, only to find that it was stuck "FUUUUUUCK! Dammit, the thing is stuck on my giant head! It must be because of my gigantic brain. Perfect, now what the fuck am I gonna do? Oh well, it looks cool so as long as the others don't see it, I don't really give a damn. Okay new though as long as Lisanna doesn't see it."

What went unnoticed by him was that Wally was standing in the doorway with his gun locked and loaded "Well ain't that fucking dandy?"

**A/N:**

**And thus we begin the Tower of Heaven arc, and we see the proper introduction of what might be my favorite male character in the series, Jellal. I'm going to be real with you, Jerza is probably my favorite Fairy Tail ship. NaLu be damned, this one has actual depth and a shared backstory.**

**I know that adding in Cana along with Luke will make it difficult to avoid overcrowding the good guys team, so I added in Noah the Mountain Dragon Slayer that I introduced in the Galuna Island arc, as well another OC pitched to me by TheCarlosInferno, in this case a mage knowns as Sanguine (Latin for Blood).**


	14. Tower of Heaven II

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it, and I also want to thank you for getting this story up to 7,000 views.**

**Oi Teme: **Call it what you will, I just saw an opportunity and I went for it. Besides, it's meant to set up a sort of brother-sister relationship between the two of them. By the way, I love your profile picture.

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"_In a land far far away lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small and peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most people, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards and mages, and banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore, but there is a certain guild in a certain town that stands high above the rest of them, one from which countless legends have been born, a guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. This guild is known as Fairy Tail."_

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By this point, Natsu had reached Milliana's room while searching for Happy "For fuck's sake what's up with this room? There are cats all over the place- Holy crap there's a gigantic kitty head, it looks like some kind of mask!" he promptly stuck it on his head "Alright then, now let's get going Happy! Aye sir, hell yeah I would make an awesome cat." he tried to pull the mask off, only to find that it was stuck "FUUUUUUCK! Dammit, the thing is stuck on my giant head! It must be because of my gigantic brain. Perfect, now what the fuck am I gonna do? Oh well, it looks cool so as long as the others don't see it, I don't really give a damn. Okay new though as long as Lisanna doesn't see it."

What went unnoticed by him was that Wally was standing in the doorway with his gun locked and loaded "Well ain't that fucking dandy?"

"Oh man Happy is gonna freak the fuck out when he sees me, oh maybe I can scare Luke or Erza too while I'm at it! Oh wait a second, I bet Gray is gonna jump the hell out of his skin when he sees this! It's gonna be freaking hysterical!"

"This is the end of the road for you boy."

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Simon led Luke and the others along a path outside of the tower, only to quickly notice a certain problem "Something is interfering with my communication with Wally and Milliana, I can't even tell where they are now."

"So you're saying that there's something blocking your telepathy." Luke noted "So do you think that Jellal found you out?"

"I hope that's not the case but I wouldn't be surprised if he saw through me just like I saw through him."

Erza glanced back to check on Sho "Is something the matter Sho?"

"No it's nothing, I'm fine." Sho muttered "Everything is fine now that you're here."

Cana on the other hand, she studied Simon intently from behind him "Hey Juvia tell me something, are you absolutely certain that we can trust this guy? I mean I understand that he wasn't trying to kill us back at the resort but still."

"I have no intention of making excuses for my actions." Simon called back to him.

"I didn't think you could hear me."

"Any wizard who is incapable of surviving an attack like that would never have a prayer against the likes of Jellal. I never doubted that the likes of Luke or Natsu would be able to handle that attack, I was confident that they would survive."

"What about the rest of them?" asked Luke.

"All of those present have remarkable potential, however you and Natsu are exceptions for obvious reasons. You have awakened the true power of a dragon within, and once Natsu is able to do the same evil will fall in his wake as it does in yours."

"I guess I should be flattered that you think so highly of me."

"It's hard to admire one capable of defeating one of the Ten Wizard Saints."

"Damn, word travels fast doesn't it?"

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"ACHOO!" due to the superstition of sneezing when someone talks about you, Natsu promptly sneeded inside of the cat mask "Oh fuck I can't wipe my face, this is so gross! You know what, I should probably take this off for a second." he promptly tried to take the mask off, but failed miserably "Come on you stupid son of a- GET OFF!"

"Let me give you a hand with that pal." Wally promptly fired the shot, only for it to be slightly redirected just enough for it to miss Natsu, courtesy of a certain cat girl.

"What the hell?"

"Hey what the hell Milliana, would it kill you to cut it out?"

"It's the blockhead!"

"Seriously, what the hell is the big idea?"

Milliana just pouted at him "You big old meanie, you were trying to hurt the itty bitty kitty witty!"

"Hey hold up a second, that's not even a real cat you crazy broad!"

"What?"

"...Meow." was all Natsu said on the matter.

"He is just the cutest little kitty ever!"

"A wise guy huh? I'm telling you brought that this cat is a total rat! You feeling me?" Wally then proceeded to shove Milliana out of the way and fire off a barrage of blocks at him.

"Meow to the meow!" Natsu dodged and weaved his way around most of the blocks, but then he grabbed a nearby cat plushie and used it to shield himself "**Cat Make: Barrier!"**

"Dammit!"

"Oh no!" Milliana let out a horrified gasp "Don't hurt the poor little kitty!"

"For crying out loud dollface, this dirty rat is our enemy!"

"Dirty rat? It looks like a kitty to me."

"It's a guy in a cat costume you dimwit!"

"Meow to the meow! **Cat Fire Iron Fist!" **Natsu unleashed his Fire Dragon Iron Fist to pound away the blocks being hurled at him, destroying a few of the cat plushies in the process, much to the horror of Milliana.

"Dammit, I guess Jellal wasn't pulling my leg when he told me that this cat has some serious claws on him. Alright get ready toots, it's go time."

"Wait what?"

"Meow!" Milliana let out a pissed of meow "Pretending to be a cat when you're really just an ugly dude is a lousy thing to do!"

"Oh bullshit, like you have any room to talk!"

"**Bad Kitty Restraint Tube!" **Milliana promptly bound Natsu with her Bad Kitty Restraint Tube, binding his arm and disabling his ability to use magic "All bad men who impersonate kitties deserve to be punished!"

"Hells to the yeah!" Wally locked and loaded his gun "That's giving him the bracelets there dollface."

"It's time to put the bad little kitty to sleep!"

"Now he's in the bag!" Wally fired off some blocks.

"**Cat Fire- **Wait a second." Natsu tried to attack them with a blast of fire, only for nothing to happen, which led to him getting smacked across the face by one of the blocks and sent flying across the room "Why the hell can't I use any of my magic, is it because of this stupid rope thing?" then he noticed his leg was bound by the same restraints "Oh crap." he got pulled to the ground and his spine was crushed by Wally's block attack.

"Too easy."

"Fake kitties make me so mad!" Milliana finished tying up Natsu all the way.

Wally locked and loaded his gun "I hope you're hungry Salamander, because you're about to eat some hardcore lead."

Natsu tried to sneak away, but he only ended up slinking across the floor '_Son of a bitch, this isn't good.'_

"Ears up Salamander, I've got a real dandy catchphrase that I've been dying to try out for awhile now. Too bad things had to end this way, but from the moment you met me-"

"You've had this coming!" that was when Happy and Bolt burst onto the scene and promptly decked Wally from behind.

Natsu glanced up from within his cat mask "Is that you Happy?"

"Aye sir, and Bolt is here too. I'm so glad you're safe, but what's up with the stupid cat costume?"

"Just get this thing the hell off me! Oh, and don't tell Lisanna about the whole cursing thing or she'll do _that _to me."

"Aye sir!"

"Listen up cats, no one interrupts Wally and lives to tell the tale!" Wally promptly started shooting at the two of them, forcing them to dodge.

"No no no!" Milliana promptly grabbed onto Wally and stopped him from firing a round of follow up shots "I won't let you hurt the little kitty widdies!"

"Cats aren't no flyers, and they ain't no goddamn gum flappers neither! You know what screw it, whatever they are these things die! Eat led cats!"

"No Wally don't do it!" she grabbed onto his scarf.

"What the hell, let me go you loony tune!"

Bolt tried untying the binds on Natsu, but he quicky ran into trouble "Dammit will you hold the hell still!"

"Just hurry the hell up and do it!" Natsu barked.

"I would if you would stop squirming all over the place! Besides this stupid thing is on so tight I can't get it out!"

"That's what she said."

"...Momentary grudging respect."

"So I guess I only have one other choice right now."

"And what's that?"

"To use my ultimate technique! **Cat Mask Special Attack: Sad Kitty Face!" **and so, as the name implied he started making a sad kitty face through the mask, which actually worked a lot better than it should've.

"...Meow." Milliana was actually so touched that she released Natsu's bonds.

"Holy crap, I actually can't believe that worked."

"Meow."

"What the hell?!" Wally promptly rounded on her "Why the hell did you let him go like that you dingbat?!"

"The poor little kitty just looked so sad!"

"Oh for crying out loud!"

"Oh hell yeah, I'm a free man with a cat mask and I've got that fire still burning in my belly and raging to get out! **Fire Dragon Wing Attack!" **Natsu promptly ripped through both of them with a two handed fire attack, knocking the two of them out cold "Yeah that's right assclowns, if you mess with the kitty then you get the claws!"

"So how long are you planning to wear that thing?" asked Bolt.

"Until I can get the thing off."

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Jellal gave a devious smirk as he moved a piece on the chessboard in front of him "Well it would seem that Sho and Simon have chosen to betray me, or rather Simon was never loyal to me to begin with, whereas it would appear that Wally and Milliana have fallen at the hands of the one known as Salamander. This is how the game should be played, one sided matches are always so dreadfully boring."

"But keep in mind Jellal, we need to capture Erza if we want to begin the ceremony as soon as possible." Sanguine pointed out "I doubt you'll disagree when I say that the time for playing games is over."

"Prudent as always aren't you Sanguine? So be it then, summon the others."

"So you're allowing it?"

"It is our turn after all." he placed four more pieces onto the chess board "As I said, summon the others."

"Way ahead of you." Sanguine snapped his fingers and summoned forth three figures, one of them being a half-man, half-owl figure, a woman in a white kimono with a sword strapped to her side, and what looked like a rock and roll reject from the band KISS. Go ahead, change my mind or tell me I'm wrong about him looking like that "Fukuro, Ikaruga and Vidaldus Taka. All of them are here now."

"Excellent. Four assassins from the Death's Head Order guild. Sanguine the Bloodmaker, the most powerful mage of said guild, and the Trinity Raven consisting of Vidaldus Taka, Fukuro and their leader Ikaruga."

"The four of us are the best of the best that our guild has to offer, even if those three are quite questionable in, well pretty much everything."

"I'll take what I can get. Now then, the time has come for the four of you to enter the fray. You had best make haste as you do, Noah is already in his position."

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By this point, Natsu was having both Happy and Bolt try (and fail miserably) to get the cat mask off his head "Hey come on you guys, you're gonna have to pull a lot harder than that!"

"What the hell do you think we're trying to do!" Bolt tugged even harder "It's not my fault your skull is so thick!"

"God dammit it feels like you're gonna rip my head off!"

"What the hell do you think I'm trying to do!" but then Bolt finally succeeded in pulling the mask off of Natsu's head "Oh crap."

"Finally, my handsome face is free at last!" and then Natsu proceeded to stick it onto Wally's head for pretty much no reason "And how do you like that one, now the stupid thing is stuck on old boxy!"

"I'm kind of surprised that that stupid mask was able to fit over his gigantic square head so easily." Happy commented.

"Who cares, it looks hysterical!"

"God dammit!" Wally pulled the cat mask off his head "This dance isn't anywhere near over just yet Salamander." but then he hunched over in pain.

"Well I already got my payback, and since Erza and Happy and Bolt are all safe there's no reason for me to keep wasting my time with you pal."

"Aye you tell him!" Happy saluted him.

"I just did, but thanks for the support little buddy."

"You can talk as much as you want, but the lot of us are still gonna be able to get right up into Heaven." Wally told him "Jellal told us that we could finally have real freedom in a world where a bunch of palookas like us are calling the shots."

"_I welcome you to the Tower of Heaven."_

"And there he is now."

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"_My name is Jellal, and I am the one ruling over this tower. I see now that the players have been arranged."_

Luke shared a glance with Simon "So that means he knows we're here, for all we know he's probably anywhere in the Tower of Heaven right about now."

"_I must say that I'm delighted that all of you have come this way to see me, so shall we play a round of Heaven's game?"_

"Thanks but no thanks, we're not interested in playing any games."

"_I'm so glad I have your cooperation."_

"And I'm being ignored."

"_I wish to use Erza as a sacrifice in the ceremony in intend to perform with the intention of resurrecting Lord Zeref."_

"That's not going to happen."

"_If I succeed, then the gates of Heaven will open, thus crowning my victory. However, if any of you manage to find a way to stop me then you will be the winners of the game. To make things a little bit more interesting, I've enlisted five knights to do battle on my behalf."_

"Oh for crying out loud, everything this guy is saying makes me want to punch him. Maybe I'm spending too much time with Natsu."

"_The only way you'll be able to get to me is you're able to defeat them. In other words, a five on ten battle royale, and I also have one more surprise. The Magic Council has the satellite square focused directly on this tower, and it's highly likely they will attack. At this very moment, they're in the midst of voting whether or not they should fire an Etherion blast."_

"_Hey that wasn't in the deal you hooded freak, if that thing hits us then we're all gonna be going to Hell!"_

"_Yes yes thank you Vidaldus, I think you know how much I value your opinion. Anyway, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, there's no telling just how much time is left. Should the blast from the Etherion strike then complete annihilation is imminent, both for us and for a large number of the surrounding people. There will be no players left to win, it will be game over for all of us."_

"Dammit, I guess I shouldn't be surprised." Luke muttered "I mean it's no secret the Magic Council isn't exactly fond of us. Still though it doesn't make sense, it doesn't seem like them to resort to measures as drastic as that."

"Dammit I can't take this anymore!" Sho suddenly used his Card Magic to trap Erza inside one of his cards.

"And apparently this is now happening, what the hell do you think you're doing Sho?"

"There's no way in hell I'm going to let him lay a finger on Erza, I'll beat Jellal all by myself if I have to!" and then Sho bolted in the opposite direction.

"Dammit he's gonna get himself killed."

"Sho you can't do it alone!" Simon quickly bolted off after him, and when the others attempted to follow they were blocked off by a wall of earth cutting them off.

Luke then found himself separated from the others by another wall of earth that suddenly appeared behind them "Why am I not surprised?"

"_Now then, let the games begin."_

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"_Now then, let the games begin."_

"Oh hell yeah." Natsu ignited the flames on his fist "Now I'm all fired up!"

"We're gonna have to go to the very top of the tower to track down this Jellal guy now aren't we?" Happy noted.

"You guys go ahead and kick his ass if you can, I'm gonna go track down Luke and then we'll meet you up there as soon as we can." and so Bolt promptly took off out the window.

"And then there were two."

"But I don't get it." Wally muttered "Why the hell would they wanna do this to us? If they really fire that thing then it's gonna be curtains for everybody. We were all just a bunch of stupid little kids looking for our own little taste of freedom."

"Eesh, sounds like that really sucks." Natsu gave a shrug "Look I don't have a clue as to just what kind of freedom you guys are looking for, but what we have going in Fairy Tail isn't too shabby all things considered. Hey Happy, I'm not really feeling this game so what the hell do you say we bend the rules."

"Aye sir!" with his signature catchphrase and a salute, Happy grabbed onto Natsu and the two of them rocketed out the window and burst upwards along the side of the tower.

"Now what the hell do you say we skip ahead and go straight to the finish line little buddy?"

"Aye sir!"

Wally watched both of them go with a small smile "He's one hell of a standup guy, and that is one hell of a dandy looking scarf."

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The earth wall in front of Luke lowered to reveal Noah standing on the other side "I told you I'd be waiting for you."

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised." Luke let out a sigh "Look as much as I would love to finish what we started with you, I have other things to deal with."

"I know that all too well, if we're gonna fight it out then you'll need to be able and willing to give me 100% both physically and emotionally, and you can't do that with one of your friends in danger. I'd love to just let you go save Titania but my superiors would raise all sorts of hell if I just bailed on their orders like that, the annoying pains in my asses. For the time being, let's just give them a good show alright?"

"Sounds good to me." Luke glanced back at the wall behind them "You guys go on ahead and look for Erza, I'll take care of this guy and join you as soon as I can."

"Fine, but you'd better win and catch up with us fast!" Cana's voice sounded from the other side of the wall, followed by the sound of retreating footsteps.

"You know I enjoy a good fight once in awhile, but protecting the people I care about and my guild as a whole come first."

"You got your priorities, you keep it close to the vest." Noah noted "I like that about you, it's one of the reasons why I know you're the one I've been looking for."

"To give you a good fight?"

"And to beat the ever loving crap out of this one old guy that looks like if Santa was a demon from hell."

"I have no idea what that's supposed to mean, but if you really want to see my true power then I'll show you. **Lightning Dragon ROAR!" **Luke breathed out a powerful lightning enhanced roar.

"**Mountain Dragon ROAR!" **Noah breathed out a roar of his own, only with small rocks dispersed by the roar as well.

Luke blitzed behind Noah with his sword drawn and he quickly brought down the blade.

"**Mountain Dragon Terra Scales!" **Noah blocked the blade with his forearm, which was covered in brown colored dragon scales, forcing Luke to retreat back a few distance "You like the technique? I created it based on Gajeel's Iron Dragon Scales, not too shabby huh?"

"Pretty good for defense, but how's your offense."

"I think you'll find out soon enough. **Mountain Dragon Molten Spikes!" **Noah slammed his hands onto the ground, and several spikes appeared from the roof and the ground of the cave and shot towards Luke at high speeds.

Luke quickly blitzed his way around each one, forcing a few of them to crash into each other, and the others he quickly cut through with his sword "Not too shabby but attacks like those are too linear, they won't do you any good if they don't hit your opponent."

"Oh believe me I thought of that, it's actually a good part of the reason why I included this technique with a little failsafe."

"What failsafe is that?"

"It's simple, when they fail you're not safe-" Luke was cut off by the spike behind him exploding, throwing him into the next one that exploded, and the next one, but this one he was able to defend against "**Lightning Dragon Iron Fist!" **he matched the inevitable explosion with a quick one of his own, the force sending both him and Noah skidding backwards, though the former had a few burns across his body "Pretty good trick actually."

"I know right? Don't fix what isn't broken. **Mountain Dragon Molten Spikes!" **Noah promptly summoned another barrage of molten spikes.

Not willing to make the same mistake twice, Luke this time decided to take more evasive maneuvers '_So these things explode on impact, which means maybe I can use that to my advantage this time. That's right guys, come to papa!' _he quickly blitzed throughout the cave with the molten spikes right on his tail, making sure that none of them rammed into each other this time, and he quickly bolted towards Noah '_Come on, come on! Now!' _he quickly screeched to a halt at the last second, leaving the spikes to hurtle towards Noah.

"Oh son of a bitch." that was all Noah could say before the spikes slammed directly into him and detonated upon impact, resulting in a rather sizeable explosion that obliterated part of the cavern they had been fighting in.

Luke breathed a sigh of relief, but winced at the burn marks across his body "Okay that was a little bit too close for my liking."

When the smoke cleared, Noah was rather charred and received a few burn marks, but he was otherwise unharmed "I guess that marks an epic fail for the failsafe doesn't it?"

"So I guess I was right when I guessed that you couldn't move as long as you were powering that technique."

"Well it's still relatively new so it's got some kinks to work out. Anyway I give up, that is to say just for now. Go ahead and rescue Titania, and kick Jellal's ass while you're at it. But let me go ahead and say this, we're still on opposite sides and the next time we meet is when my guild is gonna be raising all sorts of hell, and you're gonna need to be at full strength if you want to protect your guild, and especially if you want to take _him _down. Now get moving already." and with that, Noah disappeared in a flash.

Luke wasted no time and promptly bolted through the tunnels at full speed '_I'm coming you guys, just hang on.'_

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Natsu and Happy continued flying up the side of the tower, only to screech to halt when they noticed something "What the hell, there's something coming this way."

"Hoohoohoo!" that was when Fukuro, the owl man of the Trinity Raven, flew towards them at top speed.

Natsu barely pulled himself out of the way "Was that an owl with pecs? No you know what, fuck it. Go go go!"

"Aye sir!" Happy quickly bolted throughout the skies.

"Hoo hoo!" Fukuro blitzed behind them and dealt Natsu a sharp kick to the head, sending him flying and crashing straight into the tower, and the Fukuro burst forward after him.

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Natsu landed on top of what looked like a rusty bird cage in a room inside the tower "What the hell was that, did I just get decked by a buff owl guy?"

"Salamander it's you!"

Natsu glanced back to see Simon on the path below him "Oh great, who the hell is yelling at me now?"

"You'd better watch out for this guy." Happy told him "He's one of the buddies of that blockhead guy."

"Oh yeah, well that means he's with that bastard Jellal."

"I'm not with him, believe me when I tell you that I'm on your side." Simon told him "This whole time I've just been pretending to be under the spell of that lunatic. It was the only way I would be able to stop him."

"Hold on a second, are you really telling us the truth?"

"Yes I am."

"Fine. So who is this Jellal guy anyway, and why the hell is he making us play this stupid game in the first place?"

"He has quite the twisted sense of humor, he's the twin brother of Siegrain, a member of the Magic Council. I assume that's how he knows they're planning to fire the Etherion."

"So all of this bullshit is just a fight between two brothers?"

"That is a distinct possibility, I don't know the specifics of their relationship or whether they are at odds."

"Hoo hoo!" that was when a distinct hooting cut their conversation short as Fukuro dropped down onto the scene.

"No, it can't be!"

"I will not tolerate the breaking of the rules, now all three of you prepare yourselves to be punished in the name of justice! Fukuro the knight of true justice has arrived!"

"This is bad."

"What the hell am I looking at exactly?" asked Natsu "Seriously he's a bird dude with pecs bigger than my head!"

"**Dark Moment!" **Simon quickly cast his Dark Moment spell.

"God dammit now I can't even see! I knew we should never have trusted that guy!"

"Just be quiet! Now let's get out of here, we don't stand a chance against the owl!"

"Hoohoo! Even in the darkness, the light of justice shall always shine through!" Fukuro quickly dealt Simon an energy enhanced fist to the face, sending him crashing straight into the wall behind him "You see?"

"Dammit…"

"Hey man are you doing okay?" asked Natsu.

"These guys mean serious business, they're assassins from the Death's Head Order."

"Assassins have guilds too?"

"They belong to one of the dark guilds. They refuse to take on regular jobs, they make their living by accepting requests that involve using their magic to kill people for the sake of making a profit. The wizards we're up against are known as the Trinity Raven, they're responsible for killing every single officer in the Western Army during the Cabria War. Their power is thought to be legendary."

"So you're telling us that the bird with the pecs here is actually some kind of supposed super killer?"

"Yes."

"Hoohoohoo." Fukuro let out a chuckle "And if you're evil then we'll kill you."

"They're all professional assassins, you cannot defeat them!"

"Now then Salamander, the word back at our guild is that you're responsible for many evil deeds as of recently. It is my duty as a knight of justice to see that you are punished for your heinous crimes!"

"You wanna bet birdman?" Natsu ignited his fists with flames "Magic guilds are supposed to bring people with similar minds together so that they can share their dreams, they're not supposed to be places for scum like you to team up."

"No Salamander don't do it!" Simon protested "I'm telling you there's no way you'll be able to defeat him!"

"I hate it that there are people out there who will pay someone to kill others, I hate it that there are people out there who will kill for money, and I hate that you're talking like you're part of a real guild, so I'm gonna have to take your ass down a few notches, you hear me birdbrain? Now let's do some dancing!"

"Oh little Salamander you're still so naive, I'm doing this world a great service by ending the lives of those who commit evil deeds, and since you are an evil doer you must be destroyed like all of the others! Hoohoohoo!" so Fukuro blitzed across the room and caught Natsu with his fist as he rocketed forward at full speed.

"Oh please, you think you can fight fire with fire? There's no way in hell that's gonna happen you goddamn dodo bird!" Natsu hurled Fukuro upwards into one of the bird cages hanging around the room.

"I will do what I must for the sake of justice!" Fukuro blitzed towards Natsu, grabbed him by the leg, burst back upwards and promptly threw him to the ground.

"Okay, now that hurt."

"Impressive, your power is considerably greater than I had expected you to be. This job may actually prove to be a real challenge for once."

Simon was horrified by what he was seeing '_I knew their power was incredible but I had no idea they could be like this, and there are still four other wizards that we have to beat.'_

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Jellal studied the chessboard in front of him with a sinister smirk "Shame on you Simon, how could you be defeated so easily at the start of the game. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by the fact that Noah took a dive, he always did enjoy irritating me. That means the Thunderclap will advance to the next round. Our next match in this round however, that will feature a clash between Fukuro and Natsu Dragneel. I was very much forward to facing him myself but the odds don't exactly look promising in that regard. But then again, Luke Drako the Thunderclap does appear to be a much more promising opponent than the likes of Salamander. That battle feels as if it will be even more enticing than the likes of Salamander."

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By this point, Lucy and Juvia had split up to look for Natsu, while Gray and Cana had gone off after Sho and Erza, but then Vidaldus Taka appeared before them and attacked Lucy and Juvia using his hair, but found that he was unable to attack Juvia, due to the fact that her body was made of water.

Juvia attempted to attack Vidaldus using her Water Lock spell, but the spell was promptly absorbed by his hair, which also promptly Vidaldus to decide to make Juvia into a succubus of his, and by playing the Rock of Succubus song on his guitar he was able to corrupt Juvia with it, completely changing her personality and making her turn sides and attack Lucy.

Despite this, Lucy didn't try to fight Juvia, but instead try to snap her out of the spell that was controlling her, though this proved to be impossible since Juvia wasn't able to hear anything but the orders given to her by Vidaldus, and as such she tried to drown Lucy inside her body, completely covering her with water.

While she was stuck inside of Juvia's body, Lucy was able to hear Juvia's heart call out to her and tell her how much she loved Fairy Tail and how much warmth and joy the guild was able to give her, and she went on to apologize for her actions as she began shedding tears, claiming that she would never do what she was doing to one she considered to be a comrade.

Once Lucy was finally released from Juvia's body, Juvia was ordered to finish her off, but Lucy told her that one who cries for those they hold dear would never be rejected from the Fairy Tail guild. This was when an idea dawned upon Lucy, in which she stuck her hand into Juvia's body and used one of her Gate Keys to summon a Zodiac Spirit, Aquarius the Water Bearer.

Unfortunately, Aquarius proved that her temper was as bad as it always was, and she proceeded to attack everyone on the battlefield.

Vidaldus began absorbing the water unleashed by Aquarius using his hair, and as a result of this he ended up losing control of Juvia, which allowed her to gain enough control to reach out her hand and grab ahold of Lucy just as she did the same to Juvia, and as a result they were able to activate a Unison Raid.

The amount of water being released was greatly amplified, and because Vidaldus wasn't able to absorb all of the water present his hair ended up falling off while he himself was knocked out cold.

Before she left, Aquarius threatened Lucy with her life and told her not to summon her again for awhile, since she had a date with her boyfriend.

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Jellal observed the results of the battle and his frown deepened "Unbelievable, to think that they actually managed to perform a Unison Raid. Monks have spent their entire lives trying to achieve it, but even the most disciplined were never able to succeed. That did prove to be quite impressive, even if it was just dumb luck. Well I've learned my lesson, from here on out I have no intention of underestimating the power of Erza's allies again." he looked back down at the chessboard and his smirk widened "And it would seem that a new battle is about to begin in earnest. A battle of Maker Magic no less, now this should prove to be quite interesting if nothing else."

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The meeting of the Magic Council continued, and as it was there were 4 votes in favor and 5 votes against firing the Etherion.

Concerned by this, Siegrain saw that he had no choice but to reveal to the council just who it was that Jellal was trying to revive using the R-system, that being Zeref himself, the most powerful and most evil mage in history.

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Gray on the other hand, he was speeding through the halls of the Tower of Heaven as fast as he could, his mind racing '_Dammit Erza, where the hell are you?' _his head snapped up and he leapt back a short distance as a barrage of red colored projectiles darted downwards from above "What the hell?"

From the roof of the hallway emerged none other than Sanguine himself "I see, so you're the user of Ice Make magic Jellal told me about. I am Sanguine, the most powerful assassin the Death's Head Order guild has at its disposal."

"I don't give a damn who you are, just tell me where Erza is."

"You know I can't do that, if you wish to rescue her then you'll have to keep searching for her and there's only one way to do that."

"By taking you down."

"Smart boy, I can see that Ur taught you well."

"Don't mention her name you son of a bitch!" Gray charged at Sanguine, and he nearly ended up getting skewered because of it.

"**Blood Make: Sword!"**

Gray found the left side of his vision being filled with a thin red line, and he instantly knew what it was as well as the fact that it was in motion, so he rolled and leaned at the same time, and he barely managed to position his body to spin and slammed his elbow into the back of his opponent's head '_So this guy uses blood based Maker Magic huh?'_

The blood sword arced down from the stab and quickly swept to cut open Gray's stomach.

Gray clasped both hands around the blade and allowed the momentum of Sanguine's swing to throw him clear '_I don't have time to waste on this guy, I have to find Erza before that blonde idiot does something to get both of them killed!'_

"You don't have time to be concerned about the safety of your comrades right now, your focus should be on me."

"It's not the others I'm worried about. _Frankly right now, that would have to be me.'_

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The battle between Natsu and Fukuro continued, but even with his immense levels of physical strength, Natsu was outmatched by Fukuro and his enhanced speed, and Fukuro played with that and took advantage of Natsu's motion sickness, in which he released a missile with hands that forced Natsu to travel in circles, and Fukuro took this chance to eat him, as he did with his opponents in order to consume their magic.

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"**Ice Make: Lance!" **Gray leapt backwards and quickly fired off a barrage of lances to cover his retreat.

"You think that will save you?" Sanguine quickly cut down the ice lances using his blood sword and sliced them clean in half.

Gray's eyes hardened with his mind racing '_Come on, there's gotta be a way to get around this guy's Blood Make magic. _**Ice Make: Arrows!" **he fired a barrage of arrows.

Sanguine quickly cut through every arrow being shot at him, though one did manage to hit him in the chest, but it did nothing other than stick in his skin, not going in much further than a centimeter.

'_Dammit, it didn't even draw blood. I'd have to get him with a way heavier hitter, but I'll need time for something like that and in a fight like this that's something I don't have. I would never have enough time to get through the motions and fire that thing off, so how the hell am I going to go about this?'_

"Don't tell me this is all you're capable of, I expected more from a student of Ur." Sanguine just looked down on Gray with an expression of clear disdain "All you can do is run away and harass me with meaningless trinkets?"

The only reply given by Gray came in the form of another ice arrow taking Sanguine right in the center of his forehead.

Anyone else probably would've died then and there, but Sanguine clearly wasn't anyone else, and he was totally unharmed as the ice arrow dropped harmlessly to the ground without so much as a drop of blood on it "So be it, if you don't come to me then I suppose I'll just have to come to you. **Blood Make: Bullets!" **he fired off a barrage of bullets made of blood from his fingertips, almost faster than Gray was able to dodge. The key word in that sentence being almost.

Gray burst out of the way, counting on his perceptive abilities to keep him alive, and he didn't miss how the ground roiled when the attacks hit '_Great, one of those things hits me and I'm pretty much screwed.' _his chest burst open as a result of a long red blade piercing him all the way through.

And who should be standing behind him but Sanguine himself "You grew careless."

"Not like I'm the only one." Gray suddenly shattered into ice.

"An ice clone."

"Gotcha!"

Sanguine was visibly shaken as he looked down at Gray's arm bursting up from within the ground to try and grab him by the ankle, so he slammed a palm down as a long thin red blade protruded from his hand, as well as other parts of his body "**Blood Make: Lance."**

The arm shattered into ice as it was skewered by the blood lance.

"Another ice clone. You're losing points for originality."

"**Ice Make: Ice Geyser!" **the ground shattered away as Gray burst upwards from below and hurled himself into the air, a geyser made of ice rising up at the same time.

"**Blood Make: Shield!" **Sanguine summoned a blood shield, clearly intending to block the attack.

Whatever it was that Sanguine was expecting, it wasn't for the shield to shatter like it didn't even exist, shattering into thousands of fragments as the ice geyser continued on unabated.

Sanguine quickly threw himself to dodge.

"**Ice Make: Sword!" **Gray summoned a sword of ice and struck Sanguine with it, leaving a gash across his chest '_Dammit, that didn't work. He dodged it at the last second. Looks like he finally decided to get serious, and that means this is gonna be a hell of a lot harder.' _he then followed through as he landed and spun, and then he smoothy went from jumping to running.

In a moment Sanguine was right there with him, both of them sprinting throughout the hallway for all they were worth, their arms and legs pumping, both of them appearing to be mere blurs to the average eye "**Blood Make: Bullets!" **a barrage of red bullets flew from his fingertips in an instant, only to frown at the results.

Gray wasted no time as he flipped, rolled, dodged and contorted, slipping between the gaps between the bullets, none of them coming closer than an inch to him. The two of them slammed to a stop, each one of them breathing hard, though Gray felt like he was breathing a lot harder than he should've been '_Dammit this isn't right, I shouldn't be so out of breath. Maybe I wasted too much magic power on the guards back there. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that all things considered, getting back my magic energy takes some time so I guess I was only at about 80% to begin with. I'm probably at about 65% now, so I've gotta end this soon or there's no telling just how much longer I'm going to last.'_

Sanguine had his own concerns '_Looks like he's trying to come up with a plan, not that it's going to do him any good. But all the same I had better not waste anymore time on him or the preparations for the ceremony might be disrupted.' _crimson energy pulsated slightly around his body '_The boy doesn't look concerned. No, if anything he looks ready. Clearly he's not such a novice that he could be taken off guard by something like this.'_

'_Looks like he's going for full power now.'_

But that was when the world pretty much exploded for both of them.

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Cana bolted through one of the hallways, her mind racing '_Erza…'_

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(At the Fairy Tail guild hall, about 8 years ago…)

"Come on Cana, that sounds pretty stuck up." Gray pointed out "So what if today is your lucky day or whatever, you don't have to sound so stuck up when you say it."

Cana let out a sigh "Look I know what I'm doing, if it says that it's my lucky day then it's just my lucky day."

"Yeah well that makes one of us, I mean I fell into a ditch on my way this morning and now I can't find my wallet so today totally sucks for me!"

"And you're also naked."

"Dammit!"

"Hey don't get mad at me just because you like to get naked." this was when the so called lucky day started to kick in for Cana.

As in the doors to the guild hall creaked open, and a young girl with red hair and an eyepatch dressed in rags with a bag draped over her shoulder wandered into the place "This is it…"

'_Who's this girl? She doesn't look like she just came off the street, whatever happened to her it looks like she had a really rough time of it lately.'_

"This must be it, this must be the guild Grandpa Rob told me about."

(Flashback end)

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"What the hell is that thing?"

Simon glanced back to see Cana drop down onto the scene "So you're here."

"Nevermind that, what's up with the bird with pecs and what's it doing to Natsu?"

"Hoohoo!" didn't hesitate for a second in swallowing Natsu whole, which earned him some even bigger pecs and a patch of pink hair on top of his head "And that is how a true knight of justice takes the powers of evil and uses them for justice!"

"Ignoring whatever the hell you just said, did you seriously just swallow him whole?"

"Indeed I did, not only is my prey tasty but I gain their magic energy as well!"

"You give Natsu back to me right now!" Happy charged at Fukuro in a blind rage.

"**Fire Hoohoohoo!" **Fukuro dealt Happy his version of the Fire Dragon Iron Fist, sending him crashing into a nearby wall.

"Impossible." Simon muttered "When he devoured Salamander before he somehow gained his magic power."

"Hoohoo, you weren't expecting that were you?"

"And now for the final blow in the name of justice!" Fukuro unleashed another blast of fire from his fist aimed at Happy, resulting in an explosion.

When the smoke cleared, it was revealed that Cana had managed to save Happy at the very last second "Let's see, stupid pink hair, ridiculously hot fire with zero control over it. Yep that seems about right for Natsu."

"Hoohoo, and who might you be?"

"Hey Simon what the hell gives, I thought you were gonna go track down Sho and save Erza before he did something stupid."

"That was where I was headed when this thing showed up." Simon told her.

"You know what screw it, we don't have time to mess with this guy. We have to find Erza before it's too late, if we don't then there's a pretty good chance she's gonna end up being sacrificed by that Jellal guy. Normally I'm sure she would have no problem taking them down on her own, but the problem is that she's helpless as long as that mentally unstable friend of yours has her trapped inside that card."

"I'm sorry, I thought Sho would be able to handle the truth. I never imagined he would go berserk like that."

"Yeah well how does that saying go, you can't handle the truth?"

"Cana… please…" Happy murmured "Please save him… he needs you…"

"Don't worry Happy, I'll pull his flaming butt out of there one way or another." Cana stood back up and shot a glare at Fukuro "When the heck are you gonna learn to stay out of trouble? I mean come on, letting yourself get eaten by a bird with pecs is just too stupid even for you." she was ment with muffled yelling from inside Fukuro's stomach.

"The digestion process has begun." Fukuro noted "In only 10 minutes time the body of the evil that is Salamander will be fully dissolved within my own, and once that happens I'll be able to use his magic powers to bring you to justice!" his body started radiating with flames.

"I wouldn't count on that one anytime ever Big Bird."

"Then I shall vanquish you as well in the name of justice!"

"You can try. **Magic Card: Fate of Lightning!" **Cana pulled out a magic card and summoned a barrage of lightning.

"**Fire Dragon Roar!" **Fukuro breathed out a powerful blast of fire, the blast powering clear through the lightning barrage and shooting forward at full speed.

Cana was forced to brace herself as she was engulfed in the flames '_This is bad, absorbing Natsu and his powers made him more powerful than I thought he would be.'_

"Even the likes of lightning is no match for the fires of justice! It's no use, your companion was capable of even greater power than you realize! You don't stand a chance against the likes of his flames!"

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(Another flashback- 8 years ago)

Cana looked over to where Erza was eating at a table in the corner of the guild hall building by herself "You know I feel kind of bad for her, I mean she's always alone."

"So what of it then?" asked Gray "If you feel bad then don't just sit there feeling sorry for her, go over and say hi to her already."

"Didn't you do that before?"

"Yeah but she totally ignored me, she's not gonna get anywhere in the guild if she doesn't wanna talk to the Gray."

"Hey speaking of which "The Gray", where are your clothes?"

"Dammit!"

"But in all seriousness streaker, you're getting way too big for your britches." Cana rolled her eyes at the sight of Gray desperately looking for his clothes, and then she went over to Erza "Hey there, what's up?"

Erza glanced over at Cana and let out a sigh "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Trying to be a solo act in a guild like this is gonna amount to about the same as trying to stop that idiot from stripping." she pointed a thumb over towards Gray "Why don't you just come over and eat with the rest of us?"

"You mean the perv wearing only his underwear and all of the other loud mouths? Thanks for the offer but I think I'll pass."

"You're not doing any favors just isolating yourself, and it won't kill you to cut loose and make a few new friends."

"I'm not here to make friends, and if you're smart you'll leave me alone." and that pretty much ended any attempts at conversing with Erza, at least for the time being.

(Flashback end)

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"**Magic Card: Hydro Wave!" **Cana pulled out a card and summoned a powerful wave of water, extinguishing the flames in an instant.

"Hoohoo?!" needless to say, Fukuro was taken aback by this "How were you able to extinguish my flames of justice?!"

"Natsu's flames are way hotter than that, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering you're just some bird brained poser."

"Hoohoo! That's some quite impressive power you have there, maybe I should capture your power as well!" Fukuro burst forward, grabbed Cana and attempted to swallow her for the sake of her power, until…

"**Magic Card: Cryo Wave!" **Cana pulled out another card and summoned a layer of ice directly inside Fukuro's mouth, causing him to cry out in pain from how cold it was, while Cana was able to break away "I don't have any time to waste playing these stupid games with you, I have more important things to deal with like finding my friends and saving Erza! I don't care if I have to take you out to do it, no matter what happens I'm going to save her!"

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(Another flashback- I swear this is the last one)

The sun was setting over the skies of Magnolia.

Cana glanced down the hillside and found Erza huddled up by herself sitting in front of the riverside '_There she is, she just up and left so suddenly. _Hey what are you doing down here, for all you know you might get swept away." she made her way down the hillside, only to freeze in her tracks at what she saw.

Erza turned to face her, revealing tears streaming down her face from the one good eye she still had left "It's you again. What is it with you, haven't you figured it out yet? You know what fine, just give me your best shot."

"I'm not here to fight you."

"You could've fooled me, everyone else in the guild is just like that."

"But that's not… Okay fine you've got me there. But tell me something, what are you doing sitting on your own all the time?"

"Well… It's just that I prefer to be alone because I get nervous around other people."

"Well yeah, but you're alone right now so why are you crying?"

"...At least there's one person who doesn't like to fight all the time."

"It wouldn't be right to fight someone who's crying."

"I see." a small smile found its way onto Erza's face.

(Flashback end)

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Cana took a full on fist to the face from Fukuro and was sent tumbling back, but she shot him a smirk filled with triumph as she wiped the blood from her lip "Game over birdbrain, now get the hell out of my way."

"Hoohoo?" Fukuro glanced around and noticed a number of cards scattered around him "Hoo hoo?"

"**Magic Card: Lightning Perimeter!" **Cana held up one arm, electricity charging in the palm of her hand and in the cards surrounding Fukuro, and she guided it down towards him, engulfing him in the explosion that followed.

When the smoke cleared, Fukuro was little more than a charred husk that spat out Natsu before falling off the birdcage and out of sight.

'_Even as a member of the guild Erza always felt alone, she kept her heart shielded in armor because she thought that was the only way to keep it from getting broken again. But it didn't get rid of the pain she was feeling.'_

Simon glanced over to where Happy was tending to Natsu, then glanced back at Cana with a look of pure awe "That was incredible."

'_I hope she understands that her friends and family in Fairy Tail are able to protect her ten times better than any armor ever could, with us around to protect her she'll never cry again, not if we have anything to say about it.'_

'_Cana Alberona, she's more powerful of a wizard than I was led to believe by my investigations, but that works out quite well for us.'_

Cana promptly fell to one knee "Dammit."

"Are you alright?"

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine. We're running out of time though, we have to save Erza before this Jellal guy uses her as a sacrifice."

'_Remarkable, her sheer force of will was able to increase the strength of her magic to overcome the assassin?'_

Natsu on the other hand, well he was still dealing with his motion sickness "Okay, why the heck is everything spinning?"

'_It seems to me that you couldn't have chosen a better guild Erza, I can see now that you've been in good hands.'_

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The battle between two Maker Magic users had been rudely interrupted.

'_Dammit, what the hell?!' _Gray felt himself being deafened by the explosion roaring in his ears, the shockwave blowing him right off his feet, the energy searing his skin almost to the point of burning it, and the ground beneath him bucked and kicked like it was alive, slamming him over and over again. Gray didn't know when he fell but he did, on his shoulder and in a very painful manner, and while the explosion didn't abate, it did continue on for several seconds.

Finally, after what felt like hours, silence fell over the battlefield. Sanguine had vanished from sight, and in his place was a pockmarked and tortured Earth. Dust was hanging over the blasted landscape like smoke, with small rocks and pebbles still raining down.

Gray staggered his way back to his feet, his mind racing '_Okay, first of all that hurt like a bitch big time. Second of all, what the hell was that?' _then he looked back and his expression dulled considerably '_Oh, so that's what happened. Why shouldn't I be surprised anymore?'_

"So this is what you were up to." Luke was standing at the end of the hallway, with Bolt riding on top of his shoulder carrying what looked like a magic cannon of some sort.

"What the hell is that thing?"

"An explosion cannon." was Bolt's simple answer.

"Of course it is. Look as much as I appreciate the fact that you almost made me go deaf I'm kind of in the middle of something- Shit hold that thought!" he leapt forward just as the earth beneat him burst apart.

The thin red blade of a sword filled the space where his head had just been, and Sanguine shot over the tip of him, not expecting him to dodge.

'_Thank god, there wasn't a follow up attack.'_

"Eat hod magic mother fucker!" Bolt promptly fired off another explosion from the cannon he was carrying, the explosion hammering down a second later and throwing Gray clean off his feet again.

This time Gray was ready and landed on all fours like a cat, no pun intended '_Well that's just fucking perfect, first I have this guy to deal with and a sadist of a talking cat with wings!'_

Luke promptly blitzed next to Gray and shot him a glance "Taking cats with wings, sometimes you love them and sometimes you hate them."

"I think I'm in the latter category right about now."

"As am I." Sanguine on the other hand, he was on his knees and one hand, a blood dome above him sprouting from one of his hands raised high above his head, the dome covering his shoulders all the way down his spine, the back of his skull and his pelvis. The actual dome itself had been reduced to a shattered and broken mess, falling apart in chunks, and it fell away altogether when the dome dematerialized and Sanguine pulled himself back to his feet.

"Yeah he uses Maker Magic like I do, only his is something called Blood Make magic."

"So what are you doing out here on your own?" asked Luke "What about Cana and the others, what happened to them?"

"Cana and I split up from the others to look for Sho and Erza, I got cut off by this guy and I was fighting him until you and that little bastard showed up."

"Looks like you're holding your own pretty well."

"And I'm gonna win, I want to finish this on my own."

"That was the plan anyway, I just came to make sure you didn't get yourself killed."

"I can beat this guy no problem, but even after I do we still have three other assassins to deal with, not to mention Jellal himself."

"Well I already took care of the Dragon Slayer he had with him, and I wouldn't be surprised if the others have already dealt with the rest of the assassins, which leaves only Jellal that we'll have to deal with. As much as I hate to leave you on your own Erza is the one in need right about now."

"You don't have to say anything else, just get moving already."

"Way ahead of you, just make sure you don't get yourself killed." and so Luke and Bolt promptly took off in a flash.

'_At least I know Erza is in good hands, so that's promising I guess. Still though, it's gonna take me everything I've got left in me to beat this guy. I doubt I'll be in any shape to help the others out by the time I reach him once this guy is dealt with, not like Natsu is ever gonna let me live it down anyway.'_

"**Blood Make: Spears!" **Sanguine fired off a barrage of blood spears from his hands.

"**Ice Make: Sword!" **Gray was onto him before that and summoned an ice sword, punching, kicking and slashing away at the blood spears like a madman, managing to drive Sanguine back through sheer ferocity alone.

"**Blood Make: Hammer!" **Sanguine summoned a hammer made of blood and promptly aimed it at him.

Gray was already predicting the attack just as Sanguine prepared to move, and he managed to dodge by the time the blood hammer was where it should've been.

"Your skills is as impressive as you are irritating." Sanguine sounded like he was growing increasingly aggravated.

'_The sad thing is that's probably the closest I'm going to get to a compliment from this guy. _I'm a member of Fairy Tail, people from our guild have a habit of that, now where were we?"

The two of them charged at each other all over again.

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The meeting of the Magic Council had at last concluded, and thanks to the new information that was revealed by Siegrain, the votes had shifted from 4 in favor and 5 against him to 8 in favor and 1 against him, and as such the Etherion was scheduled to be fired in one hour to strike down the Tower of Heaven.

Yajima, the only member of the Council who was still opposed to the use of Etherion, promptly entered Siegrain's chambers and asked to know whether or not Siegrain would be willing to take responsibility for the event, to which Siegrain confirmed that he would willingly take on full responsibility.

Unsatisfied with this, Yajima then furiously reminded Siegrain that the blast from Etherion could and most likely would kill thousands of innocent people, as well as Jellal himself, and their deaths would sit squarely on his shoulders, to which Siegrain responded that he was willing to bear it.

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Jellal was already aware of the decision of the council, and he gave a sinister smirk "So it's your move now, but you had better hurry. Soon the light is going to rain down upon our heads."

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The battle between Maker mages raged on.

"**Ice Make: Lance!" **Gray flipped over Sanguine's head, showering him with a barrage of ice lances, only for them to bound off of a blood domed formed over him in an instant '_Dammit, the more I throw at this guy the more it just bounces off of him like it's nothing. My usual tactics don't work against him, I've gotta stay ahead of him somehow!' _he landed, ducked under the blood sword being slashed at him, swept Sanguine's feet out from under him and prepared to use another spell "**Ice Make-"**

"**Blood Make: Bullets!" **Sanguine interrupted him with a barrage of blood bullets, forcing him to roll out of the way.

"I swear to the fucking First Master herself, I will break every bone in your body when I get my hands on you!" needless to say, by now Gray was starting to give into the frustration, which wasn't really surprising considering it was the umpteenth time he'd missed a blow on him during their battle.

Sanguine retreated a short distance away and put some distance between them, and he promptly stared at Gray, earning a glare back in return "Rather poetic is it not? Two fellow users of Maker magic facing off in a duel to the death."

'_Okay Gray, what the hell do we do now? He's fast, really fast, he can make blood weapons that can pierce through steel, and he's pretty good at hand to hand combat to boot. This guy isn't gonna go down easily.'_

Sanguine suddenly staggered and began coughing violently.

'_He's coughing up blood, is he sick or wounded from another battle? I can't see any visible wounds on him. Maybe I can turn this into a battle of attrition, sure I'm kind of tired but I'm not coughing up gallons of blood like this guy. I'd better not give him a chance to pull out anything new though, that would be bad.'_

Sanguine promptly bent over and, as the skin on the base of his neck began rippling, a red colored weapon popped right out of his skin.

'_I had to open my fucking mouth even inside my head, didn't I?' _Gray was promptly left dumbfounded by what happened next.

The red weapon Sanguine pulled out of his body morphed until it looked like a whip of some sort, with the end of it being sharp like the tip of a sword "**Blood Make: Lasso."**

"Okay, I've been kind of caught off guard by your abilities up until now but there's no way in hell that one can be good for you."

"You won't live long enough to find out." Sanguine dashed forward with his new weapon raised high.

Gray sprinted forward at full speed, waiting until the right second "**Ice Make: Floor!"** and then he dropped into a slide on the now frozen floor, breezing right in between Sanguine's legs '_I wonder if I should punch him in the crotch? No, tempting as that is chances are he'd be prepared for that. Well whatever something like that can't be helped, so I guess it's time for me to go to plan B.' _so he hooked Sanguine's knees and took them out from under him, causing Sanguine to smash down as Gray himself vaulted into the air "**Ice Make: Cannon!" **he formed an ice cannon and promptly fired from it a barrage of ice cannonballs.

Sanguine promptly got to his feet and slashed the ice cannonballs in half using his blood lasso, shattering the ice covering the ground in the process.

Gray fired another barrage cannon balls.

Sanguine somersaulted over the cannonballs and flicked his blood lasso, which promptly shot out like a whip.

Gray was forced to abandon the spell in order to dodge the attack '_What the hell?' _he was quick to dodge another swipe of the blood lasso '_Okay there's gotta be a limit to how much bullshit a spell can be, and I should know.'_

"It would seem to be that I underestimated you." Sanguine retracted his blood lasso "I should've expected as much from a student of Ur. Tell me your name."

"Only if you tell me yours."

"I am Sanguine."

"Gray Fullbuster."

"I must commend you then Gray Fullbuster, no one has ever lasted this long in single combat with me before. However, my time is growing short." he gagged and coughed up some blood, which only further emphasized his point "I must end this quickly." the blood lasso in his hand began to row until it had covered his arm, and it was still expanding, and soon in place of his entire arm was a massive spiralling spike made of blood that stood almost as tall as him "**Blood Make: Drill!"**

Gray was rather startled by the size of the weapon, but he didn't show it.

'_Why isn't he preparing another Ice Make spell? Another sword, a hammer, a cannon? I've already seen all of them, and this technique can outlast whatever his next spell is long enough to impale him. _Prepare to die Gray Fullbuster!"

"Not today, not to you! **Ice Make: Super Freeze Arrow!" **Gray promptly fired an ice arrow into the tip of the blood spike, the impact shattering the ground underneath them, wind peeling everywhere in great sheets, ripping gouges into the brickwork around them.

Another blood sword appeared in Sanguine's free hand "Die!"

"Dammit!" Gray could only watch as the second blade came down on him, cutting him in half and killing him instantly. Or rather it would've if he hadn't shattered into ice when the blade made contact.

'_Another ice clone?!' _Sanguine suddenly froze up and began coughing up blood, rendering him unable to protect himself from what came next.

'_He's helpless, now's my chance!' _a cold chill filled the air "**Ice Make: Ice Bringer!" **the last of the ice fell away to reveal Gray, having protected himself with an ice clone at the last second, now holding one large ice sword in each hand, ready to deal the final blow.

"I see… Well done…" those were Sanguine's last words.

Gray's Ice Bringer quickly cut clear through Sanguine's chest, cutting him wide open and sending him spinning like a pinwheel before he finally stopped and hit the ground with a very loud thud. With the battle over, Gray limped his way over to where Sanguine lay with blood pouring out of his wounds, and the realization dawned upon him "So that's it, he was using his own blood as a basis to power his magic. If it wasn't for that then he could've avoided my last attack no problem, but it finally caught up to him." he promptly fell to one knee '_Well that took a lot more out of me than I thought it would.'_

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The preparations for firing the Etherion were nearly completed, with bystanders looking on with looks of amazement as the technicians continued working on it.

The members of the Magic Council were arguing over the ethics of the decision that they had made, and even though it was justified by the law they still felt unsure.

At the same time, Siegrain and Ultear were also discussing Siegrain's dream, with Siegrain actually appearing to be rather nervous, and all the while Yajima was listening in on their conversation from afar.

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Meanwhile, in the Tower of Heaven throne room…

Jellal knocked over another piece on his chessboard "There's only 25 minutes left, it would seem that the time has come for us to say our farewells Siegrain."

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Still resting from their battle with Vidaldus Taka of the Trinity Raven, Lucy and Juvia were soon found by Wally and Milliana, but Lucy was too tired to stand up to them and just pretended to be unconscious.

Fortunately, the case was that Simon had actually contacted his comrades through his telepathy magic, and he had told them to protect Lucy and Juvia and get them out of the tower.

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In another hallway…

"HOW COULD YOU?!" Sho raced down the halls of the tower in a frantic blind rage "You lied to me Jellal, you lied to all of us for so many years! I won't let you get away with it, I swear I'll make you pay for what you've done!"

"_Calm down Sho, you need to get control of yourself!"_

"He has to pay for what he did!"

"_You're going to need my help in order to fight him, I need you to release me from this card at once!"_

"I can't do that, I'm sorry but it's for your own good! You're safe in there!"

"_Don't be stupid!"_

"I'm not being stupid, I'm keeping you safe!" this was when he entered a room with a long narrow bridge surrounded by a few cherry blossom trees.

Standing before them was none other than Ikaruga of the Trinity Raven "Konichiwa, I am the one they call Ikaruga. Who might you be?"

"Get the hell out of my way lady, don't make me hurt you!"

"Dear me, why must I be burdened by such a boorish young man?"

"I WARNED YOU!" Sho fired off a barrage of magic card projectiles.

With a few simple strikes of her sword and remarkable precision, Ikaruga cut every single card in half.

"What the- How did you do that?!"

"With my katana I am able to cut through anything with extreme precision."

"Well that sword of yours won't scare me!" Sho prepared to fire off more cards, only to find that he couldn't move and that the path beneath him had been cut down "No… I can't move…" he fell to his knees.

"Of course you can't, I've just severed your nerves without cutting your clothing or flesh. You should've known better than to challenge my Mugetsu style."

"But…"

"_Let me out of here Sho!"_

"I can't…"

"Well well, what do we have here?" Ikaruga let out a chuckle "I was wondering where you had been hiding Erza."

"You won't get her…"

"_You have to release me Sho, she's too powerful for you to take on by yourself!"_

"Don't worry about me, all that matters is that you're safe! I cast a shielding spell on that card, she can't harm you from the outside!"

"_No!"_

"Is that so?" Ikaruga gripped her sword "Let's put that theory to the test then, shall we?"

"_Your spell won't hold up against her! That's no ordinary sword she's wielding, it's radiating magic power!"_

"You're safe, I promise! Trust me-" Sho cut himself short when he saw Erza having to defend herself from Ikaruga's attack "She can cut across the dimensional rift?"

"I can do much more than that." Ikaruga promptly fired off a large barrage of slashes from her sword, forcing Erza to defend herself from inside the card and sending him slamming into a nearby bridge post.

"Sister!"

"Don't worry about me." with a brilliant golden light, Erza, emerged from within the card, ready to fight "I suspected that your attacks would weaken Sho's sealing spell, and that would allow me to cut right through it to freedom."

'_A sword that can cut through dimensions is amazing enough, but her ability to use that power to her advantage is what makes her even more amazing.'_

"You said your name was Ikaruga? Well I didn't come all this way for you, so begone."

Ikaruga let out a chuckle "My apologies, but I do believe that I'll stay."

Whatever retort Erza was going to use was cut off when the armor she was wearing suddenly shattered, and she gripped her left arm in pain '_How did she-?!'_

"You seem quite surprised, a warrior with as much skill as yourself should've seen that attack coming." and then she started singing "**Can you feel its gaze, from the depths of the night mist? The mononoke… **Your single minded focus on Jellal has rendered you a fledgling novice, completely unaware to my katana flashing about you."

Erza's gaze darkened considerably.

"Yes that's right, there's the I've been waiting for."

Sho was frozen in terror at what he was seeing '_I've never seen her like this.'_

"You may be skilled, but you don't stand a chance against me."

"We'll see about that." Erza promptly requipped into her Heaven's Wheel Armor "You're my enemy and as such I will defeat you, I always do."

"I'd like to see you try."

"And so you shall." Erza charged forward with two swords in hand.

Ikaruga blocked both swords with her own.

"**Heaven's Wheel, Circle Sword!" **Erza summoned a number of swords circled around her and fired them forward.

"**Mugetsu Style…" **faster than the eye was able to see, Ikaruga cut through all of Erza's swords with ease "That was my Yasha Senku."

'_She cut through all of my swords?'_

Ikaruga let another slash of her sword loose, which was enough to shatter Erza's Heaven's Wheel Armor in an instant, causing her to cry out in pain "**Mugetsu Style…"**

'_This is bad!'_

"**Karura-en!" **she summoned a circle of flames around her body, which generated a powerful torrent of flames that hurtled down the bridge.

"**Requip!" **Erza requipped into her Flame Empress Armor right before the blast struck her, but she was still sent skidding backwards.

"Ah, so that would be your Flame Empress Armor. It's highly resistant to flame based attacks is it not? I'm impressed that you were able to requip into it as quickly as you did." this was followed by the armor promptly shattering "And how embarrassing to be dressed in a fashion that is so inappropriate in the presence of that young man, I suggest you adorn yourself with the most powerful armor you possess."

"If that's what you wish then so be it. **Requip!" **and so with a flash of light and a powerful shockwave, Erza flashed into a new suit of black spike covered armor "Purgatory Armor requip complete, you're going to regret your arrogance when I'm through with you!" she summoned the armor's spiked mace "No one who's seen this armor has lived to tell the tale!"

"This is the most powerful armor you have in your arsenal? Well then we might as well test its limitations then, shall we?"

With a mighty roar, Erza charged at Ikaruga and unleashed several powerful shockwave attacks with her spiked mace in her rage.

Ikaruga danced her way around Erza's attacks with ease, and with one clean stroke she managed to shatter Erza's Purgatory Armor, causing her to cry out in pain "I'm sorry but you can't say I didn't warn you, you made quite the valiant effort but there's no armor in existence my katana cannot cut through. Admit your defeat."

"Never…" Erza struggled just to stay on her feet.

Sho was filled with dread over what he was seeing '_No, this can't be happening… It's just not possible… She can't lose… She just can't lose…'_

"I've been such a fool this entire time, the answer to defeating you has been right in front of my eyes but I was too blind to see it. **Requip!" **with a flash Erza requipped into one final new outfit, that being her Clear Heart Clothing, a pair of long red pants with orange flames at the bottoms, and a white strip of cloth wrapped around her chest, as well as having two matching swords that came with it.

'_What the heck is she thinking, she must be out of her mind!'_

"Is this some kind of joke?" Ikaruga let out a scoff "Why would you trade out your armor for an outfit made of regular clothing?"

"Just Requip already!"

"Is this particular form of dress intended to be some form of mockery?"

"What the heck are you doing? You don't stand a chance against her like that! I'm sure you've got all kinds of heavy duty armor right?! You've gotta stay strong or you won't be able to win against her!"

Erza slowly shook her head "No you're wrong Sho, I can't do that because the truth is that I've never been strong. It's all a lie, all of it has been a lie. As a child I could only watch as those I held close to me suffered, I lost people that I cared about because I didn't have the strength I needed to protect them. I tried to be strong, but when I was all alone I wasn't able to hide my emotions. I decided that in order to convince everyone that I was strong I would hide my heart away inside a suit of armor, and there no one could see that it was broken. I wear armor to conceal my weakness from the rest of the world, without I've been to afraid to fight up until now."

"It matters not." Ikaruga let out a scoff "Whether you wear it or not doesn't make any difference to me, I'll strike you down just the same."

"All this time I thought my armor was protecting me, but the truth is that it did more harm for me than good. It shielded me from the pain I was feeling, but at the same time it kept me distanced from others. My heart was too guarded to form proper connections with anyone. That is to say until I joined Fairy Tail, everyone was so warm and caring that my cold shell began to crack and I began to truly feel emotions again. I can't rely on my armor to protect me from the world or the people around me, my armor was nothing more than a cocoon and I know that now I'm strong enough to defeat you without it."

"I do believe we'll see about that." and so the two of them charged at each other, resulting in a brief clash. When it was over, one of Erza's two swords had been destroyed.

"It would see… that our battle… is over…" but then Ikaruga's sword shattered as well "Most impressive…"

Erza breathed a sigh as she dematerialized her swords "It's over… No matter how powerful the armor I possess, it means nothing if it lacks the necessary speed to avoid her precision based attacks. What my Clear Heart Clothing lacks in attack power, it makes up for in movement speed and precision. That's all I need to end this."

Sho was pretty much in awe over that "Sister… what you did was amazing!"

"Tell me Sho, are you alright?"

"I think so."

"I see, that's good."

Ikaruga lay sprawled out on the floor with her eyes closed "Defeat is quite bitter indeed, in all my years I've only known the sweet taste of victory. It doesn't matter that you defeated me because you and Jellal are both doomed to fail."

"What are you talking about?"

"In 15 minutes time… **the light of justice… shall come raining from the sky… It shall kill us all… **Honestly, what a wretched haiku."

"You mean the Etherion Blast." Erza glanced back "Sho listen to me, I need you to hurry and find Simon and my friends from Fairy Tail and get everyone from as far away from the tower as possible."

"What? But sister…" Sho's protests were cut off by a small smile.

"I know it's hard, but will you please just do this for me?"

"I… Alright, but what about you?"

"I'm going to settle things once and for all."

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The sun was setting in the skies over the Tower of Heaven.

Natsu's eyes snapped open and he found himself being carried by Simon up the path along the outside of the Tower of Heaven "What the hell…?"

"So you've finally come to, that's good." Simon noted "I was wondering when you were going to wake up."

"The last thing I remember is flying around in circles…" and then his cheeks bulged.

"Are you serious, just the memory of it is enough to make you sick? Well anyway you were eaten by the owl after that, but luckily for all of us Cana was able to save you."

"Oh…"

"She was able to defeat the owl, but she suffered some wounds during the fight so your cat friend with the wings is taking her somewhere safe-"

"Wait hold on a second."

"What is it?"

"You mean I lost to that owl freak, but Cana was able to beat it?"

"I wouldn't exactly say that you lost, it's more like you were swallowed and Cana took over the battle for you."

"...Fuck! Well better her than Gray I guess, at least she won't hold the fact that I got swallowed by that thing over my head for the next month."

"You realize that's not the point here."

"I don't care, Cana or Gray be damned I want a rematch with that bird! I say we go track down that birdbrain so I can show him what I've got!" he was promptly dragged back up the path by the scarf by Simon.

"We don't have time for any of that nonsense right now."

"...Hey I don't wanna be rude man, but who the hell are you?"

"My name is Simon, I was friends with Erza back when we were kids before she joined your guild."

"Oh, well in that case it's nice to meet you."

"You as well Salamander." Simon suddenly hunched over and clutched his chest in pain.

"Eesh, are you okay big guy?"

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine. I just got word from Wally, he and Milliana have already succeeded in locating Lucy and Juvia but they're in bad shape. He told me that it looked like they took down one of the Trinity Raven all by themselves."

"The two of them pulled off something like that?"

"They hadn't heard that we're not enemies anymore so they were confused when I asked them to take the girls to safety, and Sho contacted me and informed me that the last member of the Trinity Raven had been defeated by Erza."

"Bullshit, I didn't get to do anything!"

"But that still leaves Sanguine, and we're still trying to locate Gray and Luke, but aside from that the only thing left to do is stop Jellal, and Erza went to find him by herself."

"What the hell do you mean by herself?"

"She has a score to settle with Jellal, and whether we like it or not she wants to settle it on her own."

"I'm sure you're aware she and Jellal have quite the history, it's as if the two of them are destined to fight each other. I'm worried about her because Jellal is more powerful than she realizes. I'm begging you Salamander, you have to help her fight him."

"...Yeah there's no way in hell that's going to happen."

"What the hell did you say?!"

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Meanwhile, in the tower throne room…

Jellal let out a sigh of what sounded like disappointment "Don't tell me the game has come to an end already."

Erza's gaze hardened as she entered the room, her grip on her swords tightening "Do you really find that much pleasure in toying with the lives of others?"

"Between the moment in which we are born and the moment in which we die, there is only that game of emotions that we refer to as life. What could be more dreary than simply existing one day after another. It's been a long time hasn't it Erza?"

"It certainly has Jellal. You should know that Sho and the others are no longer under your influence."

"That's fine with me, now that the Tower of Heaven has been completed they've outlived their usefulness to me."

"You don't seem to concerned that it's going to be destroyed soon."

"You mean by the Etherion?" Jellal let out a chuckle.

"You're acting so carefree, I can only assume you were bluffing."

"Quite the opposite in fact, the Etherion will rain down on us."

"I must say that's a relief to hear, that means I just need to keep you occupied for the next 10 minutes and this nightmare will be over at last."

"Far from it, when the beam strikes your life will be sacrificed to Zeref. This has always been certain. You cannot avoid fate Erza, this is your destiny!"

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Now thoroughly enraged, Simon slammed Natsu against the wall of the tower "What the hell is the matter with you, you claim to be Erza's friend but you refuse to help her?"

"This is her fight, she wants to handle it on her own." Natsu told him "If I butted in on the action like that then she would never forgive me."

"There's no way that she could ever hope to win against Jellal."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? She's stronger than you give her credit for, so watch what the hell you're saying about her!"

"You've got it wrong, I'm not saying that I doubt the power of her magic."

"Then what?"

"Despite everything that's happened I know Erza still wants to try and save Jellal. I have no doubt in my mind, in her heart she could never truly hate the boy she remembers from her childhood. Jellal is as cunning as he is vicious, he knows exactly how to manipulate her emotions and use them to his advantage, but that's not the only thing working against her. As you know the Magic Council is preparing to fire a blast from the Etherion, and when that happens the tower and anyone inside it will be wiped out in an instant. If what Sho told me is correct then we only have 10 minutes left."

"What?!"

"She ordered everyone else to leave the tower and went to face Jellal alone, if you know her as well as you say then you know what she's up to. She's giving up her life, and when the blast comes it will take both of them down together."

"You should've said that to begin with!" the outside of Natsu's body started radiating with flames of pure rage "TELL ME WHERE THE FUCK I CAN FIND ERZA!"

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In the throne room…

By now, Jellal had dark energy radiating from his hand "There are only 7 minutes left, when the blast from the Etherion strikes the tower we'll take our final breaths. Why don't we simply enjoy these last moments together while we can."

Erza promptly dropped into a stance with one sword in hand "You should know that I've cast off all my fears, even of my own death. I'll relish in my death because it means I'll be taking you down with me."

"Oh really, is that what you believe? Well we'll just see about that! **Dark Mass!"** Jellal promptly fired off a barrage of dark energy tentacles from his hand.

Erza wasted no time in cutting down the energy tentacles and charged at Jellal with her sword raised.

Jellal caught her wrist and attacked Erza with a blast of energy from one hand, blowing a large hole through the wall of the tower.

Erza rebounded off of some of the rubble and leapt back onto solid ground within the tower "If you would destroy the very tower you worked so hard and so long to complete then what's the point?!" she dodged an energy blast and slashed at him with his sword.

Jellal leapt out of the way of the slash, leaving his chess board to be cut down in his place "Why should I care about a pillar or two? After all they're nothing but decorations."

"Maybe so, but the reason they're here is because the others spent all those years building them for you!"

"How is it that you manage to find fault in everything I say? I never forced them to work on the tower, they made the choice to do so of their own free will. They knew how important the tower was to me, and now at long last the tower has been completed! **Darkness Cage!"** Jellal clenched his fist as it glowed with dark colored energy.

In an instant Erza found herself trapped in a sphere made of dark energy "What in the-?!"

"While it's impossible to deny that you've honed your skills over the years, you're still no match for me."

"No, you're wrong. I'm not the same weak child I was all those years ago!" with a quick roar and a flash Erza cut herself free of the Darkness Cage "I told you before, I've cast off all of my fears and that includes you!" she blitzed forward and slashed Jellal across the chest, sending him crashing to the ground.

'_This… This is not the same weak girl I remember from back then!' _Jellal suddenly found himself with a blade pointed at his throat, a furious Erza looming over him.

**A/N:**

**And thus we finish the second act of the Tower of Heaven arc, with the inevitable showdown against Jellal looming ever closer. The fights against Jellal's so called elites are over and done with, and now all that's left is Jellal himself, along with the ever looming threat of the Magic Council preparing to fire Etherion obviously.**

**Luke vs Noah, the Lightning Dragon Slayer vs the Mountain Dragon Slayer. I know that the fight was a little bit on the short side, but believe me when I tell you that the next time these guys go at it, it will be part of a much bigger conflict and it will be a real showdown between two Dragon Slayers, no holding back and no holds barred, and it will be glorious.**

**I normally don't like to write out flashbacks, but I did in this chapter for the sake of showing how in this fic, Cana was the one who reached out to Erza in place of Gray, mainly because I want to give her more spotlight.**

**The fights in this are as follows:**

**Natsu & Simon vs Fukuro, later followed by Cana vs Fukuro, meant to give some much needed spotlight to Cana, which I believe to be sorely needed.**

**Lucy & Juvia vs Vidaldus Taka, I sort of just glossed over this fight because I wasn't a huge fan of it, and there really wasn't any noteworthy differences from canon that were worth writing out.**

**Erza vs Ikaruga, easily the best out of the fights against the Trinity Raven, aside from the clear mental breakdown Sho is having throughout this arc.**

**Gray vs Sanguine, an OC pitched to me by TheCarlosInferno and a user of Blood Make magic. I was originally going to give this fight to Cana for the sake of giving her more spotlight, but in the end, considering he uses a form of Maker Magic, I decided that Gray would be a better fit to fight against him, and in all honestly this was my favorite fight scene to write out this chapter.**


	15. Tower of Heaven III

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**Ragnas Bredvolts: **Thanks, and I really do appreciate you sticking with me since this story began, so thank you for that. Wow, you were not kidding when you said you hated Jellal with a burning passion, as is made obvious by the obsessive and comical rant you left behind in your latest review, of which I really only got the gist. But you do say that you'll respect my decision to let Jellal live, so thank you for that. And yes, I hope that we get to 20,000 views soon. That's all I have to say for now, and you have a nice day as well.

**Altajir95: **Again, since you review multiple chapters in one go I'll just reply to all of your reviews at once. Thank you for the feedback, and I'm glad you like what I've put into this story so far. I hope I continue to satisfy you with what I write.

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"_In a land far far away lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small and peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most people, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards and mages, and banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore, but there is a certain guild in a certain town that stands high above the rest of them, one from which countless legends have been born, a guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. This guild is known as Fairy Tail."_

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Erza loomed over the downed form of Jellal, her eyes blazing with fury "Why don't you tell me what your real goal is Jellal? You and I both know that the R-system hasn't been completed. Do you have any idea what I've been doing since I left this place all those years ago? I've been researching it relentlessly, and I know that even though the tower itself was constructed exactly like the blueprints there's still one thing you don't have that happens to be a vital part of its completion."

Jellal's look of disbelief twisted into a smirk "That's not true Erza, because your sacrifice is what is going to complete it."

"No, I'm talking about something even more basic than that. Magic energy. I don't think you realize just how much magic energy you would have to accumulate in order to activate the R system, you could gather every single wizard on the continent and you still wouldn't have enough power to pull it off. This tower doesn't have the capacity necessary to store that much magic energy within its walls, and you certainly can't do it on your own. I find it highly suspicious that you haven't tried to escape, despite knowing the council is preparing to attack this tower, so what are you up to?"

"We only have 3 more minutes until the Etherion fires."

"Answer me Jellal, you know your dream will never come true so why are you so willing to risk your life? Do you want to die that badly? If that's the case then we'll die together, I'll stay here to hold you down and I won't let go until the bitter end!"

"To be honest, that actually doesn't sound that bad. I no longer have control over my own body and soul because of the fact that I had been possessed by Zeref long ago. I'm merely a puppet being manipulated by him in order to become flesh again."

"And that's why you changed that day."

"I wasn't able to save myself back then, and not even my closest friends were there to come to my rescue. That was when I realized that there is no heaven, nor does true freedom exist in this world. All of creation was finished before it even began. Deep down I knew the R-system would be impossible to complete, but the spirit of Zeref kept pushing me onwards, and he forced me to complete the construction of the tower. I wanted to stop but I just couldn't, it's like I was on a train that had no brakes. I surrender to you Erza, so go ahead and finish me. Isn't that why you came here looking for me?"

"...No." Erza took the blade of her sword away from his throat "There's no need for me to spill your blood with my own hands, the satellite square is focused and the Etherion will fire any minute now. That means that this is the end for both you and me."

"It is a grim fate that we share."

"All of this time you were just another victim of Zeref."

"It's my own fault, I let my weakness get the best of me. The rift between my dream and reality was too deep for my mind to comprehend."

"The only people capable of saving you from your flaws and your inner weakness are those you can call your friends."

"You have the right idea."

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to save you back then, is there any way you'll be able to forgive me for that?"

"Erza… there was nothing I ever had to forgive you for, and you have saved me." the two of them embraced each other just as the tower began to crumble, and a white light engulfed the two of them.

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Luke burst forward up the stairs of the tower as fast as he could, but the white light soon began to engulf the area "Dammit! Erza!" and then the light came raining down from above.

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The preparations for the Etherion to be fired had been completed, and the members of the Magic Council lowered their heads to pray to the light, and the spell was activated.

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Cana and the others (Lucy, Juvia, Happy, Wally and Milliana) watched the blast rain down on the tower from afar from within Juvia's Water Lock spell "What the heck happened, did we lose them?"

"Guys… look…" Lucy pointed to what now stood where the Tower of Heaven had once been standing: a gigantic lacrima.

"Oh crap…"

"What is it, some kind of crystal?"

"That's no crystal Lucy, that's a lacrima."

"So you think they're okay? Maybe they survived the blast and they're still inside."

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The blast soon subsided, and the rubble stopped falling.

Erza released her embrace of Jellal and looked around in disbelief "We're still alive?"

"Indeed we are." Jellal pulled himself to his feet and let out a dark chuckle.

"Jellal… what have you done?"

Jellal's chuckle turned into a full on maniacal cackle.

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Luke shook off the massive headache and ringing in his ears and looked around "Hey Bolt are you okay?"

"Aside from losing hearing in one ear, I've been worse." Bolt looked around "The Etherion was fired but we survived the blast, what the hell gives?"

"I've got a bad feeling about this."

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Jellal continued with his maniacal laugh "It's here, after all this time my hour of glory has finally arrived!"

"Glory?" Erza's eyes widened in horror.

"This is the true form of the Tower of Heaven, a magic absorbing lacrima crystal of massive proportions, and thanks to those arrogant fools on the Magic Council it's finally ready to be activated! The magic energy from the Etherion provided the missing piece of the puzzle, which means that the R system is now complete!"

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At the site of the firing of the Etherion, Yajima demanded that Siegrain start explaining himself, only for Siegrain to suddenly disappear.

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Erza's gaze hardened furiously as the realization dawned on her "So I was nothing more than one of your pawns."

"I must say Erza, your expression was absolutely priceless." a new voice noted.

Erza whipped around and she nearly let out an outright snarl "Siegrain!"

Sure enough, standing a few feet behind her was Siegrain himself, his overconfident expression mirroring Jellal's perfectly "He isn't capable of putting forth his full power at the moment, so he had to manipulate you in order to save himself."

"I don't understand, what are you doing here?"

"This actually reminds me of when the two of us first met years ago, do you remember it?"

"I do." Jellal noted "You and Luke had both once accompanied Makarov to the Magic Council to submit a written apology for destruction of property."

"She attacked me out of nowhere in a blind rage, she must have mistaken me for you."

"I can't exactly say that I blame her, after all the two of us do look alike. Erza you refused to let up despite Luke trying to hold you back until I confessed that I was his twin brother, but still you were hostile towards me from that day forth."

"What did you expect?" Erza failed to suppress a snarl "If you truly cared about your brother then you would've tried to stop him instead of helping him cover his tracks and I know you've been spying on me and reporting back to him!"

"Is that so? A mistake on my part I will admit, in retrospect perhaps I should've said something that would've convinced you I was going to find Jellal and kill him, but my biggest mistake was running into you in the first place, especially after the trouble I went through to become a member of the council. There's nothing worse than having to come up with excuses right on the spot like that."

"I get it, so the two of you have been conspiring this entire time."

"Conspiring? Not exactly." Jellal let out a chuckle "I'm afraid it's somewhat more complicated than that." he blinked and the form of Siegrain began flickering "We're not twins, but actually two faces for the same person and we have been from the start." the image of Siegrain promptly disappeared, and a golden aura briefly glowed around his body, much to Erza's horror.

"But how is that possible, was he just a projection all this time?"

"You and everyone else never suspected we were one and the same."

"Then you're the one responsible for the firing of the Etherion, did you worm your way onto the Council just for that?"

"I hope you enjoyed the freedom that I granted you all those years ago, your release and everything after was all part of my plan to resurrect Zeref."

"How can you live with yourself knowing that your entire life has been one big lie?!" her question was promptly ignored.

"Magic energy, I can feel it surging through my body."

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At the same time, Ultear was using her Arc of Time magic to cause the Magic Council building from which they had fired the Etherion to deteriorate, revealing herself to be one of the most passionate followers of Jellal, and that she was willing to give her life for his dream.

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Meanwhile, outside the Tower of Heaven…

Cana and the others looked at the tower in disbelief "You mean that gigantic lacrima is the R system?"

Wally nodded "Yeah that's right doll, this is the first time I've seen it in action but I think that's the thing that Jellal was talking about. Now it's been activated, this is pretty bad."

"So what the heck does that mean, are you saying that Zeref is about to be resurrected?"

"We don't know." Sho told her "We may have helped Jellal to build it but we've never actually seen the tower activated before."

"And now Luke and the others are trapped inside that thing."

"That's right, along with Simon and Jellal."

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Jellal dealt Erza a quick blast of magic energy, sending her tumbling backwards "It looks as though a certain someone is rather worse for wear. Come on now Erza, don't tell me you used all of your magic energy fighting against Ikaruga."

"Far from it Jellal, now you're through!" Erza skidded to a halt, summoned a broadsword and promptly burst forward at full speed, then summoned a second broadsword before she started attacking Jellal in a blind rage.

Jellal dodged every one of her attacks with ease "The headquarters of the Magic Council is little more than a pile of rubble by now. I can't tell you what a blessing Ultear has been, there was no way I could've done this without her. She has no fear of death because she believes that all of mankind will become one in heaven. In fact, she told me that she would be more than happy to give her life if it meant my dream could come to fruition. That reminds me, I should thank her for being such an ignorant fool that was so easy to manipulate."

"CURSE YOU!" Erza charged at him again, only for him to dodge her attacks with ease "I'm going to take revenge for all of the people you've abused and manipulated! This is the end for you Jellal, I'll kill you!" she prepared to charge at him again, only to notice what looked like a snake tattoo winding its way along her arm, causing her to drop her weapon "What the- What's happening to my arm?"

"It's just a Bind Snake spell, I slipped it onto you during our heartwarming embrace from before the Etherion struck." and then the spell took full effect, causing her to cry out in pain "Now that I've collected the precise amount of magic energy needed for the R-system, there's one more thing that has to be done before Zeref can be brought back to this world. This is where you're going to be taking the center stage for your moment in the spotlight my dear, the magic energy held within this lacrima must be fused with the body of my sacrifice, and once that happens your flesh will break down and reconstruct itself to create the body of Zeref." he summoned a massive lacrima and pushed her inside "You know I really did love you Erza."

"No! Stop!"

Jellal just turned away and began the incantation "Oh great and powerful Zeref, I call upon you to offer you the flesh of this woman."

"Don't do this Jellal, please!"

Jellal closed his eyes for the incantation, but then they snapped open again and he slowly glanced back "So you came, Luke and friends."

Sure enough, Luke was wasting no time in pulling Erza out of the lacrima, with some added assistance from Bolt, Natsu and Gray "Plot armor can't save you now can it?"

"Luke… Natsu… Gray…"

"It's alright, we're here for you." Luke stood up and shot a glare at Jellal "I always knew there was something shady about you. Let me make this clear to you, Erza is an irreplaceable part of our family back at Fairy Tail and the three of us will be damned if we ever even dream of letting you lay one of your."

"All of you…"

"For crying out loud." Natsu shot her a grin "What the hell are you doing hanging around with this loser? If we don't hurry and get back to work then Loony isn't going to be able to pay her rent, I've seen enough of that chick to know that you don't want to piss her off." he shuddered slightly "I've been down that road before."

"You ever gonna tell us what happened that time?" asked Gray.

"I'll tell you when you stop stripping like a filthy hooker."

"I'm sorry, but I can't move." Erza told them.

"...Oh my shit, you thinking what I'm thinking?" Natsu and Gray shared two evil grins and then started tickling Erza all over the place "I say it's time for some serious hardcore payback, this is what you get for always beating the crap out of us!"

"This is serious you two, quit goofing off! Stop it!"

"No way, we're not passing this chance up!"

Luke shared a glance with Jellal and let out a sigh "I know what you're thinking, but I've been in the guild for more than half a decade so I know well enough by now that it's easier to just let it play out.

Once they got the tickling out of their system, Erza glanced up at the others, her expression deadly serious "Listen to me you three, you have to get out of here as fast as you can."

Natsu and Gray shared a look and let out a scoff "Not a chance in hell, if you don't have the strength to do the fighting yourself then we'll just have to do it for you."

"But you can't, Jellal is too powerful. Besides, none of you know anything about him."

"That's never stopped any of us before." Luke pointed out, earning a few nods in agreement from the others "Seriously, I don't even need to know their names and I don't need to if it means protecting the people I care about."

"Please…" tears began streaming down her face from her left eye "Just this once, do as I ask of the three of you…"

"...Guys?" Luke shared a glance with Natsu and Gray and they all nodded "Yeah there's not a chance in hell of that happening." he pulled Erza to her feet "None of us really knew anything about you until recently, but there's one thing I've known since I got back. Unlike them, I have what it takes to take you down." he chopped her on the back of the neck, knocking her out cold, and then turned to the others "You guys make sure to take care of her, and Gray you'd better make an ice shield just to be safe."

"Right. **Ice Make: Shield!" **Gray summoned an ice shield.

"You guys protect Erza like your lives and hers depend on it, that's your job right now. As for me, I'm gonna settle that score in her place."

"That was actually quite unexpected." Jellal noted "I expected such a foolhardy move from the likes of Salamander or the Ice Make wizard, but I believed you to be more logical than the likes of that. Tell me, what sort of satisfaction do you get from striking one of your comrades when she can't defend herself."  
"This is the logical move, she was crying so I had to do it." Luke's fists started crackling with electricity in his anger "She looked so weak and fragile, her voice was trembling with fear, that's not the Erza I know. I've always had nothing but respect for her as a warrior and as one of my friends, and when she wakes up from the nightmare you put her through I want her to feel like her old self again. If you want to get Erza then you'll have to go through me, and then you'll have to go through them too." he jerked a thumb back at Natsu and Gray.

"Is that a challenge? Well then consider my interest piqued, I would love to witness the power of a Dragon Slayer, the power capable of defeating one of the Ten Wizard Saints."

"Oh trust me you will, the only downside is that you'll see it the same way Jose did. On the receiving end." Luke blitzed forward and aimed a fist at Jellal's face.

Jellal blocked the fist with his own.

"**Lightning Dragon Talon!" **Luke dealt Jellal a solid kick to the face "**Dragon Sword Style: Thunderclap Strike!" **he drew his dragon scale sword and fired off a blast of lightning from the blade, sending him crashing into a lacrima behind him "**Lightning Dragon ROAR!" **he quickly breathed out a powerful roar, engulfing Jellal in the explosion that followed.

When the explosion cleared, Jellal was alive and well, having only received a few minor burns but his clothing was incinerated, revealing a purple sleeveless undershirt "I see, yes your power is even greater than I expected. However don't allow that to go to your head, if that's the best you can do then my victory is all but guaranteed Luke Drako, son of Kaminari. I was hoping to get a taste of the destructive might of a Dragon Slayer that you've spent so long working to develop before I start ripping you to shreds with my bare hands, but if this is all you're capable of then I won't waste my time with you.. I'm going to enjoy punishing you for interrupting the ceremony I worked so hard to prepare, so prepared to die by the hand of my Heavenly Body Magic. **Meteor!" **his body glowed with golden magic energy, and he blitzed behind Luke at blinding speeds.

Luke whipped around and countered the attack with his sword, as well as the swift barrage of attacks that followed, but he was still taking a few blows from Jellal in the process '_Looks like he's faster than I thought he would be. I'll have to start relying on the rest of my senses so I don't lose him. Sound, the vibrations in the ground, his scent, I just have to concentrate and I'll be able to predict his next move. Wait for it… now! _**Lightning Dragon Talon!" **using all of his senses he determined where Jellal would be next and was able to deal him a swift kick to the side of the head, but only managed to scrape him with the attack '_Either he was toying with me until now or this Meteor spell is still making him even faster.'_

"Be glad you got your hits in because it won't happen again!" Jellal blitzed in front of Luke and dealt him a swift barrage of punches so fast that he wasn't able to defend himself "And now I'll show you the true destructive power of Heavenly Body Magic. May the seven stars bring judgement upon you! **Seven Star Sword, Grand Chariot!" **he summoned seven magic circles above him and they rained down multiple barrages of magic energy blasts on Luke, which engulfed him in the explosion that followed.

When the smoke cleared, Luke was lying on the floor of the tower, slightly charred but still alive, although it looked as if he was out of commission.

"A spell like that one packs as much of a punch as being hit by a falling meteor, frankly I'm surprised that he was able to survive a spell like that one. Perhaps that one was overdoing it somewhat, but with an enemy as powerful as him I can't afford to take any chances. The R system can't afford to suffer any more damage or it will be rendered useless, I can feel the magic energy beginning to leak out." he glanced over towards the others and smirked "Well Erza, the time has come."

"Not a chance." Natsu summoned some flames in his fists, with Gray summoning an ice hammer alongside him "You shouldn't have said that part out loud asshat. So now that the tower is a giant crystal I guess shattering it would mess up your plans."

"What?"

"This isn't your day asshat." Gray slammed his ice hammer into the ground, with Natsu doing the same with his fists, creating a large crater in the tower.

"What the hell do you two think you're doing?!"

"You should've figured it out by now, if there's one thing that Fairy Tail wizards are best at its destroying stuff."

"You little…" Jellal's body began glowing with his rage.

"Now I'm all fired up, and he's all cooled down." Natsu ignited some more flames in his fist while earning an odd look from Gray "What, I needed something for you and getting fired up is my thing. Whatever, we'll work on that later."

"There's no way in hell I'm going to let the two of you get in my way, this will be the end for all of you! I've spent years dreaming of this day, I have no intention of letting some brats like you spoil it for me!"

"Well hate to break it to you assclowns, but we're both way too stubborn to go down against someone like you, so if you think you can take both of us then come and get us!"

Jellal fired off a barrage of golden colored magic energy blasts at the two of them.

"What's the matter asshole, you too slow? **Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" **Natsu and Gray both dodged the onslaught and the former charged at Jellal with a fist full of flames ready to fire.

Jellal fired off another blast of energy at Natsu at point blank range, the force sending him tumbling backwards "Did you think that would be enough to defeat me?"

"Nope, but this should at least piss you off. Now!"

"What?!"

"**Ice Blade: Seven Slice Dance!" **Gray summoned some sharp ice blades onto his arms and charged at Jellal, cutting him across the face and torso and sending him stumbling backwards slightly "What's the matter, are you so afraid of screwing up your precious tower that you're not gonna fight either of us full on? I get the feeling you're holding out on us."

"I'd watch my mouth if I were you punk!" Jellal hit Gray with a blast of magic energy, sending him flying backwards.

"**Fire Dragon Brilliant Flame/ Ice Make: Lance!" **Natsu and Gray both rebounded and fired off two attacks at the same time, one a blast of fire and the other a barrage of ice arrows, both aimed at the same target: the tower itself.

'_So that's it, they're aiming for the tower. _Now all of you have officially made the mistake of making me angry, I didn't spend years building this tower just to have some worthless punks tear it down! I won't let everything I've gone through be in vain!"

Natsu and Gray backed off from their attacks and shared a fist bump with each other "Too bad for you assclown, but you can't say we didn't warn you. Like we said destroying stuff is a specialty when it comes to Fairy Tail."

Erza, having regained consciousness during the scuffle, watched the two of them from her place on the ground '_Both of you please be careful, you're both strong but Jellal is on a completely different level.'_

"So come at us asshat."

"I'LL MAKE YOU BOTH PAY!" in his rage Jellal began summoning an incredible amount of magic power, unleashing a powerful shockwave that blew across the battlefield.

Natsu and Gray had to brace themselves "Something weird is going on with his magic, it's making me feel sick."

"And take a look." Gray gestured down at the ground "Our shadows are being pulled towards that light, if this spell is what I think it is then we're in serious trouble."

"And now the time has come!" Jellal summoned a black orb of energy above his head that continued growing in size "I'll plunge the two of you into infinite darkness."

"DON'T DO IT!" Erza bolted out in front of them "Don't even think about casting that spell unless you want to kill me too! You don't want to lose your sacrifice to Zeref do you?"

"...That would be a problem." Jellal paused on the spell as the winds began to die down "The ceremony requires the body of a wizard who is comparable in strength to one of the Ten Wizard Saints. However I believe that I've found a suitable replacement, after all you're not the only one from your guild who fits that bill, and it just so happens that he's in this tower. I can worry about that after I kill the lot of you."

"Both of you stay behind me."

"Erza what the hell are you doing?!" Natsu barked.

"It's my fault that all of you ended up getting dragged into this mess, the least I can do is protect the two of you."

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY ERZA!"

"**Heavenly Body Magic: ALTAIRIS!" **Jellal hurled forward the massive ball of dark energy, sucking up everything in its path as if it were a black hole, only for him and everyone else to be left speechless by what happened as the spell made contact, and the powerful explosion that followed.

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Luke's eyes snapped open and he bolted upright and shook off the headache and brushed away the lacrima crystals he was partially buried in "Dammit, I feel like I got run over by an arm of angry feminists."

"Wouldn't be the first time." Bolt floated down in front of him "You know for a guy who defeated a Wizard Saint, I figured you'd be able to take a hit like that."

"Hey give me a break, Jose had some insane magic power but his spells were pretty average all things considered, and still I was only able to beat him using Dragon Force. Jellal isn't quite up to the same level in terms of raw magic power but his spells are definitely something else, and I just got hit with the literal magical equivalent of a meteor. You know what I don't have time to justify me getting blasted to you, I have a bad feeling about something. I have to help Erza and the others, where are they?"

"From what I saw, further up in the tower."

"In that case, onward my trusty steed!"

"Don't call me that." Bolt grabbed onto Luke and the two of them soared upwards through the tower at full speed.

'_I'm coming you guys, just don't let yourselves get killed until I get there!'_

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Erza and the others could only look on in horror at the sight before them "Simon…"

Sure enough, Simon stood in front of Erza, Natsu and Gray, having shielded the three of them from the Altairis spell and taken the full force of the blast "So I made it… in time… that's good…"

"But why?"

"I did it… to save you…" his body finally gave out and he fell back and hit the ground with a loud thud.

"Simon no!" Erza quickly rushed to his side.

Jellal scowled at the form of Simon "I had no idea you were still crawling around inside the tower, you're even more stubborn of a pest than I gave you credit for."

"What the hell were you thinking, why didn't you escape with the others? Come on Simon, talk to me!"

Despite his ragged breathing, Simon glanced up at Erza and gave a small smile "Please… don't cry… it's okay… I'm happy to… give my life… for you…" he started coughing and hacking violently.

"Save your energy. Don't talk anymore Simon, just try to stay with me."

"You were… the only person… who could make me smile…"

"Don't die on me… please…"

"Erza… I've always… loved you…" and as his final breaths escaped him, Simon's body fell limp and he passed onto the afterlife with a smile on his face.

"Simon… no… NOOOOOOO!" with tears streaming down one side of her face, Erza let out a blood curdling scream of grief and started crying over Simon's body.

Of course, Jellal had to ruin the moment and started laughing maniacally "What a perfectly foolish thing for him to do, he tried to play the valiant hero but his death won't change a single thing! Simon gave his own life to save all of you, but he should've already been aware of the fact that there's no way in hell I'm letting any of you leave this tower alive-" he was cut off by the sound of a sickening squelching noise, and he promptly spat out some blood.

Standing in front of him was Luke, his eyes burning with pure rage and his body crackling with electricity as he stabbed his dragon scale sword further and further into Jellal's gut, with Bolt clinging onto his back "I don't think anyone will disagree when I say that you've done more than enough talking. **Dragon Sword Style: Thunderclap Strike!" **he channeled some of his lightning magic into the blade of the sword, the force electrocuting Jellal and engulfing him in an explosion, sending him flying into a large lacrima wall right behind him. Luke then shot a glare back towards Natsu and Gray and only uttered three simple yet extremely effective words "Ice shield. Now." that was all the prompting Gray needed to summon an ice shield in front of him and the others.

Jellal staggered back to his feet, and his jaw nearly dropped at what he saw "What?"

As it turns out, Luke was chomping away on a piece of the tower's crystal "What, you've got a problem with this?"

"I can't believe this, you're actually trying to eat the Ethernano from the Etherion blast? You must be insane!"

"Why don't you come and find out? **Dragon Sword Style: Thunder Hammer!" **Luke slammed his sword into the ground and unleashed a powerful surge of lightning, the sheer force of which forcing Jellal to dodge it "I'm not so reckless that I would try something like that. Ethernano is made out of all types of elemental magic, if I tried to eat it then chances are it would liquify my insides. I just did that to spite you. Truth is I have something _very _special in mind that I've been saving for a special occasion." Luke's body pulsated slightly as blue and gold energy surrounded him, and with a thunderous roar a massive golden light consumed him. When the light finally dissipated, it revealed Luke once more, only now his body was surrounded by an aura mixing blue colored energy in with the usual gold colored energy "**Change Mode: Lightning Sea King Dragon! **I hope you're ready Jellal, now I'm bringing out the big guns."

"Lightning based Dragon Slayer Magic now infused with water properties? But such a thing shouldn't be possible, a Dragon Slayer can't consume elements that aren't his own!"

"Actually it is possible in some rare cases to consume elements other than your own primary one, but even if you do there's only about a 10% chance and if it doesn't work then chances are it's going to poison you. Lucky me I'm the 1 out of 10 that it worked for, and now I get the chance to see just what it's capable of. **Lightning Sea King Dragon JAW!" **Luke blitzed forward and smashed down square on Jellal's skull, sending him crashing through the floor of the tower "You're the reason a good man died today, and you're the reason Erza cried, and that's more than enough reason for me to make you pay. There's no way in hell I'm letting you get away with everything you've done! I made a promise to protect the people I care about and there's no way in hell I'm breaking it, you touch her again and I won't hesitate to rip you limb from limb! **Lightning Sea King Dragon SURGE!" **he slammed one hand onto Jellal's skull and a surge of blue and gold energy blasted Jellal down through several floors of the tower.

"Your threats are nowhere near enough to intimidate me! **Meteor!" **Jellal activated his Meteor technique and soared high into the air, supposedly leaving Luke to descend down through the tower alone "As I am right now there's no way you'll be able to match me."

"You sure about that? **Lightning Sea King Dragon IRON FIST!" **Luke suddenly blitzed in front of Jellal and slammed a water and lightning enhanced fist straight into his gut, causing him to cough up a large amount of blood as they both soared higher into the air.

"I won't lose, not to anyone and especially not to you!" Jellal recovered from the blow just enough to aim a kick at Luke's head, allowing him to free himself and soar even higher into the air "My destiny is to create a land of freedom, I know this because in my darkest hour I was able to hear Lord Zeref calling out to me! He told me that he could make all of my dreams come true and I believe him, there's a reason I'm the only human who could sense the presence of Zeref and that's because I am the chosen one! Once he's been resurrected we will work together to create a land that is truly free!"

"And you're planning to do that by taking away the freedom and rights of everyone else in the world?" Luke easily dodged a barrage of magic energy blasts by leaping from one lacrima pillar to another.

"If that's what has to be done in order to change this world into a better place then I'll do it without hesitation, I couldn't care less what happens to feebleminded people like you who can't see the bigger picture!" he summoned a large magic circle.

'_That magic circle, that's to cast the… Oh no. _Are you seriously so insane that you're going to cast the Abyss Break? You'll destroy the tower so many people died to create!"

"This tower doesn't mean anything, now that I've done it once I could build another tower in half the time!" he prepared to cast the Abyss Break spell, but then the magic circle disappeared and he started falling '_Dammit, Erza's attacks from earlier are having a delayed reaction on my body!'_

"You'll never know what it means to be free, not as long as you're letting some evil spirit control you! Why the hell would you let him control you like some kind of puppet!" Luke burst upwards high into the air at full speed, a ball of blue and gold energy gathering in his hand.

Jellal could only look on in horror and fear at the sight hurtling towards him, that being the image of a furious dragon roaring in his face '_This can't be… is this the power… of a Dragon Slayer?'_

"You can do it Jellal, you have to free yourself! **Dragon Slayer Secret Art: STORMING THUNDER!" **with a thunderous roar, Luke attacked Jellal with a blast of lightning and water mixed together, the force of the technique engulfing Jellal in an explosion that sent him hurtling straight down through the tower.

At long last, Erza's nightmare was about to come to an end.

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Lucy and the others noticed the tower exploding from afar "What the heck is going on, is the tower about to explode or something?"

"No, I wouldn't bet on that." Cana told her "If I had to guess that would be Luke once someone has royally pissed him off."

"It looks like he's really going to town up there, do you think they're gonna be okay?"

"It looks to me like Luke is going on a major rampage, but considering the kind of stuff that it takes to make him rampage like that it's too soon to tell."

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Luke crashed back onto the floor of the tower with a loud bang and let out a sigh as he retracted his dual element mode "And now this nightmare is finally over, for your sake I hope you never hurt any of my friends again."

Erza and the others could only look on in disbelief '_So this is the power hidden within him, the hidden dormant potential power of a Dragon Slayer. He was able to defeat Jellal… I can't believe that after all these years the nightmare is finally over, now Sho and the others can finally be free.'_

"Yeah, so I'm thinking I need a nap when this is over." Luke fell to one knee from the exhaustion he was feeling "What about you guys, are you alright?"

"We're fine. I never should've doubted your strength Luke, you truly are amazing." Erza looked back at Natsu and Gray "You both did great as well."

"Yeah well they have more fight in them than I do at the moment, truth be told I'm kind of running on reserves. I've been blown up by molten spears and hit with the equivalent of a meteor so that hurt, a lot, plus using my Lightning Sea King Dragon Mode really takes it out of me, so yeah I think I need a vacation." but then the tower started rumbling "Starting after we survive whatever is gonna happen next."

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Juvia and the others noticed the tower starting to glow in a rather ominous way "There's an incredible amount of magic energy resonating from that light."

"That's not a good sign." Cana muttered "The ethernano inside the tower must be getting out of control."

"What the heck does that mean?" asked Lucy.

"It's the magic energy from the Etherion blast, it's seriously dangerous for that much magic energy to be contained in one place because the energy will keep building until it becomes unstable. With nowhere to go the Ethernano will keep growing until it bursts and it causes a huge explosion. We have to hurry and get out of here or we're all gonna die."

"What about Luke and the others, they're still in the tower!"

"At this point there really isn't a point to worrying about who's gonna make it out alive and who isn't, if that tower explodes then it will wipe all of us out."

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Natsu slung Luke over his shoulder and let out a groan "How the hell did we get stuck with rescue duty?"

"Don't know, and frankly don't care." Gray slung Erza's arm over his shoulder "But right now we've gotta get the fuck out of here, we'll worry about trying to strangle each other after we survive this."

"Good enough for me." Natsu glanced over to see the body of Simon beginning to slide into a large crevice in the tower floor "Dammit…"

"There isn't anything we can do for him now, we need to focus on getting the two of them out of here before this tower blows or we're all goners." Bolt told him.

"Right." and so the three of them started making a beeline through the tower, leaving Simon's corpse to fall into the crevice as they made a run for it, with blue blobs oozing out of the lacrima crystals and multiple blasts of blue energy bursting out from the floor all around them, blowing all of them off their feet.

Erza pulled herself to her feet and looked around at the chaos '_The lacrima can't contain this much magic energy so it's transforming, I can't imagine how much destructive power it must be capable of. Even if all of us somehow made it outside the tower we'd still get caught in the explosion that followed. Dammit, it's over!' _she looked towards where Luke and the others were struggling to get back to their feet '_No, what am I saying? I can't give up, you all fought so hard to save me so now it's my turn to save you. But still, if there's no way for us to contain the blast or escape it then what the hell am I supposed to do?' _then it dawned upon her '_Jellal said that the magic energy held within the lacrima must be fused with the body of his sacrifice. That's it, if I can fuse my body with the magic energy inside the lacrima then I might be able to control it and keep it from exploding. It's a risk that I'll have to take.' _she reached towards one of the blue blobs in front of her, and it promptly began sucking her in '_This is good, I was worried that it might end up rejecting me.'_

"Erza hold on a second." Luke pulled himself to his feet "What the hell do you think you're doing? You better not be thinking about sacrificing yourself."

"I don't have a choice, this is the only way I'll ever be able to stop it."

"What are you talking about?"

"You already understand this, if the ethernano inside the tower continues to gather power then the lacrima won't be able to contain it and the entire place will explode with all of us still inside it. But if I can fuse my body with the magic energy then I should be able to prevent that from happening."

"The key word there being _should_, as in that's a ridiculously big IF that will kill you. There's no way any of us are going to let that happen, there has to be another way to stop it." he tried to run forward to pull her out, only to end up stumbling."

"I promise I'll stop it, there's no need to worry. I'm determined to protect all of you." her body was sucked in even further, causing her to cry out in pain."

"Don't do it Erza."

"I have to do this." Erza reached out to Luke and gently caressed his face, and she gave a small sad smile "I can't even begin to imagine what my life would've been like without you and everyone else in Fairy Tail, if it weren't for you and everyone else then I probably wouldn't be here today. I hope all of you know how important you are to me, I care about all of you so very much, and that's why I'm willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. If it means that the people I care for will be spared then I would gladly give my life, so that all of you may live." she was pulled all of the way into the blob.

"Erza! Dammit just hold on, I'll get you out of there!" Luke pulled out his sword and started stabbing against the blob, to no avail.

'_Luke, please continue to watch over and protect everyone else back in the guild. I promise you, even though I may not physically be there anymore, I will always be by your side.'_

"ERZA!"

'_Farewell my friends, my family… I love you all…'_

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Lucy and the others noticed the tower erupting in a massive blue light "This is bad, the tower is exploding."

"No it's not, take a closer look." Cana pointed at the tower "The magic energy is shooting upwards out of the tower, something is redirecting it up into the upper atmosphere!" this was when a massive tidal wave washed them a fair distance away, and when they could see beyond the waves again the tower had vanished from sight.

"Where the heck did the tower go? It was just there a second ago!"

"Dammit Luke, what the hell are you guys doing?"

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Erza opened her eyes and found herself floating in what looked like an endless blue void with a golden light shining down upon her, her wounds fully healed '_What is this place… Where am I…? Am I still inside the lacrima? No… this feels different…' _but then a white flash surrounded her, and when the light subsided, it showed her the last thing that she would ever have wanted to see.

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(Erza's vision)

_(Erza speaking)_

The city of Magnolia, or more specifically the graveyard of Magnolia, a heavy rain pouring down from above and making the atmosphere even more depression. All of the members of Fairy Tail were present, all of them dressed in formal black attire and all of them looking absolutely grief stricken.

_Does this mean… It can't be…_

Standing in front of them was a statue with a tombstone in front of it, a bouquet of roses lying in front of it, and the tombstone read:

**Erza Scarlet**

**X765 - X784.**

_I'm… dead…?_

Makarov turned around and addressed everyone present "Erza Scarlet was able to touch many lives in this world, with a heart as huge and boundless as the sky above, her noble sword shining vibrantly as she gave her life to protect those she dearly loved. She moved with the grace of a fluttering fairy, and her exquisite beauty rivalled that of mother nature herself. It's a painful reminder that love can give you strength, but losing love can render you powerless just as easily." he struggled to hold back his sobs "She will be missed."

_Master…_

"Our family in Fairy Tail will never be the same."

This was when several members of the Magic Council stepped onto the scene, led by a member of the Magic Council by the name of Org "In the wake of this tragedy, we have been left with two empty seats on the Magic Council. The vote we took was unanimous, and as such we shall award to her one of those seats posthumously. It is my somber honor to declare that Erza Scarlet of the Fairy Tail guild shall be remembered as an eternal member of the Ten Wizard Saints of Ishgar."

Luke stood by Makarov's side, his expression unreadable and his bangs covering his eyes in an ominous way "She deserves that at the very least." he glanced over to the others "Say whatever you want, but this is their way of honoring her so at least show them some respect, at least for the time being."

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH!"

"Him on the other hand…"

"I can't just sit back and watch you go through this!" Natsu was storming his way to the front of the scene, and unlike the others he wasn't dressed for the occasion.

Luke blitzed in front of him and grabbed him by the arm "Whatever the hell you're thinking of doing, back the hell away right now."

"Don't give me that bullshit, we all know that Erza isn't dead!"

_Natsu… Luke…_

"Don't put yourself or anyone else through this crap!"

Luke's teeth grinded furiously as he tightened his grip on Natsu's arm and he unleashed a small surge of electricity "You're not getting another warning Natsu, back away right now. Dealing with this is already hard enough without your gigantic temper tantrum making it worse for everyone else."

"Shut up, there's no way that she could be dead!"

"Just grow up for once and face the truth Natsu, she's gone."

"Let the fuck go of me, I know Erza's still alive!"

"SHE'S DEAD DAMMIT!" Luke slammed his fist into Natsu's gut, causing him to cough up blood and bringing him to his knees, but then he picked up Natsu by the scarf to the point where they were at eye level, revealing that Luke had tears streaming down his face "You think you're the only one suffering right now?! Acting like some pathetic spoiled brat that can't accept the reality of the situation won't change anything! Face the reality, she's dead because we couldn't save her! Because I couldn't save her! I couldn't…" and then and there he broke down in a tearful mess, leaving him to be somewhat comforted by Bolt.

_This… This isn't what I wanted to happen… I sacrificed myself because I thought it would make the future better for them… but that isn't the case at all… I never thought things would turn out this way… I wanted to save them, so that they could go on living happy lives… I never meant to put them through so much pain as this…'_

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'_I never meant to put them through so much pain as this…' _Erza looked up as a golden light began shining down, and she noticed a hand reach out to her, and then everything faded and went black for her.

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Meanwhile, back in reality…

Erza opened her eyes and found herself surrounded by sea water, the shore visible a short distance away '_Where am I?'_

"ERZA!" that was when Cana, Lucy and the others came running through the water towards her, much to her surprise.

'_But this doesn't make any sense, does this mean that I'm still alive?' _she glanced up slightly and her eyes widened "Luke…"

Sure enough, Luke was standing on the shores holding her in his arms, still with some burns across his body, and he shot her a small smile "Hey, are you okay?"

"You… You saved me again… I was lost in that sea of magic energy, and yet despite that you were still able to find me."

"It wasn't easy, you were in there pretty deep. I had to flash into Dragon Force for a minute there just to get in deep enough to find you." Luke dropped to his knees and let Erza go, and he gritted his teeth due to the pain "You know I feel the same way you do, and I don't doubt for even a second that everyone else shares that view. Hey do me a favor and promise me you won't do something that stupid again okay, doing stupid stuff is Natsu and Gray's thing and it really doesn't suit you."

"I know… I promise… Thank you… This whole experience has taught me a very important lesson… You don't die for the people you care about, you live for them." and for the first time in almost a decade, tears streamed down her face from her right eye "Because the future wouldn't be as bright or as happy without you in it."

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A few days passed, mainly meant for the group to rest and recover.

Gray glanced over at Luke's form lying on the bed nearby "You guys really sure he's gonna be okay? The guy's been sleeping since yesterday."

"Don't worry about that." Bolt waved him off "Using stuff like Dragon Force or Lightning Sea King Dragon Mode can actually drain him pretty fast, sure they're insanely powerful but they can drain his power pretty fast and that puts a lot of strain on the body."

"Just like listening to half of the people in the room." Luke grumbled from his place on the bed, covering his ears with a pillow "Right now my vacation is a week long nap."

"Sounds rather nice." Erza gave a small smile "I know I've said this already, but I'm sorry for causing all of you so much trouble."

"Apologize by letting me sleep."

"I can see that even you get rather irritable when you're denied some well earned rest." her only reply was a low growl, followed by light snoring, so she glanced over at Gray "So where did your friend run off to? I wanted to thank her for helping us back there."

"You mean Juvia right?" Gray gave a shrug "She actually left a little while ago, she told me that she wanted to go to Fairy Tail and talk to Gramps about signing up as an official member of the guild.

"I see."

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Sho and the others later met Erza out on the beach "It's not like we ever really wanted to hurt you or anything, but we really are sorry for everything that happened."

Erza shook her head "No, I should be apologizing to all of you. I left all of you in the tower for all those years, I just hope that you'll be able to forgive me."

"We had already forgiven you Sis, really."

"But if I had gone back then Simon might still be here with us."

"Simon was always the best of us, and it's only right for you to know that no matter what we were told he always loved-" he was cut off by a hand being slapped over his mouth by Milliana.

"You don't have to hide the truth, I already knew how he felt. He gave his life to save those of myself and my friends from Fairy Tail, and I'll forever be grateful for that. I know it's hard, but we have to try and keep moving forward. That's what Simon would've wanted us to do." she received two simultaneous nods "You could join Fairy Tail, give life in a guild a try."

"Wait really, are you sure that would be okay?"

"Of course it is but I don't want to put any pressure on you, I'll let all of you think it over for a little bit. But still I'm sure you would love it if you agreed to it, there would be a new adventure every day. If all of us would be able to stay together then I can't tell you how happy that would make me. Come on, let's head back to the hotel. I haven't had the chance to properly introduce you to Natsu." and so they started walking.

"_You've grown strong Erza, truly strong."_

Erza whipped around at the sound of that voice, only to find that there was no one there '_Wait, was that Jellal? No it couldn't be, it must have been my imagination.'_

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Nightfall came.

Luke let out a sigh as he lounged in a chair on the deck of his room '_Once we were able to finally relax a little bit here at the resort, and after I finally got some much needed Z's, Erza opened up and told us about everything. She had a feeling that Jellal might have been the one who kept the tower from exploding and killing all of us with it. I do feel a little bit skeptical about that, but I don't think it's impossible that he was able to go back to his old self once he was no longer being controlled by Zeref. She says that he must have fused his body with the ethernano in her place and made the choice to shoot the magic energy into the sky. I wasn't so sure about that at first, but the more I think about it I don't think it's impossible. As strange as it may seem, despite all of the horrible things he's done, I do feel kind of bad for Jellal. In the end he was just another unfortunate victim of the legacy of Zeref, and even if he was evil at the time he did defend Fairy Tail from the rest of the council, so even if he was possessed he didn't seem all bad to me.' _he glanced over at the sound of a knock on his door "It's open."

Erza promptly burst into the room "Luke tell me, have you seen Sho and the others?"

"I haven't seen any of them since dinner."

"I can't find them anywhere."

"You don't think they would just up and leave without saying goodbye do you?"

"I'm sure that's it."

"...You thinking what I think you're thinking?"

"Most likely. Tell Natsu and the others to get the fireworks ready and meet me on the beach in 20 minutes."

"Gotcha."

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Meanwhile, on the beach…

Wally and the others were getting a boat ready to set out into the open sea "Are you guys sure we're gonna be able to make it in the outside world? It's not like any of us have ever been on our own before."

"Well we're gonna have to try." Sho told him "Erza has her own problems, the last thing she needs is for us to weigh her down."

"So this is where you went."

Sho whipped around to see Erza standing on the beach a short distance away "So you were able to find us."

"Of course I was."

"Please don't try to stop us from leaving, we've already made up our minds. All we've ever known is the inside of that tower, it's where we grew up. Now we're adults and we don't know a single thing about the outside world. This is our chance to get out there and see it, for the first time in our lives we're free to do whatever we want. We want to follow our dreams just like everyone else does, but that's something we'll have to do on our own. We want to know what it truly means to be free."

"...I see. Well I have complete faith in all of you, and I know all of you are going to do just fine out there. I'm not worried in the slightest." she promptly requipped into a new set of armor, colored blue, white and gold and complete with a flag with the Fairy Tail symbol on it "But with that being said, there are three rules that any members who choose to leave Fairy Tail must abide by."

"What do you mean leave? We never even officially joined your guild."

"The first rule, never share sensitive information about the guild with anyone for as long as you live. The second rule, never contact any clients you worked for while in the guild for the sake of your own personal gain. And the third and final rule, although our paths must stray you must promise to live the rest of your lives to the fullest. That means you must treat every day as though it were your last in this world." tears started streaming down her face "You must never forget your friends from Fairy Tail, you must treasure them for as long as you live." she held up the flag as the others began shedding tears as well "Let the Fairy Tail farewell ceremony begin now!"

"Way ahead of you." Luke fired a few small bursts of electricity into the air, with Natsu adding in some small bursts of fire, creating magic fireworks.

"May all of your journeys bring you joy. Now!"

"We're on it, take a look at this." Gray and Lucy promptly added in some short bursts of their own magic energy to create fireworks.

"I wish we would be able to stay together forever, but deep down I know that I would only hold all of you back. I don't want that, after all the years you spent stuck in that tower, you deserve to finally be free."

Sho and the others were outright sobbing by this point "We never thought you would hold us back, if we were going to stay with you then we would do nothing but remind you of painful memories."

"But I have so much more than just painful memories with all of you, besides what we went through can only make us stronger and bring us closer together. I will always hold onto those memories, both the good and the bad. I wish you the best of luck and happiness in your new lives. This isn't goodbye, because I know we'll meet again."

"We'll miss you sister, I promise we'll be sure to see each other again someday."

"Of that I have no doubt, and I'll be waiting until that day comes." the fireworks continued to blast through the skies long after Sho and the others finally set sail.

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A few days of travelling went by as the group made their way back to Magnolia, only to be met with quite the surprise upon their return.

Luke looked up at the newly restored guildhall with a raised eyebrow "Okay I wasn't expecting that, they finished building it in less than a month?"

"Yep, check it out." Cana looked up at the top of the new guild hall "There it is guys, the new guild hall of Fairy Tail."

"The hell with being a guild hall, this one is like a castle." they made their way through the plaza and looked around at all of the added features.

"You've gotta be kidding me, they have an outdoor cafe now?"

"More like a full on restaurant."

"But do we really need a gift shop too?" Lucy muttered.

"Do they really need any of this stuff? Anyway it's not hurting anybody."

"Hey what's up?" Max, another member of the guild, waved at them from his place behind the counter "Glad to see you guys made it back okay, what's new?"

"So they've got you working the gift shop now huh Max? It's been awhile since we've seen you around the guild hall."

"Well the Master made me go back to school because he wanted me to take a few business courses."

Lucy suddenly popped up in front of him "You're Max Alors, I've read all about you in Sorcerer Weekly!"

"Yes ma'am that would be me, and you know I've heard a lot about you Lucy."

"I don't even want to think about all of the crazy things they probably told you."

"It's Fairy Tail, I'm used to it."

"So what kind of stuff are you selling here?" asked Luke.

"All sorts of stuff, we've got t shirts, wristbands, mugs towels, and of course some of our most popular items, action figures of you guys." he displayed some of them.

"You got action figures of all of us? No offense man but that seems kind of creepy."

"Just take a look at the Lucy figure, she's poseable and her clothes come off!"

"That just makes me even more concerned."

"Yours is the most popular one."

"Still not selling yourself very well. First rule of business, know your audience."

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Soon enough, Luke and the others were looking around the inside of the new building "Okay I'll give them this, they make it look cooler than the old design at least." he glanced back behind him and noticed Natsu brooding "What's wrong with you?"

"I'm not good with change." Natsu grumbled.

"Lighten up a little bit, change is a part of life."

"I see that you've all returned from your vacation." that was when Freed made himself know to everyone present.

"Hey Freed, liking the new guild hall?"

"Indeed I am, as is everyone else. All sorts of special features have been added, the new pool located behind the bar for example."

"A little bit weird but you get points for originality."

"We even have a game room down in the basement."

"...You have pool tables?"

"Several."

"I call dibs on the next game. You have a bowling alley?"

"A small one but yes."

"I call dibs on that too."

"But the most noteworthy change would be upstairs, now even those who aren't S class wizards are allowed onto the second floor. The master actually allows more of the wizards of the guild to take on S class quests, but only if an S class wizard agrees to accompany them."

"Looks like one of Natsu's stupid stunts actually left an impact that did almost as much good as it did harm."

"Well well, I'm glad you dunderheads make it back safely." a new voice noted.

Luke glanced over to see Makarov standing a few feet away, along with a certain other someone with him "Oh hey Master."

"I'd like you to meet Fairy Tail's newest member Juvia, isn't she a cutie?"

Sure enough, Juvia stood next to Makarov, clad in a new attire and a new hairstyle, and she promptly did a curtsey to them with a bright smile "I can't wait to work with you."

Gray let out a chuckle "So you actually made it in then did you? We've really gotta thank you for helping us in Akane and the tower."

"No far from it my darling, I should be thanking you. It's thanks to you that I've found a new guild now."

"Hey what's up girl?" Lucy waved to Juvia, only to be met on the receiving end of her comical rage.

"We will fight for Gray!"

"That won't be necessary."

"We've also added another new member to the guild." Makarov got their attention "It's someone you might recognize."

"I think I have a good idea of exactly who that is." Luke glanced over and confirmed his suspicions, much to the disbelief of the others "Yep that's about what I was expecting."

Natsu and Gray let out outright simultaneous snarls at the sight of him "Gajeel!"

Sure enough, Gajeel sat at a nearby table working on his guitar "What, do I have something on my face?"

"What the fuck gramps, why would you let him in here?"

"Dial it back a few notches guys." Luke waved them off "I talked to Juvia about this before the Tower of Heaven and at her request I put in a good word for him."

Erza gritted her teeth "I don't mind Juvia but Gajeel is the one responsible for destroying our guild hall."

"Technically he just wrecked it, Jose was the one who demolished it. Besides remember what the master taught us, an enemy of yesterday can be a friend of today. Cheesy as it may sound, it means we have to keep an open mind."

"Yeah, he's right." Levy piped up from where she was hiding behind a table "I mean if I'm okay with him being here then you should be too."

"As much as I appreciate the support Levy, it doesn't really work when you're hiding behind a table."

Unfortunately, Natsu wasn't having any of it "There's no way in hell, I can't work with someone I can't trust!"

Gajeel promptly met Natsu's glare with his own "Don't get the wrong idea, there's no way in hell I'm gonna wanna become your BFF or anything. I only joined this guild is because a guy has to make a living, I don't care if you or anyone else in this guild trust me or not but times are tough and I need money so I had to join whether you like it or not."

"Shut the hell up Metal Dick!"

Juvia was quick to try and do damage control "I'm sorry but Gajeel has been having a very hard time finding work and I couldn't just turn my back on him, but I don't want you to think I have a crush on him or anything!"

"I know you kids have your issues with him but as the master of this guild, it's my duty to help those who have gone astray find the right path." Makarov told them "Just give him a chance, you might find that he's a nice guy, at least I hope so."

Erza studied him for a moment, then let out a sigh "While I may not agree with you Master I will respect your decision, but I warn you that I'm going to be keeping a very close eye on him."

"So be it."

"I think we should give him a chance" Lucy commented "I mean it's not like he abused me or anything during the whole thing with Phantom Lord."

"Glad to see you're being so open minded."

"Yeah she's nice like that." Luke caught one of Makarov's arms as it started extending in the direction of Lucy's rear "Remember what we talked about before Master, keep your hands to yourself." he glanced over to see Natsu and Gajeel snarling at each other "And the more things change the more things stay the same, do you think they still have those old muzzles down in the guild storage room?"

Eventually Natsu broke away from his glaring contest with Gajeel, but he still looked rather dejected about the sight of the new guild hall "I don't know what it is, but this new guild hall just doesn't feel right." but then the lights went out comically for an instant.

When the lights flashed back on, it revealed Lisanna sitting on a stool on the stage with a guitar in hand, and she shot them her typical gentle smile "Hey guys."

"Hey Lisanna, we made it back!"

"Great to see you guys! I'd like to dedicate this song to the strongest team in Fairy Tail, and to congratulate them on their safe return." and then she started playing her guitar, her voice coming through as almost angelic.

"**As I walk past your room**

**My shadow falls through your door**

**One more day you're not here**

**One more night I'm alone**

**Gazing up at the stars above**

**I pray that they guide your way**

**Just look up and follow the starlight**

Makarov looked around at Erza and the others with a small fond smile '_I'm so happy they all made it back safely. I can't believe how fast my children here in Fairy Tail are growing up, some more than others, so maybe it's about time for me to start thinking about retiring, for real this time.'_

"Thinking about how much they're all growing up huh?" Luke popped up beside Makarov and handed him a mug of booze, which was graciously accepted.

"Yes, they're all growing up so fast. You've grown up the fastest of all of them."

"I grew up as much as I had to in order to protect them, so that all of them can live happy lives with each other. Hey you're not still thinking about retiring are you?"

"As the younger generation grows and develops, perhaps the time has come."

"Don't even think about it master, you've still got a few good years left in you. Besides you remember what I said before, I'd rather be a good man than a great master."

"So be it then, I suppose I'll just have to wait until I find a worthy successor who actually wants the position."

"You never know, anything is possible." their conversation was cut short by an applause erupting as Lisanna's song ended "She's gotten better, so who's up next?"

The spotlight blinked out of existence for a moment to reveal Gajeel where Lisanna had once been, now clad in a white suit with a guitar in his hand "Sup?"

"Okay now we get to the good part."

"Awhile back I wrote a little tune I like to call Best Friend, you guys wanna hear it? Well you're gonna hear it either way, so here goes." and then he started singing.

"**You're sparkling and colorful**

**Shoo-Bee-Doo-Ba**

**You caught my eye**

**Like a shiny piece of metal…"**

"Hells to the yes!" Luke started nodding to the beat of the song, earning some looks of disbelief from everyone present "What, I can't be the only one who thinks he's a good singer. Keep going for it Mr Shoo Bee Doo Ba, show them what you've got!" of course this was said amidst everyone else throwing random crap at Gajeel.

"**Do-do-do**

**Shoo-Bee-Doo-Ba**

**Sha la la**

**One bite is never enough!"**

"God dammit this has gotta be the worst song I've ever heard!" Natsu was promptly met with a guitar hitting him in the face "Oh that's it Metal Dick, you want a piece of me?!"

"Shoo Bee Doo Ba!" Gajeel met Natsu's kick in mid air with a kick of his own, which turned into a comical brawl.

"I've had enough of this Chee Boo Bee Da crap!"

"I told you before you dumbass, it's Shoo Bee Doo Ba!"

"Takes one to know one!" Natsu was promptly hit in the face with a mug "Alright, which one of you wise guys threw that huh?!"

"God dammit Natsu, enough already!" Gray promptly bolted to his feet, causing Erza to drop the cake she was eating "Would it kill you to quit screwing around already?!"

Needless to say, Erza was too preoccupied at the moment "He made me drop… my strawberry cake…"

Things only got worse when Elfman stepped on the cake "Now listen up, if you were real men you'd take this outside!"

"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE STEPPING YOU OAF!" Erza promptly kicked Elfman in the face and sent him flying, which led to a massive brawl that engulfed almost every single person in the guild hall, damaging it greatly, and resulted in Makarov sobbing in a comical way.

Luke observed the carnage from afar with a small fond smile '_And just like that it's starting to feel like home again, I guess the more things change the more things stay the same.'_

**A/N:**

**And thus the Tower of Heaven arc comes to an end, but not without a sacrifice in the form of Simon, a character that I think is extremely underrated since, and don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure he's the first character to actually die in the entire series (excluding flashbacks, so people like Ur and Karen don't count). I'm going to be honest with you guys, I found this arc pretty hard to write out since, while I think it's a good arc, I was never really a huge fan of it.**

**I took Luke out of the fight for a short while after he was hit by Jellal's Grand Chariot not because I was trying to nerf him or anything, but because I really wanted to give Natsu and Gray some spotlight in this chapter by having them double team Jellal for a short while.**

**Yes, Luke has a dual element mode, Lightning Sea King Dragon, combining his own Lightning Dragon Slayer magic with Sea King (Water) Dragon Slayer Magic to create a very lethal combination. I was going to wait to show this until a later arc, but I figured why not use it to give Jellal a good thrashing for all the crap he put everyone through. And to those of you upset about Natsu not getting his time to shine in this arc, don't worry. He'll be getting his moment of glory when we get to the Battle of Fairy Tail, which will be getting a considerable overhaul in comparison to some of the other arcs. That will start next chapter, so look forward to it and I'll see you guys then.**


	16. Battle of Fairy Tail I

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

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"_In a land far far away lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small and peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most people, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards and mages, and banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore, but there is a certain guild in a certain town that stands high above the rest of them, one from which countless legends have been born, a guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. This guild is known as Fairy Tail."_

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A few days had passed since the incident in the Tower of Heaven, and another day had come in the city of Magnolia, but contrary to the sun shining brightly in the skies above, the mood was rather bitter.

Gajeel found himself meeting up with Levy, Jet and Droy of Team Shadow Gear in the South Gate Park "So what's the deal, why the hell did you guys ask me to meet up with you out here like this? Make it fast, I have a client I have to meet up with."

Jet and Droy wasted no time in rounding on Gajeel "We've got a bone to pick with you, after what you did to us there's no way in hell we're letting you join our guild!"

"Oh great, now we're doing this. For fuck's sake guys, would it kill you to just forgive and forget already?"

"Maybe he's right." Levy piped up from where she was hiding behind a tree "I mean he only did it because Phantom Lord's mastered ordered him to, and now that he's in the guild it's not like he's gonna do it again."

"Yeah you heard the half pint hiding behind the tree, but if you have to do this then just get this crap over with."

"The hell with getting it over with, punks like you have to know that you can't just walk all over us." Jet cracked his knuckles.

"And now we're doing this apparently."

"That's right, go ahead and act tough while you still can!" Jet burst forward and dealt Gajeel a swift headbutt.

"**Secret Seeds: Knuckle Plant!" **Droy threw some seeds into the ground, which then sprouted vine fists and proceeded to pummel Gajeel further.

"**Falcon Heaven Sword!" **Jet blitzed in front of Gajeel and kicked him in the face, sending him skidding backwards while gritting his teeth "Don't tell us you've had enough yet, what happened to the tough guy act?"

"And here I thought wizards of the Fairy Tail guild were better than picking on their new members." this was when a new figure appeared on the scene, clad in a cloak that covered his entire body with a bag slung over his back, and he looked down at Gajeel, his expression unreadable "But seeing how this is the one who damaged your guild hall, not to mention he worked for the guy who actually destroyed it, I understand how you feel. And I know that wizards from Fairy Tail usually like to express emotions through beating the ever loving shit out of people, but beating on a new member for stuff he did in the past won't change it, so you're just wasting your energy. And you wonder why your guild has become the laughing stock of the magic community."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You work as a wandering wizard and you tend to learn a few things, stop at a few pubs to gather information, and hear a few things that can either make you laugh or piss you off. Everyone is talking right now about how weak and pathetic the Fairy Tail guild has become, you wouldn't think they would have the guts to say that kind of stuff out loud. But now that I see a few punks like you in action, maybe they weren't that far off. If this is what Fairy Tail wizards like to do to get their shits and giggles then maybe the guild is taking a nosedive in quality. Besides, didn't either of you two even notice?"

"Notice what?"

"Sure you guys might have some level of skill in the magic you use but something definitely wasn't right, the guy's a Dragon Slayer and he went down way too easily."

"...You mean-"

"Yeah you got that right, when you two idiots were attacking him he wasn't fighting back against either of you."

This was when Levy finally spoke for the first time in awhile "He was letting them get their anger out on him… I think he's trying to gain our acceptance."

"That I can't say for certain, if you wanna know that then you'll have to ask him, but I doubt he'd willingly tell you if he was doing something like that."

"I think I've listened to you idiots rambling on long enough." Gajeel pulled himself to his feet and promptly spat out some dirt "If you guys don't have anything else to say to me then I have work to do."

Levy tried to call out to him "Hey Gajeel I-"

"Forget it, just leave me alone." and he promptly walked away.

"Gajeel…"

Seeing that he had no other business here, the cloaked figure promptly turned and walked away, leaving him alone with nothing but his thoughts '_People can say all they want about how weak and pathetic Fairy Tail is, how it's nothing like it used to be, but they're wrong. They're probably all just so blind and ignorant that they can't see that things are fine just the way they are… For all I know they're as pathetic as I used to be…'_

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Meanwhile, with our own Iron Dragon Slayer…

Gajeel cracked his neck and gave a sinister smirk aimed in the direction of a small paper doll floating next to him "Well that was fun I guess, I figured why not let those idiots get a boost to their egos before I tear them back down to size when the time comes. Still I can't tell you how bad I want to settle the score with Salamander, but I can wait for my rematch with him until the time is right. But with that being said, I do plan to have some fun with these guys while I still can, if that's okay with you Master Ivan."

"_Of course my boy, earning the trust of Makarov and the others your highest priority at the moment. We must not allow suspicion to creep into their feeble little minds, and you must remember to always act as though your heart and soul belong to Fairy Tail."_

"As far as these guys know I'm as much of a team player as they come."

"_We have an ample amount of time before the hammer finally drops on that sorry excuse for a guild, so tred your steps carefully until then." _and then the paper doll suddenly evaporated into thin air.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Gajeel let out a scoff "Yeah as if, I've only been dealing with this guy for about a week and he's already giving me a migraine."

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The sun was setting over the skies of Magnolia.

Lucy was sitting on a bridge overlooking the river running through Magnolia, dealing with the same problem as usual "I haven't been able to find a decent job since before we left for our vacation, and that was at least a week ago. If I can't find a decent job then I won't be able to pay rent and I'll get kicked out of my apartment." she glanced down at Plue and somehow seemed to understand what he was trying to tell her "What, you think it will all work out? Well that's quite the positive attitude if I've ever seen one."

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The moon was shining over the night skies above Magnolia.

Luke poked her head throughout every crack and crevice in her apartment "Okay good, it looks like I'm alone. At least I don't have to come home and search the place for a bunch of freaks every single time I leave the apartment. You know I've been through an awful lot lately, I think I've earned myself a nice long bath." she pulled aside the curtains to her bathroom, and almost immediately let out a shriek of terror "What the-?!"

As it turns out, Cana was already bathing in her tub, complete with a bottle of wine "Yep back from the dead, I guess you weren't kidding when you said this thing works wonders on a hangover."

"When the hell did I say that, and more importantly, why the hell are you in my tub?!"

"Like I said, apparently this tub works wonders on hangovers so I just came to see if it's actually true or not. That, and I wanted a place I could drink without having to worry about Erza tearing into me for being drunk."

"You don't go anywhere sober do you?"

"Hey I'll have you know that these days I'm sober a good 40% of the time."

"Uh huh, and that's a good thing because?"

"I never said it was a good thing, me being sober is like Luke not carrying around that dragon scale sword of his, or Natsu not wearing his scarf."

"Well that's quite a comfort. Speaking of which I don't think I've ever seen Luke without his sword or Natsu without his scarf? They never get rid of those things do they?"

"Nope, Luke's sword is made from Kaminari's dragon scales and Natsu actually got that scarf from Igneel, so those things mean a lot to both of them. Where is Luke anyway? I haven't seen him around in a few days."

"He's just out on another S class quest, trying to stock up on rent money. Either that or he's taking one of his week long power naps, maybe swallowing some of the Ethernano did some weird stuff to his stomach."

"Why, is that bad for him?"

"Oh yeah big time, one time for example Natsu ate some of Laxus's lightning and then he ended up spewing all over the place afterwards."

"So eating anything other than fire makes Natsu sick, does that mean that eating anything other than lightning makes Luke sick?"

"That's how it works for Dragon Slayers, eating anything other than their element makes them spew all over the place."

"But why the heck would Natsu even wanna eat any of Laxus's lightning in the first place?"

"He didn't really want to eat it, but one time they fought and Natsu ended up getting his ass handed to him big time."

"Eesh, this Laxus guy must be seriously tough isn't he?"

"No doubt about it, why do you think Luke was always challenging him to fights when he was younger?"

"He did? I didn't really think Luke was that type of guy."

"He was basically another version of Natsu when they were younger, but he was still a lot smarter and stronger, not that Natsu would ever admit that. Before he left to train for about 2 years he was about on par with Erza, they'd go at it once in awhile, but now I'd say that the only person in the guild who could beat him in a fight is the Master. Well him and Gildarts anyway, but you get the idea. Or Mystogan, but that's a pretty big maybe. Looking back there's a hell of a lot of unanswered questions people have about the guy, not that he would ever stick around long enough to answer. What about you though, where do you think you stand?"

"I'm honestly just fine not knowing, mainly because I don't like the idea of being ranked against any of my friends like that. That and the fact that all of you are freaking beasts on at least one level."

"It's not that hard to think about, I mean Luke and the S class mages are all pretty high up there but now there's Gajeel and Juvia to take into consideration."

"Yeah yeah I get it, everyone is great but me."

"No one said anything like that, don't get your panties in a bunch blondie. Anyway that's not what I came here for."

"I know I know, to hide from Erza so you could drink in peace."

"Well yeah there's that, and the fact that Lisanna wanted me to show you this." she pulled a flier out of her bikini top "You need money to pay your rent don't you? Every year Fairy Tail is part of the Magnolia Harvest Festival."

"How is that supposed to help me?"

"Just take a look at the bottom of the thing."

"What, you mean about the Miss Fairy Tail contest- Holy crap the woman who wins gets a grand prize of 500,000 Jewel?!"

"Yep you got it."

"That's amazing, if I win the contest then I could cover my rent for the next 7 months."

"Good luck with that though, pretty much every girl in the guild enters that contest. Well I'll leave you to decide if you're gonna do it or not, later." and so Cana promptly left the apartment by leaping out the window.

Lucy's face fell as she repeatedly studied the flier '_If Cana's competing then I don't stand a chance against her, I mean she used to be a bikini model for Sorcerer Weekly.' _then her face suddenly lit up '_But wait a second, I'm younger than she is and I'm still relatively new to the guild, and that makes me the exciting new model! I can do this! _Yeah bring it on, that prize money is as good as mine!"

"Shut the hell up, we're trying to sleep here!" a random voice barked from outside her window, much to her annoyance.

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The next day came, and the sun was shining over the skies of Magnolia, and preparations for the Harvest Festival were well underway.

Luke walked through the streets with Makarov carrying a bag of groceries, and he took in the preparations going on all around them "Looks like the entire town is getting into the spirit of the Harvest Festival."

Makarov nodded "Yep no doubt about it, and everyone back at the guild is getting ready for the Fantasia parade. People are coming from all over the kingdom to see the parade, and we can't let our fans down now can we?"

"Yeah the guild has definitely been coming up in the world lately, I mean I'm gone for a year and a half and not only has shit almost hit the fan at least half a dozen times since I've been back but apparently the Thunder Legion actually started socializing with the rest of the guild. Now if only we could get the same reaction out of Laxus and deal with his attitude problems, then all would be right with the world."

"I'd rather not talk about that bum, the less said about him the better."

"Yeah I don't blame you, he's definitely gotten more bitter as the years went on, which says a lot since he's always been kind of a prick. Speaking of Laxus, what's his deal? I haven't seen the guy once since I came back to the guild."

"...Let's just say that the Harvest Festival got quite exciting last year, but not in the way any of us would've wanted. It's a damn shame too, I remember the days back when Laxus was around my height. He used to hold so much love and respect in his heart for the guild."

"Are we still talking about Laxus?"

"Not anymore." Makarov promptly snatched Luke's bag from him "I can take care of the preparations myself, thank you for the help but I can take it from here." and so he disappeared through teleportation magic, leaving Luke alone in the streets.

"And suddenly I feel like I pushed the worst button possible with him."

"It's not your fault." the cloaked figure suddenly popped up next to him "The fact that you weren't here during all of the crap the old man had to go through last year is why you don't know what he's feeling."

"Okay first of all, where the hell did you come from? Nevermind, I don't want to know. Second of all, what do you mean? What happened during the festival last year?"

"It's no surprise no one told you yet, I doubt anyone would actually want to think about what went down last year." the cloaked breathed a sigh "You might as well hear it now, the whole deal of what happened during the Harvest Festival last year… and how it led to a certain member being expelled from the guild."

"Wait, what?"

"It all started when Erza was with Lisanna searching for Natsu and Gray after they had gone on a job together."

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(Flashback spanning over multiple chapters- 1 year ago, year X783)

Erza followed Lisanna through a thick forest "So you mean that while I was gone on my S class mission, Natsu and Gray went on a job together? Good for them, it's nice to see the two of them getting along well enough to the point where they're trying to work together."

"Actually it was my idea." Lisanna let out a nervous chuckle "But that was 3 days ago and they still haven't come back, and I started to get worried so I thought maybe we should go and check on them to make sure they're okay."

"You were right to be cautious and bring me with you, given how skilled the two of them are one can't help but be alarmed that they would take as long as this to get back."

"I just hope they haven't run into trouble or anything, knowing how hot headed they can be."

"They might be reckless but they're not foolish enough to do something that would actually risk their lives like that." Erza stopped and stared long and hard at what was lying in front of the two of them "One prime example is lying in front of us. Tell me Lisanna, is this the monster from the flier for the job request they went on?"

"Yeah that's it, and judging by the look of it, it seems like it's been here for days."

"But they finished the job, so what happened to them?"

"Hold on a second. **Animal Soul: Dog!" **Lisanna flashed into one of her Animal Soul forms, this one having dog ears and a tail, and she started sniffing around "I can't pick up either of their scents in the forest, all I can smell is damp soil and this guy. Or what's left of him, and- Wait a second." she whipped around and let out a gasp.

Happy was crawling out of the bushes practically gasping for air "Lisanna… Erza… help…" he promptly fell over.

"Happy, oh my gosh are you okay?" Lisanna rushed over to him and pulled him into her lap, where she checked him over "It doesn't look like he's injured but he's heavily fatigued and exhausted.

"Please help me… I don't want to die out here…"

"It's okay Happy, you're not going to die. Can you tell me where Natsu and Gray are right now, or how you guys got split up?"

"It was terrible… Natsu and Gray… they…"

"What is it, what happened to them?" asked Erza.

"It's exactly what you would think… you have to hurry…"

"Lisanna stay with Happy, I'll go find Natsu and Gray and bring them back. **Requip!" **without missing a beat, Erza flashed into her Black Wing Armor and soared off into the skies in search of the two in question.

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Meanwhile, with the two in question…

Natsu pulled himself back to his feet and spat out some rubble "Well well, are you finally admitting defeat? I knew you wouldn't last, ever since we've started I've been melting your ass like an ice cream cone."

"Shut the hell up!" Gray spat out some rubble and wiped the blood from his lip "Now get the hell over here so I can kick your flaming ass all the way back to the guild!"

"How about you put some clothes on you icy prick!" and so they then proceeded to start punching and kicking the crap out of each other. You know, nothing out of the ordinary for these two idiots.

This was the scene that Erza found when she finally tracked them down '_Well at least this makes sense, and to think we were actually worried about them. But still, the fact that they've been fighting for three days straight means that something has to be done. _Alright you two I think that's enough of that, let's just call it a draw for today. Stand down and come back home, then we talk this out over some sweets."

"KEEP YOUR SWEETS TO YOURSELF!" Natsu and Gray both ended up punching Erza in the face simultaneously, sending her crashing to the ground, only to realize their mistake too late and share a look "Uh…"

"...And just like that I'm done being nice." Erza bolted upright, her gaze more than enough to scare them into submission, but knowing this anime that's nowhere near enough for her "Now you both die."

Natsu and Gray could only hug each other in fear and scream in terror as Erza loomed ever closer, followed by a comical explosion.

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Later, back at the guild hall…

Natsu and Gray found themselves sitting on the same bench in the guild hall, battered and beaten with a furious Erza (with a black eye) looming over them "I'm just gonna say it now, there's no way in hell I'm ever doing a job with that idiot again."

"Yeah right." Gray let out a scoff "I'm obviously never doing a job with _you _again."

"Now you're just copying me, I said it first!"

"Well I thought it first, and who gives a crap because we're never doing a job together again you son of a-"

"That's enough!" Erza promptly slapped their skulls together to shut them up "The two of you have been fighting non-stop lately, all of your talent and magic power and you can't handle a simple monster slaying without trying to kill each other for days on end!"

"He started it!" they both pointed at each other.

"I don't care who starts it, it has to end and it has to end now!"

"Erza hold on a second." Lisanna held out a hand in front of her "I think I have a better solution than just hitting them. I just need you to hold them still."

"...Alright then." so Erza grabbed both of them by the skulls.

Lisanna took this chance to handcuff the two of them together, using heavy metal handcuffs to bind Natsu's right wrist to Gray's left "There, that should do it."

Needless to say, neither Natsu or Gray were happy about this "Uh, Lisanna what the hell are you doing?"

"This is for your own good you two. Erza's right, you've been fighting a lot more than usual lately so this is my solution. You're going to stay like this until you can learn to get along with each other."

"What the hell, no way that's happening!"

"I don't wanna hear it, until you guys learn to get along I'm not releasing these handcuffs. And don't try to burn or freeze them off either, these things are completely magic proof and they're keyed to my magic power, so they're not coming off until I say so."

"Okay you know what, I've got this." Natsu shot a charming grin (charming to him, in reality it just looked stupid) in her direction "Come on Lisanna, I'm the dad remember? I've gotta have my hands free in order to protect the mom and our kid, right?" they locked eyes.

"Nice try Natsu, dad or no dad you're staying like this until you and Gray can be friends without wanting to hurt each other." Lisanna's smile looked sweet, but at the same time it looked incredibly menacing, an ominous dark shadow covering her face "Understand?"

"...Yes ma'am."

"Good. Now then, I'll see you later." she pecked him on the forehead, shot a smile in Erza's direction, and then she promptly walked out of the guild hall with a smile on her face.

"Well then, FUCK!"

"Your so called wife is way scarier than I thought." Gray noted dryly.

"That's her on a good day, you should've seen what she did to that one Vulcan that cursed in front of Happy."

"...So what the hell do we do now?"

"I'll tell you what we do, don't look at me!"

"How about you don't look at me!" they both looked away from each other indignantly '_Well this is just great, why do I have to be stuck with the one guy that pisses me off more than anyone else in the guild?'_

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"_Now we move onto the town of Shirotsume, in its northern corner lies a dark guild that goes by the name of Ghoul Spirit."_

One member of the dark guild in question was sent flying, courtesy of Freed and the other two members of the Thunder Legion "You laughed at us, a mistake you won't be allowed to make again."

"Who the hell do you punks think you are?!" a few nameless thugs charged at them in a blind rage.

Evergreen promptly let out a sigh "Honestly, to think that a pack of rats would have the audacity to mock the members of a proper guild, what is the world coming too?" so she then proceeded to use her Stone Eyes on them, turning several of them to stone in an instant.

"What the hell happened, did they just turn to stone? You're gonna pay for that!" several more men charged in a rage.

"Come on then babies, I say we party like it's hot!" Bickslow promptly used several of his dolls, controlling them with his Human Possession Magic, and used them to fire a swift barrage of blasts of magic energy, blowing all of the thugs all over the place, but even despite that they kept on blasting them.

That is, until Freed got involved "That's enough Bickslow, I think we've done our job."

"What the hell man, you mean we're done already?"

"Let's not waste anymore time than we have to with weaklings such as these, I don't know why they even bothered to form a guild."

"But we can't leave just yet, my little babies are looking to have more fun!"

"You just need to be patient, I assure you that you and they will see plenty of action soon enough."

"So we're going through with Laxus' plan then?" asked Evergreen "I suppose it's about time that we did."

"Indeed, he's been planning this for some time and now he's finally going to make his move on the guild."

"You better not be screwing with me." Bickslow gave him a maniacal grin "I've been waiting for this, my babies have been too."

"Yes I'm aware, you speak of them nonstop. In all honestly it actually does get to be rather irritating." Freed looked down on the downed Ghoul Spirit thugs with disdain "I am aware that there are only three of us, but numbers mean nothing when faced with us. Remember us, for we are the Thunder Legion, some of the best that the Fairy Tail guild has to offer, as well as the personal guards of Laxus Dreyar, the next master of the guild."

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Meanwhile, with the bad guy for this arc…

A certain tall young man with blond hair, a lightning bolt scar running over his right eye, a set of magic headphones over his ears, clad in a purple collared shirt and black pants, sat on a cliffside outside of the city of Magnolia, overlooking the city with a malice filled grin plastered across his face "The Thunder Legion will be back soon, and that means my time has finally come. I'm gonna make sure that you Fairies are gonna eat each other alive. I hope you're ready for what's about to happen old man, because your era is about to come to an end!"

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The next day came, and the sun was shining over Magnolia as preparations for the Harvest Festival continued getting underway, with a great deal of excitement in the air.

"JUST ADMIT YOU ATE THE JERKY I KEEP STASHED UNDER MY HAMMOCK!"

"AS IF I WOULD EVER EAT ANYTHING YOU LAID YOUR GRUBBY HANDS ON!"

"SHUT YOUR TRAP AND PUT A SHIRT ON!"

"HEY IF YOU DON'T WANNA LAY YOUR EYES ON THE MERCHANDISE THEN JUST QUIT LOOKING!"

And when I say excitement, I mean the excitement of Natsu and Gray (still handcuffed together a full 24 hours later) trying to kill each other.

Of course, Alzack and Bisca (two of the less important characters) were watching them from afar in clear amusement "Well from the looks of things I think it's safe to say this is gonna go on for awhile."

"Are they always fighting like that?" asked Bisca.

"Oh yeah big time, but the handcuffs are new."

"You know something Alzack, you haven't changed a bit." this was when a third figure joined their conversation.

"Hey Warren it's been awhile, I was starting to think you weren't going to show up."

"I was pretty worried myself that I wouldn't make it back in time for the Harvest Festival, and yet here I am."

"Good thing too, you're always on so many jobs I can't remember the last time I saw you around town. Oh yeah this is Bisca, she joined the guild a few weeks back." his statement was followed by a wave from Bisca and a tip of her hat "And Bisca this is Warren Rocko, he's a master of telepathy magic and also sort of a workaholic."

"What can I say, I have a lot of energy to burn."

"The festival is quite the sight isn't it?" Bisca noted "I mean just take a look at the crowd around here."

"Yeah it's a pretty big deal for our town, people come from all over the kingdom to see the show we put on in the Fantasia Parade."

"I can't wait to see what they can pull off."

"Not likely, you're in the parade after all." Alzack pointed out "And that reminds me, you gonna be in the Miss Fairy Tail Contest?"

"The what now?"

"Oh it's just this beauty pageant thing they do every year. You should give it a try, you're still new to the guild but I bet you'll blow the competition away."

"Huh, sounds like a blast. Alright why not, I'll see how I do. Later." and so she made her way off to sign up for the contest.

'_Bisca in a beauty pageant. This is officially the greatest day of my life! But chances are some of the other guys in the guild will start lusting after her… I can't let that happen!'_

"Hey Alzack, you do know that I can hear your thoughts right?" Warren pointed out.

"...Shit!"

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Soon enough, the Miss Fairy Tail contest was about to begin.

Max was acting as the host of the beauty pageant "_The long wait is finally over ladies and gentlemen, and your patience is about to be rewarded! Welcome to the one and only Miss Fairy Tail contest, where your favorite female fairies duke it out in a battle of beauty! I'm Max Alors, the sand wizard extraordinaire, and I'll be your host for this exciting event!"_

Gray glanced over at where Natsu was stuffing his face "Okay I get why Elfman is here, I expected to see him, but why the hell are we here?"

"I'll give you one guess." Natsu held up the pamphlet for the pageant "Who the hell do you think is entering this contest?"

"And Elfman hasn't tried to kill you because…?"

"Probably because you're here too."

"As in…?"

"A real man doesn't drag innocents into a quarrel they have nothing to do with." Elfman stated flatly.

"...Yeah okay, works for me."

"A real man would be fine with that."

"Okay this is gonna get old fast."

"_Now let's start things off with the first entry in this contest! First we have the exotic beauty who can and will drink and of you under the table any day of the week, the famous newfound centerfold of the Fairy Tail guild, with beauty that's stolen the hearts of all men and even some women from all over the land, Cana Alberona!"_

"What's up guys?" Cana did a pose for them, earning cheers and even a few posters from various fanboys in the audience "Yeah hate to break it to you guys, but you're not getting anywhere near any of this."

"_Now bust out some magic and show us your stuff!"_

"Way ahead of you." with a wave of her hand, Cana sent her cards spinning around her, concealing her from the audience.

"_She's sent her deck of magic cards spinning, what could she be doing behind those cards of hers?"_

"Take a look and find out." when the cards disappeared, it revealed Cana in a revealing two piece bikini "The prize money will cover my tab, but I figured why not let some of the boys out there take a look at what they want but can't have."

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Levy poked her head out from behind the stage "A bikini? That can't be legal!"

"A swimsuit, such a strategy was unexpected but it does hold merit." Erza was met with a look of disbelief "What?"

"You mean you're in this too?"

"Of course I am, whenever I hear of any sort of competition it rekindles a burning flame of passion in my heart."

"...Why am I not surprised?"

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"_Next up we have our second entry, one of the most famous and loveable entries the guild has to offer! Petite and cute, as sweet as she is kind, let's give it up for Lisanna!"_

"Hi everybody!" Lisanna waved at them "I could show all of you some of my Animal Soul forms, but I thought you would find transformation magic more appealing."

"HELL YEAH LISANNA, SHOW US WHAT YOU GOT!" by now Natsu had somehow pulled a foam finger out of thin air, as well as a t shirt with Lisanna's face on it, much to the confusion of everyone else "What?"

With a flash, Lisanna revealed a transformation spell affecting only her face "First up, this one is my Happy face. Aye!" that was more than enough to disappoint a good number of the men in the audience, but then it got worse for them as she did another one "And this is my Natsu face. I'm all fired up now!" and that just made it worse for them.

Gray looked over and noticed Natsu with his jaw dropped all the way to the ground "Yeah who could blame you after seeing something like that."

"Fuck off." was all Natsu said without even looking at him.

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Levy cringed at what she was seeing "Well that was… interesting to say the least."

"Well less competition for the rest of us." Cana gave a shrug, with Erza silently nodding in agreement.

"I guess."

"_And next is our third entry, the Queen of the Fairies who doesn't need any introduction."_

"And that would be my cue!" Erza bolted out and leapt onto the stage, earning cheers from a significant number of men in the audience.

"_The Queen of the Fairies, Erza Scarlet!"_

"Thank you for taking the time to come see me here, as a reward I'll show all of you a Requip you don't get to see every day." with a burst of magic power, she flashed into a rather… unusual outfit.

"_Holy crap, she's busted out a Gothic Lolita! I think I speak for everyone when I say this was quite unexpected, but the queen herself is just full of surprises!"_

"I think it's safe to say I hold the lead at the moment." Erza promptly made her way backstage amidst the cheers, leaving the next entry to make her way out.

"_And now we have our fourth entry! Petite and cute, this fairy is as smart as she is charming, let's give it up for Levy McGarden!"_

"YEAH LEVY!" of course the biggest cheers were coming from Jet and Droy, her fellow members of Team Shadow Gear.

"Hi everyone, thanks for coming! Let me show you my Solid Script magic!" and so with a wave of her hand, Levy used her Solid Script to summon several large words in mid air, earning even louder cheers from Jet and Droy, before making her way backstage again.

"_And next we have our fifth entry into the contest, at the moment the newest addition to the Fairy Tail guild, the sniper that has the sights on our hearts, the one and only Bisca Mulan!"_

"How ya doing guys, let me show you what I've got." Bisca promptly threw a few gold coins into the air "And now it's time for **Requip: the Gunner!" **she promptly summoned a rifle and fired a single shot, blasting clear through all of them at once.

Alzack pretty much had hearts in his eyes "Holy crap, that's so hot!"

"You like what you see guys?"

"Entry #8." a new voice called out, earning the attention of everyone present, revealing it to be belong to none other than Evergreen "I am the very definition of Fairy, not to mention the very definition of beauty. I am the only woman present who currently embodies everything that is desired by men, and because of that the winner shall be me, the lovely Evergreen. And now that the true winner has revealed herself, this pathetic excuse for a contest can end."

"Oh crap, she's back." Alzack muttered "That must mean that Laxus is gonna show his face here too. Bisca look out, don't look her in the eyes!"

"What are you talking about? She's another member of the guild isn't she, if she wants to be part of the contest then I say bring on the challenge." Bisca locked and loaded a rifle.

"Oh I'm sorry, what did you say your name was again?" Evergreen's eyes flashed, and in an instant Bisca had suddenly been turned to stone.

"_Oh great, Evergreen is using her Stone Eyes magic. This is really bad, everyone needs to get out of here right now!" _and that was more than enough to send all of the spectators running for their lives.

Once the civilians were cleared out, Makarov rounded on Evergreen in his rage "What do you think you're doing Evergreen? Your antics are going to ruin the festival for everyone!"

"On the contrary Master, I think things are just getting interesting." Evergreen let out a chuckle as the curtain rose behind her, revealing all of the other female contestants, having been turned to stone by her as well.

"Lisanna no!" Natsu bolted to his feet "Dammit!"

"They got Erza and the others too." Gray muttered "Probably ambushed them while they were preoccupied with the contest."

"Listen up Fairy Bitch, change Lisanna back or I'll light a fire under your ass!" he was met with only a chuckle.

"Don't be a fool!" Makarov let out a snarl "Return all of them to normal this instant!"

But then a flash of lightning descended onto the stage, and when it subsided it revealed none other than Laxus standing before them with a maniacal grin plastered across his face "Well what the hell do you know, it looks like all of your so called fans decided to head home. That's just too fucking bad, the party is about to start."

"Laxus, I should've known."

Natsu and Gray looked around the guild hall "Freed and Bickslow too, they've got the entire Thunder Legion for this one. What the fuck are you guys trying to pull?"

"Come on you guys, let's just have some good old fashioned fun for once!"

Makarov wasn't having any of it "I've had about enough of this nonsense from you Laxus, turn them back right now or else!"

"Don't be like that old man, you're gonna have to play nice if you want any of these ladies to join the parade." he summoned a ball of lightning over Cana.

"No don't!"

"Too late." the bolt of lightning rained down, but it missed Cana by a few centimeters "Let me put it in a way even the two idiots in the handcuffs could understand, I'm taking all of these chicks hostage. Break the rules and I'll shatter all of these chicks one by one, or I could just smash them all right now.

"I'm not amused with your antics Laxus, now stop screwing around!"

"I'm not screwing around old man, it's always been a question of who's the strongest in the guild and now it's time for us to find out, and the rest of the Thunder Legion and all of you guys get join in on the fun. There's only one rule, whoever is left standing in the end is the winner. It's a battle royale for all of the Fairy Tail guild!"

"Stop fucking around." Natsu let out a snarl "I'm not fucking with you on this one, let them go and I'll burn your ass into the ground!"

"I'm pretty sure it's or, not and."

"I know what I said. Gray our rivalry be damned, we kick this guy's ass and then we focus on beating the shit out of each other."

"Sounds good to me." Gray cracked his knuckles.

"Come at us jackass."

Laxus let out a chuckle "Too bad you guys don't see things my way, but still I've gotta give you both props for having some spirit if nothing else."

"Battle royal or not it's still a festival, let's party. I'll bring in the fireworks."

"Seriously bad idea guys." Macao tried to call them off "Natsu have you already forgotten how badly Laxus beat you the last time you guys went at it?"

"Think about it, Luke was trying to take this assclown down for years so if I can beat him now then I can hold this over his head forever! Besides, I was just a kid when he beat me down."

"That was 2 weeks ago." Gray pointed out.

"Two weeks can go and suck it, he tried to screw with my wife and that's when a man has to start kicking some ass!" Natsu charged at Laxus, dragging Gray with him.

"On the other hand, I think that attitude of yours is going to lead to you asking for a hell of a lot of pain. Take my advice and just sit your ass back down!" Laxus promptly struck Natsu with a bolt of lightning, frying Natsu on the spot, as well as Gray by extension due to the metal alloy of the handcuffs that bound them together "Okay who said he was gonna fire the first shot? Anyone who didn't, go ahead and pay up." he was promptly handed some money by Bickslow and each one of his dolls "I told you you shouldn't have put your money on the stripper."

"Hey!" Gray barked at him "You think I wanted to get blasted because of this idiot?!"

"Wait a second, how the hell did you get naked if you're in handcuffs?"

"...FUCK!"

"Anyway if you want Evergreen to turn the girls back to normal then that means you're gonna have to defeat her, not to mention myself and the rest of the Thunder Legion. But those odds could be worse when you think about it, there's four of us and dozens of you guys. You've got three and not a second more, when the timer hits zero these pretty little statues so many of you like to masturbatte to will be turned to dust in the wind. All of Magnolia is going to serve as the battlefield for this tournament, the fight will begin when and if you can track us down."

"Laxus, how could you?" Makarov activated his giant form in his rage "**I absolutely refuse to stand for this!"**

"Now now, simmer the fuck down old man. It's all part of the festival isn't it?" Laxus' body started glowing and crackling with electricity as he started laughing maniacally "Come on you guys, it'll be fun! Now I say, let the battle of Fairy Tail BEGIN!" and when the light finally subsided, Laxus and the Thunder Legion had all disappeared.

"He disappeared." Macao noted "So he's turning this into a high stakes game of hide and seek then is it?"

"LET'S GO!" Elfman roared at the top of his lungs "WE'VE GOTTA MAN UP AND SAVE OUR GIRLS!" and that was all the incentive the other men (and the few women who didn't enter the contest) needed to take off running.

It took Makarov a minute to let his rage build until he finally lost patience "You insolent brat, JUST WAIT AND I'LL STOP YOU WITH MY OWN TWO HANDS!" he charged towards the exit of the guild hall, only to end up slamming face first into an invisible wall.

Natsu looked up at the stone form of Lisanna "Just hang in there, I'll rip Laxus apart if that's what it takes to save you."

"Come on, we've gotta get moving if we're gonna save them." Gray told him.

"Fine, but just to be clear that doesn't mean we're fighting as a team or anything. We take them down, then I take you down." they took off running.

"As if, I'm gonna be taking you down!"

"In your dreams stripper, I'm gonna melt you like an ice cream cone-" Natsu suddenly found himself slammed face first into the invisible wall.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

"What do you think, slamming into a goddamn wall!"

"Pull your head out of your ass, there's nothing here!" Gray tried to yank Natsu through the so called, wall, only for him to slam face first into it over and over again "I don't get it, what the fuck gives?"

"My suspicion is that it has something to do with that." Makarov looked above to see the writing floating above them.

"What is that, some kind of writing?"

"That must be the work of one of Freed's enchantments."

"What the hell do you mean enchantment?" asked Natsu.

"It's a barrier formed by Magic Runes, anyone who steps within its range is bound by its rules and the only way to escape is to follow them."

"Any idea what it says?" asked Gray.

"To my understanding, stone statues and anyone over the age of 80 years shall not pass beyond this barrier."

"So whoever writes the rules wins the fight?"

"Perhaps, but enchantments like these take time to write and as such they would be useless in a one on one battle. Still though, as you can see they're quite effective if they're set up as traps for an enemy."

"So you're really stuck and you can't get through?" asked Natsu.

"I'm afraid the rules of the enchantment are absolute."

"Well then that settles it." Gray noted "Sorry gramps, but it looks like we're gonna have to go into this fight without you."

"I'm sorry."

"Forget it, Laxus is playing dirty." Natsu's body started lighting up with flames "Grandson or not I'm not showing Laxus any mercy, he's gonna get his ass driven into the ground for the crap he's pulled."

'_The problem is that I fear that neither of these two is strong enough to defeat him, Erza may be able to, or Luke if he were still here, but Erza is out of commission for certain.'_

"Just wait, he'll go down and I'll get the girls back to normal."

"Hey flame brain, there's something you're not thinking about." Gray pointed out.

"Yeah, what's that?"

"For whatever reason, you're trapped in Freed's barrier, which means you can't get out of the guild hall to fight them to begin with."

"...FUCK!"

"Yeah that's right, I've got this one in the bag."

"About that dude, you're still stuck to me, so you can't fight them either."

"...FUCK!"

Makarov glanced over to see Reedus hiding behind a pole, or rather trying to and failing miserably at it "I see you over there Reedus, what's the matter?"

Reedus cowared back even further "Well, I'm afraid Laxus is going to hurt me."

"It's alright, I'm not forcing you to fight. Why don't you go visit Porlyusica in the East Forest, she may have a potion that can reverse petrification."

"Oui." and so Reedus promptly rushed off.

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Meanwhile, in Magnolia…

Jet and Droy rendezvoused in random street "Did you find anything man?"

Droy shook his head "No I haven't had any luck, what about you?"

"Sorry man, I don't have anything."

"Well that's just great."

"Dammit, they've got a lot of nerve doing this to Levy!"

"Hey come on man, we just have to take it easy a little bit."

"What the hell do you mean take it easy? We only have three hours!" this was when a magic barrier suddenly surrounded the two of them "What the hell, some kind of trap?"

"It's an enchantment."

"You mean they put these things all over town?"

"If I had to guess, then I would say that this is Freed's work." they looked up at the writing in the invisible wall.

"It says that only the wizard who proves himself to be the strongest is allowed to leave this barrier, but what the hell does that mean?"

"If I had to guess I'd say he's trying to make us fight each other. Dammit Freed, that's a dirty trick!"

"...Fine, if that's the way that it has to be then so be it."

"Wait what?"

"Sorry about this man, but if this is what we have to do to save Levy then I'll do it."

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Makarov and the others glanced up at the writing on the barrier "Battle of Fairy Tail status update- What in the world? It says Jet vs Droy, is this some sort of sick joke?"

"That doesn't make any sense." Natsu muttered "Why the hell would those two be fighting each other? Their personalities are basically carbon copies of each other."

Gray pondered this for a moment "If I had to guess I would say that Freed forced them into some kind of trap to make them fight each other."

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"**Knuckle Plant!" **Droy summoned a barrage of magic plants from within the ground.

"**Falcon Heaven Soar!" **Jet blitzed through every single Knuckle Plant and dealt Droy a swift kick to the torso, sending him tumbling backwards and knocking him out cold "Sorry about this man, but someone has to save Levy and the others."

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Gray glanced up at the update in the barrier "The winner is Jet, Droy has been KO'ed."

"Dammit!" Natsu launched a Fire Dragon Iron Fist into the barrier, to no avail "Stop it with this stupid game right now! LAXUS!"

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Meanwhile, with the asshole in question…

Laxus stood waiting in the halls of the Kardea Cathedral, witnessing the chaos occurring throughout the city with a malicious grin "Alright you old geezer, let's see just how long you can endure this game of Fairy-eat-Fairy."

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By this point, the townspeople of Magnolia were beginning to notice that the Fairy Tail members were fighting against each other, and as they spoke Vijeeter was sent flying through a nearby wall while he was facing off against Nab.

At the same time, other battles were taking place, among them being Warren vs Max and Macao vs Wakaba, and Laki (the girl with purple hair who uses Wood Make magic) vs a few other nameless girls.

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Happy looked up at the results of each battle coming through "Max vs Warren, Max is KO'ed and the winner is Warren. Vijeeter vs Nab, Vijeeter is KO'ed and the winner is Nab. Laki defeats four others. Macao vs Wakaba, in progress."

"Dammit…" Makarov gritted his teeth "Those foolish children, what the hell do they think they're doing?"

"They really don't have any choice but to fight each other, Freed must have hidden those enchantments all over town so they're impossible to avoid. It's just like Laxus said, this is the Battle of Fairy Tail."

"But why, it doesn't make any sense?" Natsu gritted his teeth and slammed another flaming fist into the wall "Why the hell did I get shafted at a time like this?!"

"How the fuck do you think I feel?!" Gray yanked on the handcuffs and ended up making Natsu slam into the invisible wall "I wanna take down Laxus just as much as you do, but I'm stuck to you and you're stuck in there so we're both getting shafted on fighting them!"

"Hey fighting can go fuck itself right now, I'm trying to save my wife! Once I know she's safe, then I'll focus on beating the shit out of Laxus and the others and lording this over their heads for like a year!"

"Will both of you shut up!" Makarov used his extending arms to smack Natsu upside the head, then yanked him backwards to pull Gray back within the limits of the barrier and smacked him upside the head as well "This is not a game, Laxus is playing the two of you and everyone else like a bunch of pawns. If we can't beat the Thunder Legion in time then the girls are going to be smashed to pieces, I know that everyone is trying to keep that from happening but they're going about it the wrong way. If we keep fighting amongst themselves like this then the girls are as good as finished, we can't let Laxus win."

"Here's the thing about that Master." Happyspoke up "I'm not so sure that he's actually gonna hurt hurt them do you? I mean yeah he's a gigantic jerkface, but he's still one of us, so if I had to guess I think he might be bluffing."

"You really think that?"

"Look at Natsu and Gray for example, sure they try to strangle each other a lot in ways that are pretty funny but they're still willing to put it aside for the sake of taking Laxus down."

"...You really do believe that don't you?"

"Yeah."

"Screw that, he's got my wife as a fucking statue!" Natsu slammed another fire fist into the barrier, to no avail "Does this mean I'm over 80 and no one ever told me, cause I'd know if I was a stone statue right?!"

"And here I thought we knew each other Natsu."

Gray was still rather skeptical "You seriously think Laxus is part of the guild, even after all of this you think he wouldn't hurt any of us? You know what, deal with it later. How much time is left?"

"From the look it, about 2 hours and 18 minutes."

"And there are 42 participants remaining."

Makarov froze at what he heard "That can't be all that's left, that means more than half the guild has wiped itself out in less than an hour."

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At the same time, Reedus was trying to get out of Magnolia and reach Porlyusica in order to find an antidote for Evergreen's petrification, only to find that he was prohibited from doing so by a barrier set up by Freed, and soon found himself engaging in combat against Freed himself.

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Amidst all of the chaos in the battle royale, Alzack found himself confronted by Bickslow and his dolls, but he wasn't the only one who had managed to track down a member of the Thunder Legion.

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Elfman found himself confronting Evergreen, and he promptly charged at her "You know a real man would never need to take a hostage in a fight, if you have any pride then you'll turn my little sister back right now!"

Evergreen let out a chuckle "Well you should already be aware that I'm not a man." she attempted to petrify him with her Stone Eyes.

Elfman shut his eyes in order to avoid being turned to stone, only to be sent flying by a wave of her fan, sending him crashing into a nearby flower shop.

"Oh my, are those beautiful flowers for me? How kind of you, they suit me so well."

"**Beast Arm: Iron Bull!" **Elfman activated one of his Beast Arm spells and burst out from beneath the rubble, now wearing a blindfold.

"It's a shame that the only thing about you I could find cute is your name, Elfman."

"A real man doesn't screw around when the stakes are this high, now you'd better turn my sister back or else!"

"Do you really think you can defeat me while you're blindfolded?" she easily dodged an attempted swipe from his Beast Arm.

"A real man relies on more than just his eyes!" Elfman aimed another fist.

Evergreen dodged that attack as well, releasing a spray of gold dust as she did "How resourceful of you, so you can tell where I am by following the sound of my voice and my scent. But it's too late for you unfortunately, you're already covered in my fairy dust. **Fairy Bomb Attack: Gremlin!" **the dust particles around him started setting off a chain of miniature explosions that eventually ignited into one larger one, which resulted in Elfman crashing to the ground with a loud thud "Statues are wonderful are they not? No matter how ugly a beast may be, once he is captured in stone he becomes a beautiful work of art, now gaze into my eyes and submit to the eternal beauty of stone." she then proceeded to use her Stone Eyes magic to turn him into a statue like all of the others.

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Gray glanced up at the scorekeeper on the barrier "Elfman vs Evergreen, Elfman has been KO'ed and the winner is Evergreen."

"Well that's fucked up." Natsu muttered "I would've thought he'd have no problem taking her down."

"Plus it says down here that Alzack and Bickslow are fighting it out."

"And I think it says here that Reedus and Freed are going at it. You think either of them can win?"

"For the sake of Erza and the others they have to try at least."

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Reedus found himself being cornered by Freed and tried to use his Pict Magic in an attempt to catch him off guard, only for it to fail and for him to be defeated.

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Happy looked up at the scoreboard "This is bad, Freed took out Reedus!"

"Dammit!" Natsu slammed a fist into the wall "Why the hell did he have to get stuck with Freed of all people, that dude's a fucking powerhouse!"

"Yeah he's cool, but now isn't the time for praising the enemy."

"This coming from the flying cat who said that Laxus was bluffing about turning the girls to dust just a few minutes ago."

"_Is that so?" _this was when a Thought Projection of Laxus appeared before them "_So you really think I'm bluffing, you really wanna roll with that one?"_

"Where the hell did you come from?"

"It's not really him." Gray told him "It's just a Thought Projection."

"_So tell me something you two, what the hell are you guys doing holed up in a piece of shit like this? You guys aren't scared are you?"_

"We're not scared you idiot, but Natsu is stuck inside Freed's barrier and I'm stuck to him, to my obvious disgust, so I can't fight either."

"_Huh. Well makes things easier for me, not that either of you stood a chance against me either way."_

"Just tell me what you want." Makarov gritted his teeth.

"_So how does it feel old man, you think of the members of the guild as your children right? It must be pretty tough to watch your so called kids tear each other apart like a bunch of pieces of wet paper. It's too bad these assclowns and Erza can't join the game, you guys don't have anyone else strong enough to take on the Thunder Legion. And it's too bad the only one with the spunk to take us on isn't even here right now, because he ran away like a coward."_

"Don't talk shit about Luke like that!" Natsu let out an outright snarl "He left to get stronger so he could beat the crap out of assholes like you, he's more of a man and a lightning magic wizard than you'll ever be!"

"_You just keep thinking that you cocky little bastard. So what do you say old man, you ready to throw in the towel?"_

"I wouldn't underestimate their power if I were in your position. Makarov warned him "These children have the one thing you lack: Spirit."

"_Spirit isn't gonna do much good against any of my guys. See for yourselves." _Laxus jerked a thumb at the scoreboard "_Likes Bickslow just did in that guy with the guns (Alzack), so now less than 30 competitors are left." _he promptly barked out a laugh "_And those ass clowns were supposed to save you?"_

"You cheater!" Happy promptly rounded on him "I know you and your pals used some dirty trick to make them fight each other!"

"_So tell me something old man, which one of those chumps was supposed to beat the Thunder Legion again?"_

"We will." Gray and Natsu shared a glance with each other.

"_Yeah like that's gonna happen? You said it yourself, he's stuck in here for whatever reason and you're stuck to him, so you might as well not even be here."_

"I'll figure something out." Natsu summoned some flames in his hand "And when I do your ass is grass and I'm the guy mowing it-"

"Enough, this isn't worth it." Makarov finally cut into the conversation "I surrender, is that what you want?"

"What the fuck Gramps?!"

"You've had your fun Laxus, now stop this."

"_What the hell has gotten into you? I thought you were the master of the almighty Fairy Tail guild, you can't just give up at the drop of a hat. But still, if you insist on quitting then by all means just hand the guild over to me and take an early retirement."_

"What…?"

"So that's what you want." Gray let out a snarl "Why the hell are you playing dirty like this, why not just come here and face us like a man?"

"I should've known, this was your goal all along wasn't it?"

"_You've only got about an hour and a half until the statues up and crumble, if you really wanna put and end to this then just announce your retirement to the entire town over the guild's loudspeaker. I want you to tell everyone you're relinquishing Fairy Tail over to me. What means more to you, your children or your title?" _and then he disappeared.

"God dammit man!" Natsu's body was radiating with fire from his rage "If you wanna be the master so mad then you should have the guts to come right here and face us yourself! Why the hell doesn't he just do that if he's acting so smug?"

Makarov's frown deepened "It was never the title that I valued."

"But you can't just give up Gramps!" Gray protested.

"I know that, Laxus may be powerful but he isn't trustworthy. By no means would I ever leave him in charge. It takes more than just physical strength or magic power to run a guild, he has neither the conviction nor the heart."

"Well we've gotta do something before he turns the girls into dust! There's gotta be something we can do, some way one of us can get the hell out of here and take Laxus and the Thunder Legion down!"

Natsu looked over at the stone form of Lisanna "You said that when bad things are happening, that's when you need to smile the most for the sake of those around you. I'll find a way to bust out of here so I can see your smile again."

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"**Fairy Bomb Attack: Gremlin!" **Evergreen promptly blew away several nameless Fairy Tail members in a series of explosions "My my, this is such a shame."

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Nab and Laki found themselves being chased around by Bickslow and his dolls "Hey come on and cut it out already Bickslow, we're all friends here right?"

"Friends?" Bickslow stuck out his tongue with a maniacal grin "You weaklins ain't no friends of mine, right babies?" and then he had his dolls blow them up.

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Freed wasted no time in snuffing out Jet, taking advantage of his clouded judgdment in his rage and defeating him easily, narrowing down the list of the remaining participants even further.

Time was running out, and the guild was running out of capable members.

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Makarov looked up at the barrier in horror "Only two left in the entire guild?"

"Dammit!" Natsu finally rounded on Gray "I've wanted to say this for more than a day, why the fuck can't you freeze this stupid thing off?!"

"Don't you think I've tried!" Gray rounded back on him as well "The same could be said for you trying to burn this thing off!"

"Now I'm hungry and it's all your fault you asshat!"

"Don't think you can blame everything on me!"

"No way, you mean to tell me…" Makarov slowly glanced back at Natsu and Gray "You mean you two are the only ones left?!"

"But what about me Master?" asked Happy "I'm a member too aren't I?"

"There's no one left who could take down Laxus, it's all over."

"Don't count us out yet Gramps." Natsu breathed a sigh "Now that I've got the pent up aggression towards Gray out of my system for the time being, I can go ahead and use my secret last resort option. Hang tight Gramps, I'll go ahead and bring Erza back."

"Wait you'll do what?!"

"Truth be told I have no idea if this is even going to work or not, but I don't think we have any other options."

"Now hold on a second, just what are you about to do?"

"What else, I'm gonna use my fire on her to melt the stone off of her."

"Wait what?!" Gray promptly rounded on him "She isn't covered in stone you idiot, her entire body is made of stone right now! It's not gonna melt off her!"

"Yeah well unless you have a better idea shove an icicle up your ass, besides we won't know until we try."

"This is madness, you're going to roast her alive!" Makarov protested.

"So what, it's toasty time." Natsu ignited his hands in flames "Someone take a picture, this is going to be so awesome."

"Just watch where you put those hands of yours." Gray warned him.

"That's what she said." but then a crack formed on Erza, causing him to scream in pure unholy terror "Oh crap oh crap oh crap, I didn't mean to break her! Don't just stand there you idiots, someone get me the glue!"

"Glue isn't gonna do anything to fix her you idiot, you've gotta use your fire to weld her back together and my ice to seal the deal before it's too late!" the cracks started forming even further along her body, which caused them to start praying out of pure comical terror.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Just please don't turn into a ghost and haunt me for the rest of my days!" Natsu promptly froze in the middle of his terrified praying as he witnessed what happened next.

The stone on Erza's body shattered and she appeared completely back to normal, including her usual pissed off look "I feel hot… it was you wasn't it? Were you trying to cook me?!" she then proceeded to punch Natsu as hard as she could, sending both him and Gray flying across the guild hall.

"Yep, she's back to normal alright… told you it would work… ow…"

"And even in a crisis you can't cease with your foolishness."

"Thank goodness." Makarov breathed a deep sigh of relief "But how was the spell broken on you?"

"Honestly I'm not quite sure, but if I had to guess then I would say it had something to do with my right eye."

'_That's it, the properties of the artificial eye Porlyusica gave her must have weakened the effects of Evergreen's spell. _Tell me Erza, do you know what's going on right now?"

"I think so, even when I was turned to stone I could still hear most of what was being said."

"Alright, the time has come for us to strike back."

"Right."

"Hey guys check it out!" Happy pointed to the scoreboard on the Runes "There's three of them now."

"So the Runes have already added me into the roster, that's actually quite impressive. It updates automatically, but there's still only three left."

"Actually it's just you right now, Natsu is stuck on here because of the enchantment on the guild hall and Gray is stuck to him because of those magic handcuffs of Lisanna's."

"And it's linked to Lisanna's magic power, but given that she's still turned to stone she can't release the two of them."

"Wait a second, now the roster says there's five."

"Which means two more have entered the fray then."

"But who the hell could it be?" asked Natsu "I mean Lisanna and the others are still stone so it can't be them."

"I believe that all of you are forgetting about a few people. There is Loke for starters, he was out of town on a long term job. As for the other, there's a certain someone who's frequently out of town."

Makarov studied Erza intently for a moment, until realization dawned on him "You mean _him _don't you, and he's back just when we need him the most."

"He's always been one to make a grand entrance, at least when he actually wants to make himself known. Yes, we're talking about a man who may very well be the strongest wizard in Fairy Tail, none other than Mystogan himself. It looks to me like the real battle is about to begin at last."

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Meanwhile, with the blonde prick…

Laxus looked up at the scoreboard on the Runes with a confident smirk "So not only has Erza recovered, but now Loke and Mystogan are joining us. Including me, that's three of the elites of Fairy Tail going head to head. You can't have a proper festival without a main event now can you?"

**A/N:**

**And now we come to the Battle of Fairy Tail, which may be the most heavily redone arc in my entire series, at least for the moment. I know that in earlier chapters I've been making various references to an incident involving Laxus, and this is what it's been hyping up to, the big revelation in the form of a flashback arc to the Battle of Fairy Tail, which in this fic takes place one year earlier than it did in canon.**

**The biggest changes involved in this arc due to it being one year earlier is the noticeable lack of Lucy, Juvia and Gajeel being present, as well as Loke still being banned from the Celestial world and no one (except Bickslow) knowing about him being one of the 12 Zodiac spirits.**

**The idea of Natsu and Gray being handcuffed to each other was inspired by an episode of the anime Gintama, episode 166 to be exact. I've been trying to get into that anime recently, and I honestly think it would be hysterical to see those two handcuffed to each other. That, and it keeps Gray from getting his ass handed to him by Bickslow.**

**For those who noticed, I added in a few NaLi moments here and there just for the sake of solidifying the ship a little bit more. I'll be expanding on those in a later chapter.**


	17. Battle of Fairy Tail II

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**XenoLucifer: **Yeah, I thought it would be fun, so I figured why not. To be honest, I'm kind of surprised that no one has commented on it before now.

**Ragnas Bredvolts: **Hey no need to rush yourself on these things, take as much time as you need to. Yes, Lightning Sea King Dragon Mode. It's common knowledge that water is highly capable of conducting electricity. If you like that, just wait until you see what I plan to have Luke bust out during the Tenrou Island arc. Yes, I can imagine that Luke would be made about Jellal actually killing someone who once considered him a friend. As for Ikaruga, well to be honest I never really thought much of her. She was there to give Erza some character development and she did her job, that's all there is to it. In the end, Luke was the one who defeated Jellal, but I promise you Natsu and Gray will be getting their fair share of the spotlight when we start with the Battle of Fairy Tail next chapter, and we finally get to have a look at the _other _user of Lightning Dragon Slayer magic in this story. That's all I have to say for now, I hope I continue meeting your expectations, and you have a nice day as well my friend.

**Ragnas Bredvolts (Again): **Yeah, as much as I love writing Luke's character, it's going to be interesting to have him on the sidelines this time around. Bickslow vs Loke was sort of a challenge to write out, but for the record I did some research on that and he is still capable of using the Regulus, just not at full power. Erza vs Evergreen, that one is pretty straightforward when you think about it. As for Freed, well let's just say I have the perfect person to go up against him to make up for the absence of Mira and her Satan Soul. It won't be Lisanna though, I mean I did consider having her do it, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized it wouldn't really work. As for Natsu and Gray vs Laxus, yep that's going to be the final showdown of this flashback arc. However, I can't include a "Frozen Flame Dragon Mode" as you called it because Gray doesn't use Dragon Slayer Magic. But regardless, I hope you like what I bring to the table. That's all I have to say for now, and you have a nice day as well.

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"_In a land far far away lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small and peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most people, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards and mages, and banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore, but there is a certain guild in a certain town that stands high above the rest of them, one from which countless legends have been born, a guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. This guild is known as Fairy Tail."_

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Erza bolted through the streets of Magnolia as fast as she could, her mind racing '_I can't waste any time, I have to find Laxus and the others before it's too late.'_

"Hey Erza." that was when a few random civilian got her attention "That's one hell of a crazy getup you've got on. You know we saw a bunch of guys from your guild fighting a little while ago, you think you could ask them to stop wrecking the town?"

"Oh, well please don't be too hard on them. They're just preparing for the big parade and they're letting the excitement get to them, you know the usual for our guild."

"I don't see what that has to do with fighting."

"I promise, it will be a show you'll never forget."

"I'll take your word for it then, just try to clean up after yourseles okay?"

"We will, I promise!" and then she promptly ran off again.

"Well at least she's polite."

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Erza continued running through the streets in search of the Thunder Legion, only to be forced to evade a sudden barrage of magic energy blasts '_I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that this is the one I run into first.'_

Sure enough, Evergreen was standing on a rooftop in front of Erza, looming over her and looking down on her with a look of overconfident disdain "My my, now that is odd. I do seem to recall turning you into a statue. Well I suppose it doesn't matter, this gives me a legitimate excuse to torment you further."

"So you're picking a fight with me then?"

"You're quite the irksome one, and they call you Titania, the Queen of the Fairies? Well that's nothing more than a farce, I'm the _true _Queen of the Fairies."

"I think we'll see about that soone enough!" Erza promptly requipped one of her swords and charged at Evergreen at full speed.

Evergreen dodged every stroke Erza fired at her, leaving her to slice through a water tower instead "We have a score to settle don't we?"

"This saves me the trouble of having to hunt you down I suppose, the sooner I defeat you the sooner the others will be turned back!" Erza charged at her again.

"Aren't you quite confident." Evergreen attempted to use her Stone Eyes magic on her.

"That won't work on me again!" keeping her left eye shut, Erza fired a barrage of slashes from her sword.

Evergreen dodged Erza's attacks and retreated back a short distance "So that heinous artificial eye actually works in your favor, if that's the case then why don't we see if you take a liking to my **Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun!" **she fired off a barrage of magic energy needles.

Erza charged through the barrage of energy needles, cutting through any that were hurtling towards her.

"Try again." Evergreen summoned her wings and flew higher into the air as she fired another barrage of magic needles.

"You coward!" Erza charged after her across the rooftops, cutting through every magic needle being fired directly at her as she did so.

"You're quite adept at deflecting my attacks now aren't you? But I'm just getting started, so I wonder if you can handle twice as many!" she fired an even greater barrage of needles with even greater ferocity.

Erza flashed her swords all over the place to deflect as many energy needles as she could, but a few of them were still able to graze her.

"From this day forth I shall be known as Titania, for I am the _true _Queen of the Fairies!"

"I think we'll see about that!" Erza requipped some swords onto her feet in order to deflect twice as many needles as before, eventually managing to fight her way forward and throwing them with her feet.

"What in the-" Evergreen wasn't able to react as the swords pierced through her dress and pinned her "Uh…"

"Putting aside your personal character for the moment, you're still a member of Fairy Tail just as the same as everyone else so if you wish to call yourself Titania then feel free to do so. I don't even know who gave me that name in the first place, nor do I care. But now onto more pressing matters, if you cease with this madness and turn the girls back to normal then I give you my word that I will not harm you."

Evergreen took a moment to regain her overconfident facade "You're being a bit naive now aren't you? I'll have you know that my Stone Eyes grant me another ability as well."

"Which is?"

"Remote Control." that was enough to make Erza freeze in place "Drop to your knees and bow before me, if you refuse then I'll use my power to topple your precious little statues and shatter them into pieces!"

"...I see. Well in that case… **Requip!" **with a flash, Erza promptly Requipped out of her Gothic Lolita outfit… and into her Heaven's Wheel Armor, with dozens of swords hovering overhead "I must admit Evergreen I'm actually quite impressed, I never thought you would be the kind of person who would sacrifice her life for her ideals. If they must be shattered then I will have no other choice but to collect your soul in retribution for their demise."

Evergreen let out a shallow gulp as she began to sweat profusely in fear, and she eventually let out a scream of terror… only to receive a fist smashed into her face in a comical fasion.

"Let this be a lesson, if you're going to bluff then do it right."

"...Alright, you win."

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With a flash, the stone bodies of Lisanna and the others returned to normal, alive and well but highly confused "What… What happened to us? I can't remember, I mean I was backstage but then…"

"Lisanna you're okay!" Natsu pulled her into a tight hug, with Happy promptly flying into her chest sobbing '_Thank you Erza, seriously.'_

"Check it out." Gray jerked a thump up at the scoreboard up on the barrier "Evergreen vs Erza, the winner is Erza and Evergreen has been KO'ed."

Makarov gave a smirk of triumph '_Well Laxus it would seem that you're all out of hostages now boy, you can't continue with your game now can you?'_

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Meanwhile, with Laxus…

"You failed me…" with a rage filled snarl, Laxus slammed one of his fists into a nearby pillar out of pure frustration "I put my faith in you Evergreen, I trust in you and this is how you return the favor, I come to find out you're weaker than Erza? Dammit!"

"You shouldn't be surprised." that was when Freed appeared behind him "Titania is far more capable than you believe her to be, Bickslow or myself should've been sent after her instead."

"...Why the hell are you here when you should be fighting?"

"Because the game is as good as over now, without any hostages we can no longer force the hand of the Master-" Freed was silenced by a furious glare and a blast of lightning being fired in his direction "What are you doing?"

"This fight isn't over, not by a longshot. If you don't want to follow me then you can just go ahead and get lost, there's no place for weaklings in _my _Fairy Tail."

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Cana frowned at what she was being told by the others "He called it the Battle of Fairy Tail? It sounds to me like Laxus really outdid himself this time around."

"At any rate it's over now." Makarov told them "I only played along with his foolish game because your lives were in danger, but now that you're all safe I have no intention of indulging him any further than I already have."

"Master, we can't let him get away with what he's doing." Lisanna pointed out "What he's doing isn't only dangerous, but it's hurting a lot of people."

"Oh you don't need to worry about that, when I see him next I'm going to give that boy a punishment that he'll never forget. He should know better than this, you can mess with me but you can't mess with my guild."

"Hey now hold up a second." Natsu cut off his angry rant "He took Lisanna as a hostage and that's fucked up, but now that that's over with there's no real problem in finding out who's the strongest, so I say we should keep the battle going."

"...Okay speak for everyone here, what the fuck are you going on about?" Gray shot him a look of disbelief.

"Hey for all anybody outside knows we're all just fucking around trying to have some fun for the festival, so let's give them what they love us for and go at it. What the hell are we waiting for, we have me and Gray and enough chicks here to start a brawl so let's get to it!"

"Absolutely not!" Makarov rounded on him in a comical rage "Don't even think about doing something so stupid you nincompoop!"

"I've been stuck to this naked asshole building up pent up energy for almost a day and a half and I've been stuck in here for almost 2 hours, if I don't try to burn something then I'm gonna fucking explode!"

"Give it a rest you moron." Gray smacked him upside the head "You're always looking for an excuse to pick a fight."

"So you don't wanna go at it?"

"Of course I want to bash your skull in, but we have to deal with Laxus first."

"Hey if he wants a fight then he can just come here and fight us himself, either way I need to punch something!"

"You know Natsu, I don't think it's really nice to beat up on girls, especially when they're your friends." Happy pointed out.

"A girl, a guy, a friend, an enemy, I don't give a crap really."

"Hey, keep this up and I'm going to fight you!"

"Screw that Happy, you and Lisanna are the two people I'm not fighting. Gray and pretty much everyone else, I'll blast them in the face."

"You wanna go Pyro?!" Gray rounded on him.

"You're damn right I do Stripper!"

Cana observed their spats from afar, as well as the look that Lisanna was giving Natsu, and so she let out a heavy sigh and downed a bottle of wine '_This doesn't help.'_

"You drinking and completely ignoring those two going at it, looks like I came back at just the right time."

Cana glanced over to see Loke entering the guild hall "Yeah, right after all of the chaos settles down."

"Sorry, I was out on a job but I rushed back when I got this seriously bad feeling that something was up. Looks like everything died down though."

"Yeah."

"You're thinking about Luke aren't you?"

"...I'm gonna need a lot more than just regular wine."

"That answers that." Loke looked towards the entrance of the guild hall, only to see the barrier covered by glowing red Rune symbols "Um, hey you guys I'm no expert on Rune spells or anything, but I'm pretty sure that isn't supposed to happen."

"Well that's just great, don't tell me he's up to something else."

"Well if he does then he's going to have to fight all of us this time around."

The red Runes materialized in front of them and took on the appearance of a massive skull, with the voice of Laxus coming through it "_Can you hear me Old Man? The rest of you had better listen up too."_

"What the hell do you want?" Natsu snarled.

"_It looks to me like thanks to Evergreen getting beaten by Erza, one of the rules has gone out the window. That's fine, I'll just compensate for that by adding a new rule. In other words, since I would hate to have to end the Battle of Fairy Tail so early I've decided to activate the Thunder Palace."_

That was more than enough to leave Makarov in a mix of fear and rage "Are you completely out of your mind Laxus?!"

"_You have 1 hour and 10 minutes left, if you think you can win then you'd better get moving already, unless you're ready to hand the guild over to me now Master." _and with one final arrogant laugh, the Rune skull dissipated.

In an instant, Makarov's fear and rage turned into absolute rage "THIS GAME HAS GONE ON FOR LONG ENOUGH BOY, WON'T ALLOW YOU TO DRAG INNOCENT PEOPLE INTO THIS-" his fear subsided as he clutched his chest in pain.

"Gramps are you okay, what the hell is going on?" Gray and Natsu quickly caught Makarov and gently lowered him to the ground "Someone go get his medicine, Natsu and I will take him to the infirmary."

"Just stay with him for now, I'll go get his medicine!" Lisanna quickly rushed off towards the infirmary.

"Gramps can you hear us, just hang in there."

"Hey what the hell did he mean by Thunder Palace?" asked Natsu.

"I don't have a clue, but seeing how freaked out Gramps got I doubt it's anything good."

"Hey you guys, take a look outside!" Loke pointed out the window of the guild hall.

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A few minutes later, on the roof of the guild hall…

Natsu, Gray, Loke and the others gathered on the roof of the guild hall and found several lightning lacrima floating above the city "What in the hell are those things?"

"They look like some kind of lightning lacrima, which means that Laxus is the one who stuck them up there." Gray told him "They're floating all over the city, and sure they may not look dangerous but they're overflowing with lightning magic, which means that this could get seriously ugly."

"So this is that Thunder Palace thing Laxus was talking about?"

"Yeah, and it's surrounding Magnolia."

"But if those things are filled with lightning and he uses that spell then…"

"Yeah, it'll fry everything in the range of its effects, and everyone caught in it will die."

Natsu looked up at the lightning lacrimas, then back at Happy and Lisanna, and the vein in his forehead began throbbing as his body started radiating flames "I'm not letting that happen. Put up an ice shield around them."

"What the hell are you thinking of doing?"

"Blowing those things all the way to hell and back."

"..For once I like the way you think. **Ice Make: Dome!" **Gray slammed his hands together and summoned an ice dome covering Lisanna, Happy and the others "Go for it."

"As if you had to ask. **Fire… Dragon… ROAR!" **with a mighty roar, Natsu breathed out a powerful blast of fire at one of the lacrimas, incinerating it on the spot in a blaze of glory, wiping it from existence "That's one down, a fuckload of them to go."

"The problem is, you can't reach all of them from here."

"Doesn't mean I'm not going to try." but it was in that moment that Natsu was suddenly struck by a powerful bolt of lightning, causing him to cry out in agony before falling to the ground, now charred significantly, and he let out a weak cough "What the hell just happened?"

"If I had to guess, I would say that Laxus is protecting those lightning lacrima using some kind of Body Link magic. You just destroyed the thing so Laxus ensured that you would get fried because of it. To dumb it down, if you try to blow up another one of those things then you'll just get fried again."

"Dammit!" Natsu slammed his fist into the barrier "What the hell are we supposed to do if we can't blow those things up? That's our specialty!"

"If we can't stop them then the only thing we can do is take out Laxus before he can set those things off."

"But the problem is that you guys are still stuck here." Cana pointed out.

"Don't remind me, but either way that means we'll have to leave it up to you guys. But in the meantime, some of you should search for Laxus and some of the others should help the people evacuate just to be safe. Bickslow and Freed are still out there though, so be sure to be careful when you do."

"Right, I'll go work on evacuating the citizens." Loke quickly rushed off, with Cana, Bisca and Happy following right behind him.

"I never thought I'd see the day where one of our own would turn on us."

"Tell me about it." Natsu muttered "This is almost as fucked up as this dream I had awhile back about you turning on us and helping this loud mouthed crazy chick build some kind of fake dragon and try to level Magnolia."

"...Why the fuck would you dream about something like that?"

"I don't know, I was high on jerky that night. Still though, I was pissed at first because he tried to use Lisanna but how he's crossing the line!" Natsu leapt over the railing and slammed face first into the barrier "Dammit you fucking coward, if you wanna be the Master so bad then why don't you come here and fight Gramps for it yourself! When I get the hell out of this barrier I'm gonna make you pay for this!"

"Natsu give it a rest!" Gray pulled him backwards "That's not gonna do anything, just call the hell down for a second!"

"I can't calm down, he's gotta pay but I can't do anything to stop him! I hate this fucking invisible wall!"

"Wait a second…" Levy studied the wall for a moment, until realization dawned on her "This is an enchantment!"

"We already knew that Levy, what's your point?"

"I mean it's a kind of script magic, if that's the case then I might be able to break the spell and free Natsu from it so you guys can fight."

"Wait a second, can you do that? Seriously?" asked Gray.

"I should be able to at least try, and when I do the two of you can go track down Laxus."

"And what about the handcuffs?"

"I know I told you guys that they're keyed to my magic power, but even if I released it it would take at least a few hours for them to be released." Lisanna told him.

"Dammit!"

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Laxus barked out a laugh over his own pride "How the fuck do you like that one you pathetic old geezer? Now everybody in this entire fucking town is my hostage!"

This was when Freed finally found his voice again "I think you're taking this too far."

"Too far huh? Not a chance, I'm going to decide just how far is too far! This is a fight to the bitter end, and that means it won't end until one side is completely wiped off the face of the planet!"

"We can still win though Laxus, we don't need any hostages. Please, just stop this before you go too far."

"...Why the hell are you even still here, shouldn't you be out hunting down the other Fairies along with Bickslow? The old man is counting on Erza, so I'll be sure to take care of her myself, and the same goes for Mystogan. In the meantime you can deal with Cana and that cowgirl chick from that western continent, I don't need either of them in _my _Fairy Tail. Go ahead and just take them out."

"But even if they are our enemies now, we're still in the same-"

"WHEN I GIVE YOU AN ORDER YOU HAD BETTER DO WHAT THE FUCK I TELL YOU TO DO!"

"...We've chosen our path now haven't we? We've passed the point of no return, so now there is no turning back. As you wish Laxus, I will follow you no matter where that road may end up taking me. If you wish for me to exterminate them then so I shall, but keep in mind that their blood will be on your hands."

"Like you said, there's no turning back for us now. It's time for us to sieze the victory, not wallow in the remorse, Freed the Dark."

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Levy was going through one book after another in an attempt to find the solution to undoing the barrier that Freed set up "Let's see, if I can break down the logue letter sequence data into component blocks and then pinpoint the terms used to make up the rules then that leaves me with L-O-S-U. Okay, now if I can convert that into geel grammar."

"You really are something else." Lisanna commented "We're speaking the same language but I honestly can't understand what you're saying. Then again, it doesn't really help that I've always hated studying."

"Wait hold on a second, that's it! The L and S are nothing but bluffs, that means the key code must be Arth!"

"Um, okay…"

"Just hang on, I promise I'll get Natsu and Gray out of here. The two of them might be the only ones who can take down Laxus."

"I know they can. I hate to ask, but can you make sure they get out okay? I need to go and make sure that Elfman is okay."

"Go ahead, I can handle this no problem."

"Thank you Levy, truly." and so Lisanna promptly bolted out of the guild hall as fast as she was able to, her mind racing '_Elfman, please be okay.'_

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Cana and Bisca bolted through the streets of Magnolia searching for Laxus, but having little luck in that regard "Dammit, I don't know where else to look."

"Is there some place in the city that he has some sort of serious attachment to, like a brooding spot or something?" asked Bisca.

"Well we've known each other for a long time, a good chunk of which was Luke trying to challenge like and getting his ass handed to him, but with the way he's been acting for the past few years I don't have any sort of clue as to what he's thinking."

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Happy flew after Loke as he ran through the streets of Magnolia "Why can't we just warn everyone over the guild's loudspeaker?"

"You can thank Laxus for that." Loke told him "There's some kind of enchantment on it that prevents anyone from using except for the Master, and that's only if he decides to surrender the guild over to Laxus. Looks like they worked really hard to stab their friends in the back, so either way I guess we'll just have to warn people about all of the crap they've been causing on our own."

"Actually that reminds me Loke, I think maybe it would actually be for the best if we didn't tell them about all of this."

"Why do you say that?"

"There are a ton of people from other towns here for the Harvest Festival, in other words the town is jam packed and everyone is all worked up."

"Of course they're all worked up, they're all worried about those weird things floating in the sky above the city."

"That's what I'm saying, and they'll be even more worried if they find out that those things are filled with lightning magic, so they might end up panicing and hurting each other."

"...Yeah you've actually got a good point, you know you're actually a lot smarter than people give you credit for Happy."

"_Yeah!" _this was when some certain magic dolls floated down next to him "_You're a lot smarter than people give you credit for Happy!"_

"Oh crap, Happy get down!" Loke pulled Happy into his arms and took to the rooftops to protect him from the oncoming barrage of magic energy blasts "Those things are Bickslow's minions, which means we've found one of the Thunder Legion."

"Hey what's up Pretty Boy?" that was when Bickslow floated down in front of them "Looks like someone's really been getting into the whole cosplaying gimmick."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"You ever read manga dude? You look amost exactly like Ichigo from Bleach, only somewhat cooler."

"Well at least you have good taste, but I think it's safe to say neither of us are here to do some smalltalk. Where the hell is Laxus?"

"Now why would I answer that Ichigo Kurosaki?"

"_Ichigo Kurosaki! Ichigo Kurosaki!"_

"Yeah you know it! Alright babies, now it's time for you guys to tear it the hell up!" he had his magic dolls fire a barrage of energy blasts.

"Happy take cover!" Loke tucked and rolled through the barrage while making sure that he was preventing Happy from getting blasted by the magic dolls.

"You know it's too bad, normally I would go easy on you considering I know things about you no one else does, but this here is a war and losing is simply not an option for us."

"Let me just tell you this now Bickslow, if you think the Master is going to let you get away with this then you have another thing coming!"

"The master can go and suck it for all I care, by the time this whole thing is over Laxus will be the new master of the Fairy Tail guild!"

"In your wet dreams you sick creep, and you know something these flying things of yours really get on my nerves! **Regulus Gattling Impact!" **Loke fired a barrage of energy punches into the air, firing blasts at each of the magic dolls, obliterating them right on the spot.

"No not my poor babies, first you got blasted by Alzack and now you've been blown to pieces by this chump! My poor babies, I'm so sorry for putting you through this!"

"You're the only one to blame for this, you shouldn't have turned against your friends. Now's your chance if you want to surrender, I'm not going mame a fellow member of the guild but I still won't let you hurt any of the others."

"No, now what am I gonna do? My poor babies… Psyche!" Bickslow shot them a maniacal grin as a green blast of energy soared right past him from behind.

Loke was barely able to get out of the way, though he did take a significant shot to his left shoulder from the blast '_That was way too close for my liking, if he had hit me full on then I might have been in pretty bad shape. What the heck fired that blast anyway?'_

"You see for me this is a hell of a lot more than just some toy shop, for me this is a full on armory!" Bickslow levitated a large number of toys into the air by his side.

"You mean you're controlling the toys?"

"Nope those things are just tools, you can go ahead and break as many of these things as you want to. What I really control are souls!"

"You can't be serious!"

"I'm totally serious, my Seith magic allows me to move souls between objects and then use them to fight for me. Take a quick look at this for example." in an instant he had one of the toys he was controlling snatch the sunglasses right off of Loke's face

"What the hell, give me those things back!" Loke found himself and Happy being forced to dodge the oncoming barrage of toys being shot at them from every direction.

"Hate to break it to you Kurosaki, I'm afraid this little game just went right into the sudden death round! But you don't have to worry, I'll be sure to take real good care of your soul. **Baryon Formation!" **he had five toys spin around in mid air in the shape of a pentagon "And now, attack!" he had them fire a massive green blast of magic energy at Loke.

'_I'm only going to have one shot at this. _**Regulus Fist!" **Loke channeled as much magic energy as he could into his fist in an instant, a powerful golden light flowing outwards and clashing with the blast Bickslow's toys had unleashed, creating a shockwave that sent him and Happy flying backwards a short distance, but he managed to stop himself and caught Happy before he could be sent flying too far '_That was even closer than before, I can't take this one too lightly, especially not when I'm on borrowed time as it is. _I guess now all I can do is try to make amends for not being able to fulfill my contact with Karen, which means that I'm done holding back against you now Bickslow."

"Well what the hell do you know, I guess my hunch was right after all. You really are a Celestial Spirit, I've been keeping your secret all this time and you thank me by trying to blast me to kingdom come?"

"So you were able to figure it out then? I guess I shouldn't be surprised, if you have the power to control souls then that should mean, at least in theory, that you have the ability to see them as well."

"You're damn right I can, looks like we've a spirit among our ranks that tried to be human and fit in among the crowd because your master died. You trying to repeat history or something?"

"I'm trying to avoid that to be honest, spirit or human I'm still a member of Fairy Tail and that's all the reason I need to take you down. I'm not letting you hurt any of them."

Bickslow let out a maniacal cackle "Is that so? Oh that's just rich, you've never beaten me before, and for the record I was always going easy on you, you pathetic little lion cub! Hey come on babies, let's give him a good old fashioned beating like any Fairy Tail wizard could and should! Babies, go for it!" he sent his toys forward at full speed.

"I may have let my master die because of a stupid mistake I made, but even despite the crimes I've committed I'm not letting you or the others go on with this for any longer!" Loke ripped off his jacket and threw it to the side "You know you're not that different from her, at least you pretend to care about your spirits, but you still use them as shields."

"They're not shields you idiot, they're my babies and they're more like swords!" Bickslow then started firing blasts of magic energy from each toy in every direction.

Loke was forced to dodge and weave his way around every blast '_First I have to do something about those toys, once they're out of the picture Bickslow is going to be open for a full power attack. _**O Regulus, lend me your strength!" **a golden aura of magic energy began surrounding his body as the toys started closing in on him, and in an instant he was able to blitz through every single one of them faster than the eye was able to see "Exiled from the Celestial World or not, I'm still the king of the Zodiacs and now you're about to see exactly what that means!"

"You realize that it's totally pointless, those are souls man. You can't hurt them, you can destroy their bodies but I'll just move the souls into something else. You know what that means, it means that I get new babies!" he summoned another barrage of toys under his control and fired them forward.

Loke blitzed through all of them with ease "You could send thousands of those things and it won't make any difference. **Regulus Gattling Impact!" **he blitzed through the next barrage of toys and slugged Bickslow across the face, forcing him back a short distance.

"Hot damn, you're quite the feisty Soul Reaper aren't you?"

"I know you're just saying it to screw with me, but I'm not a Soul Reaper dammit! Besides you're nothing, even Happy is stronger than you."

"Hey what the fuck man, you take that back!" Bickslow was met with a kick straight to the face, forcing him back a short distance again "Oh crap, now I guess it's time for me to bust out the big guns." so he removed his helmet, cracked his neck and his eyes flashed open "Yeah that's right asshole! **Figure Eyes!"**

Loke was forced to shut his eyes and turn away '_No matter what, I can't let myself look into his eyes. Every member of the Thunder Legion has some kind of special power they can use in their eyes, Evergreen can turn people to stone with hers but if I look at Bickslow then I'll just end up turning into one of his creepy dolls. He'll take control of my soul.'_

"So you knew to look away, you're smarter than I gave you credit for." Bickslow had the toys under his control blitz through Loke from every angle, forcing him on the defensive due to the use of the Figure Eyes.

'_I can't attack if I can't see, but no matter what I have to keep my eyes closed.'_

"Hey what the fuck dude, my Possession and Figure Eyes combo is unbeatable and you mean to tell me you won't even give it so much as a look?"

'_He's getting me from every angle, but it's still better than being turned into one of those creepy dolls of his. There's only one chance I'll have to take him down, I have to wait for the exact right instant and hit him with everything I've got. I'm just going to have to trust my instincts for this one._ **Feel the wrath of the Zenith of Regulus, Lion Brilliance!" **in an instant, he summoned a massive bright light across the battlefield.

"Oh god dammit my eyes, what the hell did you do to my eyes?!"

'_Now's my chance, I have to charge up a full power attack while he can't guard himself against it!'_

"Not a chance, I'm not going to let you beat me!"

"I know I may not be the man or spirit that I used to be, I may still be banned from the Celestial World for my crimes, but now that I'm a part of Fairy Tail I can try and do as much good as I can with the time I have left. Here's the thing about spirits, we're not like your little dolls. Our love makes us stronger! **REGULUS IMPACT!" **using all of the power he could, Loke summoned a massive blast of magic energy that took on the appearance of the head of a lion and shot it forward at full speed.

Bickslow could only cry out in pain as the blast made contact, the force launching him halfway across the city of Magnolia.

"And that's how we get things done!"

"KAPOW!" Happy cheered for him "Way to go Loke, you really showed up who's boss!"

"Thanks Happy. Hey just out of curiosity, did you happen to hear anything I said to him during our fight?"

"No, I just stuck some rocks in my ears because I didn't want to listen to Bickslow going on and on like that. Why, did you confess to having an affair or something?"

"No no, it's nothing like that." Loke slumped against the side of the rooftop and breathed a sigh of relief "I'm pretty exhausted after that, I think I'm gonna rest for a minute and then I'll go see if I can track down Freed or Laxus."

"Just hang in there, using that much power would take a lot out of anybody."

"Yeah, yeah I guess you're right. _I guess I really am getting weaker, I must look pathetic to you don't I Karen?'_

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Gray looked up at the scoreboard on the barrier and let out a low whistle "Holy crap, I didn't expect Loke to be such a badass."

"You've gotta be fucking with me." Natsu muttered "Who would've thought pretty boy could actually fight like that?"

"Hey I know damn well that he's tough as nails, why do you think he and I made that pact for when the next S class trials come around?"

"But he's just some playboy that tried to hit on Lisanna!"

"Well they can be tough!"

"Yeah right, like I've ever heard of anything like that before!"

"Are you serious?"

"Think about it, you've heard about the story of the playboy and the hare?"

"It was a tortoise you idiot!"

"Yeah and the tortoise lost every time!"

"No he didn't, they raced once and the tortoise won!"

"They raced at least a dozen time after that and the hare one every single time!"

Levy was forced to tune out their squabbles as she worked to figure out the secret to releasing them from the barrier "I still don't get this part at all, if only there was some way for me to just reword it. Come on Levy, you have to think." she wracked her brain for a moment, until the realization dawned on her "That's it!"

"What's it?"

"I need to look at these two styles of grammar like the tortoise and the hare and translate them at two different rates! If I take the integral number of synchronized letters in a single pass and transform them into geel grammar, and then translate that into logue then… Yes, finally it worked!"

"Hells to the yes!" Natsu and Gray high fived each other, then went back to glaring at each other, and at the handcuffs.

"Just give me a second you guys, I need to rewrite the enchantment. This is it you guys, when I get through with this the two of you are going to join the Battle of Fairy Tail. I hope you guys are ready."

"You bet your ass we're ready! It's time for us to start putting out some payback."

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Elfman slowly opened his eyes and found a familiar face looking over him "Lisanna…"

Sure enough, Lisanna sat next to him looking over him, her gaze filled with worry and a slight mix of relief "Thank goodness, I was really worried about you. You got hurt pretty bad in your fight."

"I'll be fine, I'm just glad you're back to normal."

"I'm so sorry for everything big brother, really I am."

"What the heck are you apologizing for?"

"Because… Because I'm just useless as I am… it's the truth…" tears started streaming down her face "I still can't do anything to help you… I'm so sorry…"

"No one thinks you're useless, least of all me. Your smile is what lifts the spirits of everyone in the guild, it makes us think of the good things and forget about all of this crap where we have to fight each other. Come on Lisanna, please just stop with the tears."

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Cana and Bisca bolted through the outskirts of Magnolia as fast as they could "Hey tell me something Bisca, do you have any idea as to how long we've got before the Thunder Palace is activated?"

"If I had to guess, I'd say we have about 30 minutes." Bisca told her.

"Good to know, but you know I never pegged Laxus to be such a coward. So much for the Battle of Fairy Tail, he has everyone else go at it while he's hiding in some corner. But the question is, which corner?"

That was when a barrage of runes floated overhead, along with a familiar voice "_Laxus is saving his magic energy, it would be foolish of him to fight Master Makarov if he was at less than his full power." _the runes descened onto a rooftop, revealing Freed in their place.

"Freed, so you're the one behind the enchantments."

"That is correct." Freed disappeared in a spread of runes again.

"Freed you son of a- get back here!"

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A few minutes later, further outside the city limits…

"Dammit, where the hell did he go?" Cana and Bisca raced into the rocky landscape surrounding the city, only to end up getting trapped in one of Freed's enchantments "Oh great, not another one of these things."

"What the heck does it say?" asked Bisca.

"I think it says that only the wizard who proves herself to be the strongest will be permitted to leave this barrier."

"That is correct." that was when Freed appeared on the other side of the barrier in front of the two of them "The victor will then go on to battle me, feel free to begin when ready."

"Come on Freed, if you're really looking for a fight then you don't have to go through all this trouble because I'm more than willing to take you on right here and right now. What's the matter, are you scared? You don't think you're man enough to handle both of us? You've never been much of a real man, have you?"

"The truth of the matter is that I would prefer not to sully my own hands."

"You're such a rat!"

"Call me what you will."

"You're unbelievable." Bisca muttered "I can't believe you would make your friends fight each other like this."

"Friends you say? To be perfectly candid, I would personally prefer to see Cana emerge as the victor between the two of you. As for you Bisca, you once disgraced the name of the Fairy Tail guild for the sake of personal gain, and as such you can't be trusted. There's no telling when you may choose to exploit your status as a Fairy Tail wizard for the sake of personal gain all over again."

"Like you have any room to talk!" Cana let out a scoff.

"Sorry about this, but I don't have any other choice. **Requip sniper rifle!" **Bisca promptly summoned her sniper rifle.

"Hold on Bisca, what the heck are you doing?"

"You said your name is Freed right? Just tell me, if one of us goes down will you keep your word and fight the one that's left standing?"

"I assure you, I will stand by my word." Freed told her.

"I see, that's good to hear."

"Bisca you can't do this!" Cana protested "If we go at it you're just giving this creep exactly what he wants!"

"I wouldn't be too sure of that." Bisca aimed at one of the Thunder Palace lacrima floating above them "Target locked on."

"What the heck are you doing?"

"You'll see soon enough. **Stinger Shot!" **she promptly fired a single shot at the lightning lacrima, destroying it in an instant.

"What the heck are you thinking, that will fry you!"

"If he wants one of us to emerge over the fallen body of our opponent then I'll give him what he wants, but there's no way I'm harming one of my friends." and in that instant she was promptly hit with a powerful blast of lightning as a result of the Body Link magic, causing her to cry out in agony as she hit the ground with a loud thud, and the barrier sealing them in disappeared.

"Bisca what the hell were you thinking?"

"I broke the enchantment spell… that's good… it means you're free now…"

"But you didn't have to go and do something so reckless!"

"I just wanted to prove… to everyone in the guild… that they didn't have any reason to doubt me… I care about all of you… the Fairy Tail guild is my home… and it always will be…"

"I never doubted you Bisca, you're one of us now and you always will be. You're part of the guild so you're part of our family. Fairy Tail is lucky enough to have such an amazing wizard in its ranks."

"Do you mean that…?"

"Yeah, I mean every word of it."

"That's such a relief… Thanks for that…" then she fell still and lost consciousness.

"Bisca no!"

Needless to say, Freed was taken aback by this '_I can't believe this, she chose to sacrifice her own life in order to save her friend?'_

"...You want to go Freed? Well let's go." with tears streaming down her face, Cana pulled out a few magic cards, ready to begin the battle.

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Natsu and Gray, stull handcuffed together, looked out over the city of Magnolia from their place perched above a rooftop "Dammit there's way too many people, I can't pick up Laxus' scent with them around."

"It doesn't help that we're stuck on the rooftops either." Gray pointed out "But don't forget about what Levy told us, we can't risk getting caught up in one of Freed's enchantments."

"Yeah yeah I know, but either way we're totally giving Laxus what he deserves. But this is still a one time thing."

"Until we get these things off."

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Elfman was now being supported along the riverside by Lisanna "Hey come on Lisanna, you know I'm still a man and I have enough in me to walk on my own."

"It's fine, really." Lisanna assured him "After all, if my big brother needs a hand then I don't mind helping him at all."

"Thank you-" their conversation was cut short by an explosion a short distance away.

As it turns out, that was where Freed was still battling against Cana "You seem to be forgetting a basic rule of combat."

"And what would that be?" asked Cana.

"No matter how powerful the spell may be, it's ultimately worthless if they're incapable of hitting your target."

"We'll see about that! **Card Magic: Heaven: Reverse Death: Mountain: Summoned Lightning!" **Cana fired a barrage of lightning from her magic cards.

"**Dark Ecriture: Repel!" **Freed used his Dark Ecriture magic to reflect the lightning barrage back at Cana, engulfing her in an explosion that destroyed part of the bridge.

When the smoke cleared, Cana was revealed to be mostly fine, but she had a few minor burns and she spat out some blood "Dammit…"

"You're tougher than I gave you credit for, your magic power and perseverence are a true testament to your many years of service to the guild."

"Listen to me Freed, I want you to take back all of that crap you said about Bisca."

"I will not. **Dark Ecriture: Pain-"**

"**Animal Soul: Cat!" **that was when Lisanna rushed onto the scene and clawed Freed across the front before he was able to react, sending him stumbling backwards a short distance "Just hang tight Cana, I'm here to back you up."

"Not likely. **Dark Ecriture: Pain!" **faster than she was able to react, Freed hit Lisanna with a rune on the waist, causing her to scream in pain before she fell to the ground with a thud, completely out cold "A sneak attack while I was preoccupied with a duel, I expected a lot more from you."

"What the hell was that?" Cana let out an outright snarl.

"That was how I deal with interference."

"How dare you?!" Elfman snarled from his place a short distance away.

"I'm sorry Elfman but you've already been defeated by Evergreen, and as a result you are not allowed to rejoin the game."

"You wanna bet?"

"I have no intention of betting, I'm simply reinforcing the rules as Laxus wishes."

"We're still in the same guild!" Cana protested "We shouldn't have to fight each other like this!"

"We might have been once, however the true intention of this game is to resctructure the guild itself, to break our meaningless bonds. Any enemy of Laxus is my enemy as well, and as such they will be dealt with without hesitation."

"I have no intention of letting that happen!"

Freed and the others glanced up to see a new figure appear on the scene, and his almost permanent frown deepened "Erza."

Sure enough, Erza dropped down onto the scene in her Black Wing Armor "All this time I had been searching for Laxus, but instead I find you preparing to shed the blood of your fellow guildmates, which makes you just as bad as him, if not worse."

"As I stated earlier Titania, any enemy of Laxus is my enemy as well, and as such I shall deal with them without hesitation."

"...I see, so that's how it is then. Very well, if you insist on turning your back on all of the principles that Fairy Tail holds dear, then I shall show you no mercy. **REQUIP!" **with a massive flash of light, Erza promptly requipped into a new suit of armor, this one being pink and complete with a matching set of swords.

Freed was taken aback by the sheer power the armor seemed to be radiating "What… What is this remarkable level of magic power?"

"You're about to find out!" Erza blitzed forward and brought down one of her swords, resulting in a quick explosion.

"**Dark Ecriture: Wings!" **Freed burst up from the explosion by summoning a pair of wings using his runes and took to the skies.

Erza quickly propelled herself into the air and charged at Freed as she attempted to cut her down with her swords, eventually managing to slash him across the front, the force sending him crashing to the ground.

Freed recovered and flew a fair distance away, his mind racing '_Her power is far greater than I had anticipated.'_

"That won't be enough for you to escape from me." Erza suddenly blitzed behind Freed in an instant "This is the most powerful armor in my arsenal, Armadura Fairy. The armor that bears the name of our guild to symbolize my pride in being a member of Fairy Tail. And it's what's going to end your part in the Battle of Fairy Tail!" she charged at him and attacked with a swift barrage of slashes from her sword.

Freed was almost immediately forced on the defensive and retreated to a nearby canyon "I know a few forbidden spells of my own that should be capable of competing with even the likes of you at your best! **Dark Ecriture: DARKNESS!" **with a mighty roar, Freed cast a rune spell on himself that caused him to take on a hideous demonic looking form, one of his fists easily matching one of Erza's swords in an instant, resulting in the two of them trading a swift barrage of even blows, clashing across the skies of the canyon before taking their clash into a nearby underground cave.

"**Fairy Surge!" **Erza blitzed in front of Freed, placed a hand on his chest and blasted him with a surge of green energy, sending him crashing through the walls of the cave.

Freed found himself on the ground with Erza looming over him '_So it's true, her power is unlike anything I've ever seen with the exception of Laxus. I had seen some of her exploits firsthand, but I would never have thought that even Erza was capable of such a level of power. _Your power is far greater than I expected, I will admit that I underestimated you, but I can't afford to lose this game to you! **Darkness Breath!" **he summoned a black tornado that blew Erza clear out of the cave they were fighting in "**Darkness Flash Bomb!" **he summoned a ball of dark magic energy and rammed it straight into Erza, sending her crashing into the river nearby "Was that enough to finish her?"

Almost in an instant, Erza burst up from beneath the watery surface with only a few scratches from the blast "Not enough, not even close."

'_She was able to take that attack like it was nothing, just how powerful is she?'_

"This battle has gone on long enough, now I'm going to end this! For the pride of the Fairy Tail guild! **FAIRY BURST!" **with a massive burst of power, Erza unleashed one of her most powerful attacks, engulfing Freed in the massive explosion that came with it, which was visible for miles around for all of the people of Magnolia to witness.

When the smoke cleared, Freed was still alive but he was seriously wounded by the blast, and he had returned to his human form, with Erza looming over him '_There's no way, I don't stand a chance against such unbelievable power… _Go on, finish me. That is what you would do to an enemy of the guild wouldn't you?"

"...No, not with you, and not like this." Erza promptly dropped her swords and requipped out of her Armadura Fairy armor.

"I don't understand, why did you stop? Why did you not finish me?"

"Because there's no point in fighting this battle."

"You can spare me your false pity Titania, just finish me off." this was followed by Cana showing up on the scene with Elfman, Lisanna and Bisca.

"I'm not going to do that, despite the fact that you've made a few bad choices we're still comrades of the same guild. That means that we have to work together, we celebrate together and we grow together, and we're always there for each other, through the good times as well as the bad."

"No you're wrong, Laxus is the only true ally I have!"

"But it doesn't have to be that way. Listen to me Freed, we've all been your friends and comrades since the very beginning, there's nothing wrong with having one person that you trust the most even amongts your comrades, it's in the nature of humans and wizards alike, but that doesn't mean you have to shut out the rest of your comrades. We're all part of Fairy Tail, and because of that we're more than just fellow members of a guild. It means we're all part of the same family." she gripped his hand "All you have to do is reach out and there will be someone willing to take your hand and guide you on the path of life, I promise. You'll never forget that the connection is there, all you have to do is let yourself see it. You're surrounded by people who care about you and trust you, people who are willing to help you grow stronger both as a wizard and as a person."

"Titania… Erza… I…" Freed was barely able to find the words as tears started streaming down his face "I never… I never wanted it to come to this…"

"I know you didn't, none of you did. How about when next year's Harvest Festival comes, we all just enjoy it together in peace."

"Yes… Yes I would like that…"

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Mystogan continued calmly making his way through the streets of Magnolia, only to stop when he saw an update on the enchantment scoreboard '_Freed vs Erza, the winner is Erza.' _he gave a small smile underneath his mask '_I should expect no less from you Erza, but the battle isn't over yet. There is still one enemy to deal with.'_

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"Freed, vs Erza, the winner is Erza. Yeah that shouldn't come as a surprise." Natsu muttered "I mean leave it to her."

Gray nodded "Yeah tell me about it, for once I'm not complaining about her being terrifying as fuck."

"If she took down Freed then that means there's only one left, I hope you're ready Laxus because we're coming for you."

**A/N:**

**And thus we conclude the second act of the Battle of Fairy Tail. The Thunder Legion has been defeated, and now only one enemy is left: Laxus himself, with our two heroes of this arc (Natsu and Gray) both coming for him, ready to put aside their differences and beat the crap out of him for everything that he's done.**

**In case it wasn't clear, the little exchange between Natsu and Gray where they were talking about the "loud mouthed crazy chick trying to build some kind of artificial dragon" was meant to be a jab at the Daphne arc. All I can say about that arc is, thank fucking god it was only filler.**

**To make up for the absence of Juvia in this arc, I decided to give her role, as in the role of the new female member of Fairy Tail that people have a somewhat valid reason not to trust, to Bisca. For those who saw episode 203, Mulan Rouge, she was an immigrant from another continent who claimed to be a member of Fairy Tail in order to harrass people in a town as she pleased, but Erza put a stop to it and eventually invited her into Fairy Tail. Granted Erza was forgiving of Bisca after hearing about her circumstances, but considering how cold Freed was to Juvia for being a former member of Phantom Lord, I can imagine that he wouldn't be so forgiving of Bisca right away.**

**One of the hardest things to write out in this chapter is how Bickslow was defeated differently from in canon, seeing how he's fighting Loke and Loke alone, and there's no Lucy involved this time. But at the same time, it did give me the chance to expand on Loke's current level of magic power, seeing how he's been exiled from the Celestial World for about two years now, but he's still powerful enough to beat the ever loving crap out of Bickslow. Also, the constant jabs Bickslow makes about Loke looking like Ichigo from Bleach, not only do I see them as funny, but they're also true.**

**Something else that I had to consider was how Freed was going to be defeated, since in this fic Mira is absent so I couldn't have her use her Satan Soul to defeat him, so I decided to go for the next best thing: have Erza defeat Freed using what may very well be her most powerful armor, as well as my personal favorite out of all of those in her arsenal: Armadura Fairy. Come on, as far as I know she's only used it in two battles in the entire series. I believe armor deserves a hell of a lot more love than it gets.**


	18. Battle of Fairy Tail III

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**00raiserXL: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you like the story. The names you came up with seem like some really good ideas. I'll do some brainstorming and I'll see what I can come up with, but in the meantime please feel free to pitch any other ideas you may have. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

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"_In a land far far away lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small and peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most people, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards and mages, and banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore, but there is a certain guild in a certain town that stands high above the rest of them, one from which countless legends have been born, a guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. This guild is known as Fairy Tail."_

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The barrier was down, the Thunder Legion had finally been defeated, and now Natsu and Gray were finally able to join in on the Battle of Fairy Tail.

Now only Laxus remained, and the climax of the Battle of Fairy Tail had come at last.

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Loke finally managed to pull himself back to his feet "Okay I think I've rested enough, time to go after the others."

"Hey Loke, take a look!" Happy pointed up at the scoreboard on the barrier "Freed vs Erza, the winner is Erza. The light that we saw, it must have been from their fight!"

"Well I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Erza was the one to take him down, but all the same part of me is glad both of us weren't there."

"But if Freed is out then that means the Thunder Legion is toast!"

"Yeah that is true, but the Thunder Palace is still looming over us, just waiting to blast the entire town to pieces."

"But how the heck are we supposed to take it down? Each lightning lacrima has that Body Link magic protecting them, if we try to attack them then we'll just end up getting blasted ourselves in the process."

"And for all we know those things could end up exploding at any second, there's no way we'll have enough time to evacuate everyone in the city." Loke cringed from the pain he felt.

"Oh no Loke, are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, sorry but I still haven't recovered all of my magic energy yet."

"Then you shouldn't push yourself."

"Yeah I know that, but at the same time I can't just sit around and do nothing. I have to go and help out the others."

"But how?"

"I… I don't know. _Natsu, Gray, Erza, where the hell are you guys?'_

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Natsu and Gray bolted through the streets as fast as they could "Dammit Laxus come out and face us, where the hell are you hiding?!"

"Calm down for a second, he's trying to gode you on." Gray pointed out "Losing our cool is just giving him exactly what he wants."

"I don't care, we have to find him before it's too late!"

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Levy looked out the doors to the guild hall and glanced up at the Thunder Palace lightning lacrima floating in the skies above Magnolia "This is really bad, that Thunder Palace spell is strong enough to take out the entire town and Laxus is going to activate it in only about 10 minutes. I'm scared, but we'll still be able to stop him. After all, we have Erza on our side and now Natsu and Gray are free, and even if they're stuck together. Plus there's no way I can forget about Mystogan either, even though I've never even seen him." she glanced ahead and saw a figure approaching in the distance '_I wonder who that could be.'_

The figure approached the guild hall and stopped in front of Levy, revealing herself to be none other than Porlyusica "Tell me where I can find the old fool."

"Miss Porlyusica, what are you doing here?"

"I asked you where he is."

"Right, Master Makarov is in the infirmary ma'am. But maybe he shouldn't be bothered at the moment, he's not feeling too well right now."

"What do you think I'm doing here in the first place?"

"Hold on a second, you mean you came all this way just so you could treat the master."

"...Just take me to him."

"Right."

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About a minute later…

Porlyusica looked down at the unconscious form of Makarov, and her almost permanent frown deepened as she shot a glance over at Levy "I want you to go over and fetch Laxus for me at once."

"But why?" asked Levy.

"What he's doing is absolutely shameful, especially considering the fact that the old man is on his deathbed." that shook Levy to the core.

"Are you serious, is he really that sick?"

"Please just do as I tell you child, this cannot wait. There isn't much time." she slowly turned to face Levy, revealing tears brimming in her eyes "Please just go."

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Meanwhile, in the Kardea Cathedral…

Laxus sat on the steps inside the Kardea Cathedral, his mind drifting back to some earlier memories from his childhood and teenage years '_Great, why the hell do I have to start thinking about this stupid crap right now? Well I might as well reflect on why I'm doing all of this in the first place. I remember this one time I went at it with the old man, when I finally had enough of just being seen as the Master's grandson and all that crap, and then I tore into him for kicking my dad out of the guild. Apparently my old man did something that hurt the guild or something like that, but I wasn't buying into any of that bullshit and I threatened to leave Fairy Tail and join my dad's guild. I just had enough of it and stormed out, but before I did I swore to him that I would surpass him one day, not for my dad but for me, so then he would have to live under my shadow. _I knew this day was going to come, you can't say that I never warned you about that old man." he stood and looked up at the scoreboard set up by Freed "Only 6 minutes left until the Thunder Palace is activated, at this rate I guess that stubborn old geezer is going to hang on right until the end. Just typical of him." he tensed suddenly, and he didn't have to look back to know who was there "So you actually showed up… Mystogan."

Sure enough, none other than Mystogan stood before him, his mask covering any distinguishable features of his face "Hello Laxus."

"I have to admit I'm surprised you're here, I didn't think this game would be of any interest to you."

"You still have time to bring down your Thunder Palace, if you do then we may be able to convince the citizens that it was part of the festival."

"Don't tell me that's really why you came back? Cut the crap, you're looking to get a piece of the action because you want to know who the strongest wizard in Fairy Tail is, whether it be you or me."

"You shouldn't be so quick to rule out Luke and Erza."

"What are you fucking with me? Sure the two of them have spunk but they're still weak compared to me, and one of them had to be a coward and run away."

"You seem the two of them as weak? If that's the case then you're either blind or more ignorant than I believed you to be."

"Nothing against the two of them, but I think we can both agree that we're way stronger than them. It's clear that one of the two of us is the top wizard in Fairy Tail, but the question is who's more deserving of the title?"

"I believe Gildarts has earned the right to such a claim."

"Yeah well he's never around enough to claim it, so I say top billing gets to go to one of us right here and right now!"

"If you truly see the world in terms as simple as that then perhaps you truly are blind."

"I'm sick of talking about this crap, let's just settle this here and now Mystogan, or maybe I should call you-" Laxus was cut off by Mystogan firing a blast of purple magic energy from one of the staves he carried on his back, which Laxus countered with a blast of lightning, the two attacks colliding and releasing a shockwave that shattered the windows of the cathedral, catching the attention of several onlookers.

"Tell me, how is it that you know about that?"

"Oh wow, it looks to me like I struck one hell of a nerve with you. I have to admit it's a rare treat to see you lose your cool like that. How about you and I strike a little deal, if you manage to beat me then I swear I'll tell you everything I know."

"That's one statemet you're going to end up regretting dearly Laxus, you're about to witness magic the likes of which you've never seen before."

"Oh yeah you've got me pissing myself, well I say go ahead and show me what the hell you've got you fucked up freak! I'm dying to see just how much stronger than you I really am!"

"So now we're doing this apparently. **Skyscraper." **Mystogan pulled one of his magic staves off his back and planted it into the ground, resulting in a purple light shining throughout the entire cathedral.

In an instant, Laxus found himself hurled straight off the ground and high above the city, with the cathedral apparently exploding beneath his feet "What the hell is this?! That's impossible, how the hell did he blow up the entire church!" a massive white light engulfed him and he found himself floating in space, bound by a series of black belts as a monstrous demonic creature emerging from some sort of rift in front of him "What the fuck kind of magic is this?!" but as the creature pounched, he let out a roar and a quick surge of lightning magic, shattering the illusion that he was trapped in and bringing himself back to reality, a maniacal grin plastered all the way across his face "Now that's fucking hysterical, did you seriously think you'd be able to defeat me using some kind of stupid illusion?"

"Impressive, but it seems to me you're still a bit slow on the uptake."

"What?" Laxus found himself by five layers of magic circles, each one piling on top of the next one "What the-?!"

"Now sleep. **Five Layer Magic Circle: Sacred Song!"**

"So you think I'm the slow one do you?" Laxus gestured down at the golden colored magic circle that appeared beneath Mystogan's feet.

'_Dammit!' _Mystogan was promptly engulfed in a blast of lightning, while Laxus himself was promptly engulfed by a blast of purple magic energy. When both blasts subsided and the smoke cleared, both of them had been left unharmed.

"So what other tricks have you got up your sleeve?"

"You're about to find out." Mystogan leapt into the air and summoned another magic circle beneath Laxus' feet, a wave of magic energy attempting to engulf him.

"**Lightning Body!" **Laxus coated his body in lightning and managed to slip out of the magic circle unharmed.

'_He was able to slip through!' _Mystogan was suddenly attacked from behind by Laxus, but he was able to phase through the attack and come out unharmed as both of them returned to the ground.

"There we go, now this is a hell of a lot more like it."

"So here you are!" was the simultaneous chorus of three different voices.

Laxus and Mystogan both glanced over "Well it took you guys long enough."

As it turns out, it was Erza on one side of the doorway to the cathedral, and Natsu and Gray on the other side, and they exchanged glances "Oh good, the two of you were able to make it out of there."

"Yeah but we're still handcuffed together, so that sucks." Gray glanced over at Mystogan "So you have any idea who our mystery man or why he's impersonating Tuxedo Mask?"

"That's Mystogan, truth be told this is the first time I'm seeing him myself."

Mystogan froze when he locked eyes with Erza, then tried to cover the small part of his face that was visible '_I was hoping she and I wouldn't meet like this-'_

"You're wide open!" Laxus suddenly hit Mystogan dead on in the face with a quick blast of lightning, blowing his mask clear off and revealing his face to all of those present.

Erza was frozen in a mix of shock and terror when she saw his face '_The blue hair, hazel eyes, the red tattoo… there's no mistaking it. But how is this possible, there's no possible way he should be able to be here. _Is it really you…?"

"Oh, so you know this guy?"

"I… I don't understand… you were Mystogan this entire time?"

Mystogan let out a sigh "Forgive me Erza, I was hoping that you would not have to see me like this, or at all actually. I'm not the person you're thinking of, I am aware of who he is but I can assure you that he and I are not one in the same. I'm sorry, I must be going. Natsu, Gray, I'm trusting the two of you to take care of Erza and defeat Laxus before any more innocent people have to suffer." and then he disappeared in a flash.

'_But how can it be… Was that really you… Jellal?'_

"Well I'm confused and constipated at the same time." Natsu commented "Alright Laxus come at me, it's one on one." he looked over at Gray, then down at the handcuffs binding them together "Okay two against one. Erza we're gonna go ahead and handle this clown, you have a problem with that?"

'_Jellal… I…' _Erza was left literally shaking.

"Erza snap the hell out of it already!" Gray barked.

"I-" Erza was cut off when she was bombarded with a powerful blast of lightning, causing her to scream in pain.

"Erza!"

As it turns out, Laxus had struck her with a lightning spell with a huge maniacal grin plastered across his face "That's one hell of a face you're making there red, yeah like that's going to get you laid." he fired another blast, sending Erza crashing to the ground.

"That's enough!" Natsu and Gray rounded on him as they dropped into fighting stances "I said before that you're fighting us you assclown, let's go here and now!"

"Oh yeah you guys are here, I didn't even notice you show up, nor did I even give a rat's ass about it either." that dealt a serious blow to both of their egos in a comical fashion.

Gray promptly dropped into his Ice Make stance "Hate to break it to you Pikachu, but we're about to make you notice us big time."

"Way ahead of you." Natsu summoned a barrage of flames in his fist "You cut him down and I burn him to a crisp, we hit him hard and fast."

"For once we agree. **Ice Make: Sword!" **Gray summoned an ice sword and charged forward at full speed.

"**Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" **Natsu charged alongside Gray with a barrage of flames readied in one of his fists.

"Oh please, like either of you could even touch me." Laxus dodged both of their attacks without even breaking a sweat "Didn't anyone ever tell you that you're supposed to think before you act in a fight, now get the fuck out of my face!" he fired a blast of lightning that shattered Gray's ice sword instantly upon contact and aimed it at his face.

"**Fire Dragon Talon!" **Natsu leapt high into the air, pulling Gray upwards with him and charged at Laxus with a fire enhanced kick aimed at his head.

Laxus blocked the Talon with his forearm and threw him away, sending both of them flying away.

Gray took the chance to stop himself and Natsu in the doorway to the cathedral "Looks like this stupid thing is actually proving to be useful for something after all."

"And where the hell do you little punks think you're going?" Laxus blitzed in front of them, grabbed them by the handcuffs and started attacking both of them with a barrage of lightning enhanced punches to the faces.

After taking numerous hits to the face, Natsu managed to grab Laxus by the wrist "Why the hell would we go anywhere, this spot is just perfect for us!"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means this! **Ice Make: Hammer!" **despite his hands being bound, Gray summoned an ice hammer and started smashing it against Laxus' head.

Laxus promptly unleashed a surge of lightning along the handcuffs, electrocuting both of them at once, and started alternating between punching Natsu and Gray while simultaneously taking hits from Gray's ice hammer, until he eventually got bored of that "Okay I'm bored, now let's get to the good stuff already!" he leapt up into the air, dodged another Fire Dragon Talon being aimed at him by Natsu, channeled some lightning into both of his boots and promptly stomped down on them before aiming another blast of lightning at Natsu's head.

"**Requip!" **Erza blitzed back onto the scene in her Black Wing Armor and pulled the two of them out of the way before Laxus would strike them again.

"Looks like someone got back on her feet pretty fast."

'_I can't waste any time brooding over Jellal- I mean Mystogan, I have to stay focused on the task at hand.' _she promptly aimed one of her swords at Laxus "Alright Laxus, what have you put in the sky above the city? Tell me right now or I'll show you no mercy!"

"What you haven't heard, that would be my Thunder Palace."

"You're absolutely despicable, to think that you would attack your hometown and all of the innocents who live in it!" she was met only with a maniacal laughter.

"Honestly it breaks my heart, but that's just the way this game is being played dollface."

"Damn you!" Erza promptly slashed her sword at him in a rage.

Laxus blocked the blade with his bare hand "There's only two minutes left until the Thunder Palace activates."

"Dammit… Natsu, Gray, go and destroy the Thunder Palace right away before they fire!"

"But we can't!" Gray protested "If we attack any of those things then they'll just end up frying us, and I don't think I can afford to get fried because of this idiot again!"

"Seriously Laxus, you mean you're using Body Link magic in order to protect them?"

"You've got that right." Laxus' grin widened "And they're gonna stay up there until I give the order for them to blow!"

"You coward!" Erza was promptly blasted with a quick surge of lightning.

"It's a damn shame you're not gonna be around to see it!"

"**Requip!" **with a flash of light, Erza broke out of Laxus' hold and flashed into a new set of blue and gold armor.

"Lightning Empress Armor huh, not a bad try but it won't protect you from what I've got in store for you!" Laxus fired off another blast of lightning.

Erza promptly leapt over the blast "Now that we're using the same type of magic that makes it a fair fight!" she fired off a blast of lightning from her spear.

"**Lightning Body!" **Laxus covered his body in a coat of lightning, dodged the attack and surged all throughout the cathedral hall "Now let's see if your armor is tough enough for you to be able to handle this!" he fired another blast of lightning.

When the smoke cleared, it revealed Erza completely unharmed, her lightning shield having protected her from the blast "It would seem that it was."

"So you're still standing."

"When two wizards do battle using the same type of magic there are many different factors that determine who claims victory."

"Their level of magic energy, their technique and their experience. That's what you were going to say wasn't it?"

"There's one more, it's their heart. I know the master taught you that Laxus."

"Yeah he did mention it, but he also taught me that power is what trumps just about everything else."

"Dammit Erza, would you just leave it alone already!" Natsu barked "I told you that we were going to be the ones to take him down, and I'm only counting Gray because he and I are stuck together thanks to Lisanna!"

"...Is that so?" Erza gave Natsu and Gray a small smile "Then I suppose I'll just have to put my faith in you. I have other business to attend to."

"What are you going to do?" asked Gray.

"What else, I'm going to go and take down the Thunder Palace."

"You're officially batshit insane." Laxus barked out a laugh "I'd like to see you try something like that, attacking even one of the lacrima of the Thunder Palace can be deadly and who knows how many of them are floating above the city right now. Besides you don't have anywhere near enough time."

"Then I'll just have to destroy them all at once."

"Is that so? You must have some kind of major death wish then."

"Nothing of the sort, but if that's what it takes." Erza glanced back at Natsu and Gray "I'm going to leave this one in your hands, so be sure that you don't let me down!"

"Come back here Erza, you're breaking the rules!"

"Don't let me down!"

Natsu and Gray shared a glance, nodded and looked back at the retreating form of Erza "We're both putting our faith in you too, you got that? It doesn't matter if you can blow those things up or not, you just better get back here in one piece!"

'_That's one thing the two of you don't have to worry about, I have no intention of dying, not today.'_

"Get ready stripper, we've got shit to get done."

"Dammit red, you get the fuck back here!" Laxus attempted to charge after her.'

"Now!"

"**Ice Make: Sword!" **Gray summoned an ice sword and slashed at Laxus, forcing him to jump back a short distance "In case you weren't listening your fight is with us now, you're about to get a massive beatdown that you've had coming for years!"

"You mouthy little brats!"

"You're talking shit like you think you could oneshot Gildarts and we're the mouthy brats in your eyes, are you fucking deaf?"

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Having already requipped herself into her Heaven's Wheel Armor, Erza wasted no time in summoning one sword after another in preparation for dealing with the Thunder Palace "I call upon the power that lies within my swords, give me the strength I need to protect the city I call my home and all of the people living in it. I call upon you as well my comrades in Fairy Tail, I beg you to please lend me your strength as well."

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Loke glanced back in confusion "What the heck, either I'm hearing things or I actually did just hear Erza say something to me."

Happy nodded "Yeah I'm pretty sure that I heard it too."

"Did you hear her ask us to lend her our strength?"

"Yeah I did, that was pretty weird wasn't it?"

"Maybe but if Erza's asking us for help then it must be seriously bad, we have to do something."

"But what can we do?"

"Maybe if we can find a way for everyone from the guild to hear her then we can all band together to lend her a hand."

"But won't we need Warren's telepathy in order to pull it off?"

"Which means we have to find him first."

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Meanwhile, back at the cathedral…

"**Fire Dragon Brilliant Flame!" **Natsu fired a large two handed blast of fire at Laxus at near point blank range.

"You think that's gonna be anywhere near enough?!" Laxus counted the blast of fire with a blast of lightning, the force sending Natsu and Gray skidding backwards "Don't the two of you see what's happened to our guild?"

"What the hell are you going on about?"

"What do you think, thanks to the old geezer Fairy Tail is nothing but a joke now! All I'm trying to do is make things right, when I become the master of the guild the name of our guild will strike fear into the hearts of everyone that hears it!" he started releasing multiple surges of lightning magic throughout the building, hitting Natsu dead on.

"Get moving you idiot!" Gray managed to yank Natsu out of the way before either of them could be struck again.

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Loke and Happy bolted through the streets as fast as they could "Dammit, where the hell could they have gone?"

"They have to be around here somewhere." Happy pointed out "We just have to keep looking for them."

"Forget about that, if we can find Warren then that saves us a lot of time and energy, which we need right now. Hey Warren where the hell are you? We need your help and we need it now, so where are you?!"

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Back at the cathedral…

Laxus looked up at the timer on the barrier '_There's only a minute and a half left until the Thunder Palace is activated, what the hell are you waiting for old man? Are you really just going to stand back and watch all those people get fried?'_

"I know what you're thinking." Natsu promptly spat out some blood and let out a chuckle as he was pulled back to his feet by Gray "I wouldn't worry about that if I were you, that bullshit is already over. You know just as damn well as I do that it's not going to happen."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like." Gray shot him a smirk "You can go ahead and blow the entire town to hell but you're still not getting it, you're just pissed that you passed the point of no return and didn't even realize it until now."

"The town will be fine, Erza's taking your spell down as we speak!" Natsu summoned some flames in one hand, with Gray summoning an ice sword, and the two of them charged forward side by side "It's not so easy sticking to your guns now is it Laxus?!"

"Shut the fuck up, what the hell would the two of you know?!" Laxus promptly readied another blast of lightning.

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Erza continued summoning one sword after another, one for each of the lightning lacrima floating above the city, though now she was beginning to feel the strain "There… now that makes… 100… but it's still not enough…" she continued to push herself further and summon more swords as the lacrimas began to charge up with electricity.

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"Warren, Warren where the hell are you?!" Loke and Happy continued searching for Warren, but they were having very little luck "Dammit, how hard can it be to find one of your friends when that friend can read minds?"

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Several dozen swords later…

Erza gritted her teeth as she summoned more and more swords and weapons "That adds up to 198… 199…" now she was panting and sweating heavily "But there's still… not nearly enough… to destroy all of them… at once…" she fell to one knee from the exhaustion she was feeling '_I'm running low on magic energy, and I'm almost out of time. What should I do?'_

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Laxus shot a wicked grin at Natsu and Gray "You've got less than a minute and a half until the Thunder Palace is activated, hate to break it to you punks but you're way too late."

"You wanna bet? Well we'll see about that!" Natsu and Gray both promptly charged into the fray at full speed.

"You little bastards still dare to doubt me?" Laxus dealt each of them a lightning enhanced punch to the gut, sending them crashing to the ground.

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Bracing herself and willing herself to go further, Erza summoned another sword "There… that makes 200… but I still need to summon another 100 swords… if I'm going to destroy every lacrima…"

"_Hey Fairy Tailers, can you hear me?" _a voice sounded through her mind.

"Is that Warren I'm hearing? He must be using his telepathy."

"_Things aren't looking so good for any of us right now, take a look and check out what's floating up in the sky! We're going to have to pull together if we're gonna stop that thing, so get off your butts and lend us a hand! If there are any of you still fighting each other then just give it a rest for a second! Now listen to me very carefully, those lacrimae up there are part of an insanely dangerous spell called the Thunder Palace, Laxus is using it to threaten the entire town and everyone in it, so we have to take it out before he can set it off. We don't have a lot of time before he does that, so we'll have to work together."_

"Wait a minute Warren, how did you find out about the Thunder Palace?"

"_So you're okay, that's good." _this time it was the voice of Loke coming through "_I can't remember the last time I was this happy to hear your voice, you had me worried for a good long while there."_

"Is that you Loke? I see, so you're the one that told him."

"_Yeah, it would've happened a lot sooner but Happy and I had to track the guy down the old fashioned way."_

"I see."

"_Is that Erza?" _this time it was Droy "_You mean she's not petrified anymore? But if that's the case then what about the other girls, how is Levy?"_

"There's no need for you to be concerned, all of the women are fine. Bisca took a bit of damage but she's recovered quickly and now she's back on her feet. I'm sure you're hearing all of this as well Alzack, she's fine."

"_I see… that's a relief…" _Alzack breathed a sigh of relief "_She had me worried for a good long while there… I thought she was a goner…"_

"Well she isn't, focus on that."

"_There's one problem though." _it was Warren again "_Even with my telepathy I can't reach all the way to the guild hall, so we'll have to make due with the people who can hear me right now, if we work together then we can do this!"_

"_Hold it right there Warren!" _this was coming from Max "_Why the hell should I do anything you say after what you did to me?"_

"_Oh Max, you're one of the ones who can hear me. Listen I'm really sorry about that, I swear it wasn't anything personal, I was just desperate to save the girls!"_

"_Don't give me any of that bullshit!"_

"_I've got a bone to pick with you Jet!" _this was Droy "_Can you hear me?"_

"_Yeah I read you loud and clear man." _this was Jet "_I really am sorry about before."_

"_Sorry isn't going to cut it you little coward, you drop kicked me in the skull when I wasn't looking!" _this ended up evolving into several overlapping telepathic arguments between various members of the guild.

"_Oh for fuck's sake!" _Loke promptly broke character and exploded at everyone "_Will all of you idiots quit screaming at each other like a bunch of angry harpies?!"_

"_Why don't you shut the hell up and practice what you preach Loke!" _was the simultaneous chorus he got as a response.

"_We don't have time for all of you to be screwing around like this, we have to hurry and take down the Thunder Palace!"_

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Meanwhile, on another end of the telepathic argument…

The overlapping telepathic argument continued to the point where it got annoying, which didn't take very long.

As she was forced to listen to the arguments, Cana gritted her teeth and clenched her fist until she finally ran out of patience "Will all of you shut the hell up?! We shouldn't be wasting our time squawking like a pack of angry birds, our home town and its people are in danger and we're the only ones who can help them, so whether you like it or not the only way we're taking down that spell is if we work together! Yeah I know that we all think of each other as assholes because we had to fight each other, but we have to pull together or else we'll never be able to move forward and grow stronger! I've been in the guild for more than a decade, and that's what I've learned from all of you during that time. Look at Luke, he left us because he wanted to grow stronger to protect all of us! What the hell do you think he would say if he saw all of us acting like this? He wouldn't want us to act like a bunch of spoiled brats, he'd want us to work together like a real family would! Sure we all like to yell at each other and beat the crap out of each other, but what family doesn't? But we're not supposed to let it drive us apart to the point where we actually hate each other, let years of building bonds be broken in less than a day! There's no way in hell I'm accepting that, that would just be giving Laxus exactly what he wants! We have bigger things than our petty squabbles to worry about, if none of you are up to the challenge then I'll just have to do this alone! I'll destroy every last one of them myself!"

"_...Quite the hero speech." _that comment came from Loke "_So what's it going to be then you guys? I mean you heard the lady, are you gonna let the drunk brunette who doesn't know how to wear a shirt show you up like that? Face the facts, she might be the biggest drinker in the guild but she's also got one of the biggest hearts in the entire guild and more Fairy Tail pride than all of us put together. We have a town to save and a traitorous jackass with an attitude problem to deal with, whatever other problems you guys have can be worked out later. I seriously have to give you props though Cana, you got everyone to get a grip and pull together. Now come on you guys, who's ready to stick it to Laxus?"_

Cana gave a small smile as she pulled out a few magic cards "Thank you."

"_No Cana, we should be thanking you." _this one came from Erza "_Like Loke said you can sort out any issues you have with each other later, for now let's focus on the task at hand."_

"You heard the lady, let's get ready to blast these things all the way to hell."

"_But how can we do it?" _this time it came from Happy "_I mean those things have Body Link magic protecting them, if we attack them then we're just gonna get attacked right back, and it's going to hurt a lot!"_

"That's something we're just going to have to deal with, we have less than a minute before the Thunder Palace is activated and I'm not letting the guild get blown sky high. Being part of Fairy Tail has led me to become who I am today, and I'm not letting some power hungry blonde asshole blow it all to hell."

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Erza readied herself and the 200 swords hovering above her "I'll take the 200 to the North myself, I'll need everyone else to take care of the rest! We can do this, but only if we work together! Now go forth my swords!" she fired her swords forward, piercing through and obliterating 200 lacrimae in an instant.

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"**Magic Card: Wind Edge!"**

"**Regulus Impact!"**

"**Max Speed Attack!"**

"**Beast Arm: Iron Bull!"**

"**Guns Magic: Tornado Shot!"**

"**Requip Sniper Rifle: Sniper Shot!"**

"**Falcon Heaven Sword!"**

"**Knuckle Plant!"**

Combining their powers into one massive assault, everyone from the guild banded together and destroyed every last lacrima of the Thunder Palace, saving the town and everyone in it, and they were all filled with immense relief when the job was done.

That is, for the 10 seconds before the Body Link magic finally kicked in and blasted all of them out cold.

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Laxus glanced over at the rune scoreboard and his eyes widened almost instantly upon seeing the countdown for the Thunder Palace disappear '_What the hell, don't tell me they actually stopped the thing!'_

"Now do you get it?" Natsu shot him a smirk "Told you there was no way it was gonna work for you."

Gray shot a smirk of his own at Laxus "Add this to the ridiculously long list of reasons why anyone who underestimates Erza clearly has a death wish. _Still though, considering the kind of backlash she would receive from the Body Link magic, not to mention destroying as many of those lightning lacrimae as she did, I doubt she's gonna up for joining the fight again anytime soon, which means that the two of us are on our own.'_

"Hey Laxus, weren't you saying some kind of crap about how our guild needs to change? That sounds like it's a real load of crap to me, I don't see anything that needs to change."

"For once I agree with him, it looks like everyone is getting along just fine as it is."

"So how do you expect to become the master of our guild if you can't just get along with the rest of us?"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" with a mighty roar, Laxus unleashed a powerful surge of electricity around his body, the force nearly blowing Natsu and Gray off their feet "I'LL TAKE FAIRY TAIL BY FORCE IF I HAVE TO, JUST WATCH ME CLAIM WHAT'S RIGHTFULLY MINE!"

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Levy bolted through the streets of Magnolia as fast as she could, her mind racing '_You've gone too far this time Laxus, you have to stop this right now! Please just stop, while your grandfather is still alive! Before it's too late!'_

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Natsu and Gray shared a glance as they withstood the shockwaves being emitted by Laxus, and they promptly stood their ground "Isn't about damn time for you to just give it the hell up already? The Thunder Palace is gone, the girls are free and there's no way in hell you're taking over Fairy Tail, because none of us would ever let that happen!"

"Oh is that right?" Laxus shot them both a maniacal grin "You don't have a damn clue as to who you guys are screwing with, I'm a hell of a lot more powerful than any of you dreamed! I could take over this entire guild by force whenever the hell I want to, and none of you are anywhere near powerful enough to stop me so your best bet is to just get the hell out of my way and stay out of my way!"

"You wanna bet?" Gray promptly prepared to make an ice weapon"All of the shit you're talking makes it way too clear that you're just begging to take your ego down a few notches."

"You're damn right." Natsu summoned some of his flames "And either one of us could do that no problem, but since my wife stuck us together we might as well try it out fighting as a team."

"Make the most of a crappy situation, which is another reason why we're taking you down hard and fast! **Ice Make: Hammer!"**

"**Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" **the two of them prepared their attacks, a fire enhanced fist and an ice hammer respectively, and charged at Laxus and slammed their attacks into his face and head, only to not even be able to make him flinch.

"Oh come on, don't tell me that's all you guys have got!" Laxus promptly hit Natsu with a blast of lightning, sending both of them flying into the ceiling "You guys are gonna have to do a hell of a lot better than that, I've got more power in one finger than the two of you do combined!"

"**Fire Dragon Sword Horn/ Ice Make: Sword!" **Natsu quickly recovered and attempted to slam Laxus with a fire enhanced headbutt, with Gray preparing an ice sword at the same time

"Not good enough!" Laxus slammed a lightning enhanced fist into Gray's gut, followed by dealing both of them a barrage of lightning enhanced punches and kicks, sending both of them tumbling backwards.

Gray spat out some blood and glanced over to see Natsu downed next to him "Dammit I don't get this, how the hell is so strong?"

"Can the two of you feel the electric energy of the lightning I've summoned forth?" Laxus stuck his fist into the air.

'_What the hell is going on? I can't move my body, and from the looks of it Natsu can't move his either?'_

"And now it will plummet from the heavens and turn you both into piles of ash! **RAGING BOLT!" **Laxus brought down his arm, and with it came a massive blast of lightning, engulfing both Natsu and Gray in the explosion that followed.

When the blast subsided, Natsu and Gray were nowhere in sight.

Deciding to claim his victory, Laxus barked out a sadistic cackle "So who's the most powerful wizard in the guild now? I guess neither of them can really answer since they've both been turned into piles of ash!"

"Such is no way to treat one of your comrades." a new voice commented "Honestly Laxus, it truly is disappointing to see how far you've fallen."

Laxus glanced up and scowled "Great, you just had to come back didn't you Mystogan?"

Sure enough, a short distance away from him stood Mystogan, now wearing a new (and slightly more revealing) mask, holding Natsu and Gray with one arm each, the two of them now free from what was binding them "Though you were able to free them of what bound them together against their will, so truth be told you might have done them a favor."

"Mystogan… that's you right?" Natsu looked up at him, then at where the handcuffs were supposed to be "I don't get it, I thought Lisanna said those things were totally immune to magic."

"To her knowledge that is, but in truth they're merely resistant to magic, and only to a certain extent. Laxus is on an entirely different level compared to what wizards like you or Gray are capable of on your own, and his magic utilizes electricity. The handcuffs were made of metal, which is a conductor of electricity. Combine those factors, and that was more than enough to shatter them, freeing the two of you."

"Oh. Well thank fucking god I'm not stuck to him anymore."

"Like it makes any sort of difference." Laxus let out a scoff "Anyone who dares to stand in my way will be eliminated without hesitation!"

"Look just take Gray and get the hell out of her, I can take care of Laxus on my own."

Mystogan slowly shook his head "Unfortunately that is not an option in this case. Laxus has fallen too far to be reasoned with or taken down with mercy, you can tell that he has the blood of the master running through his veins. I'm well aware this is the last thing you want to hear, but the only way for you to defeat him is if you and Gray work as a team."

"What the hell man?! I only put up with him for as long as I did because I was literally stuck to him, now I'm a free man and I want to take Laxus down on my own!"

"Natsu, just look at him. Look deeper than just his appearance, does that remind you of the comrade you once knew?"

"What do you…"

Laxus shot them a maniacal grin filled to the brim with absolute malice "What's the matter, are you scared? You should be."

"...Yeah I see your point."

Mystogan nodded "As you should. Regardless of how you may have seen him once, the fact is that he is your enemy now, and if you wish to protect everyone else in the guild then your only hope is to subdue him before he can cause any more harm. Whether it be by the doing of another member or the Body Link magic connected to the Thunder Palace, the fact is that every other member of the guild has been incapacitated, and without counting myself, you and Gray are the only ones left who have a chance of stopping him."

"Who would've thought you could make such a smooth talker?" Gray pulled himself back to his feet and spat out some blood "From not even knowing what you look like to listening to you give motivational speeches that could give Gramps a run for his money? That's one hell of a turn around."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures, and looking back perhaps the fact that I've isolated myself from the guild as much as I have has hindered my own mission."

"And what mission is that?" asked Natsu.

"I will tell you when the time is right. Until then, I leave him in your hands. You both have what it takes to defeat him, I know this for a fact." and with that, Mystogan took his leave in a white flash.

"...Agree to put off whatever the hell that ominous stuff was about for later?"

Gray nodded "Yeah works for me, but just to be clear this is the only time I plan to go two on one with you in a fight."

"Hey trust me stripper, this isn't too fun for me either."

"But still, we have other things to deal with, so let's do this."

"Right!" and so both of them charged forward and started attacking Laxus with a surprisingly well coordinated two man barrage of punches and kicks.

"You think that's gonna be enough?!" Laxus promptly struck Natsu with a blast of lightning, sending him flying backwards.

"**Ice Make: Platform!" **Gray materialized an ice platform in mid air that allowed Natsu to rebound from the attack "Use a breath attack, I'll back you up!"

"**Fire Dragon ROAR!" **Natsu breathed out a powerful stream of fire.

"**Ice Make: Fan!" **Gray summoned a large fan made of ice and waved it, releasing a large wave of wind, increasing the power of Natsu's fire attack and forcing Laxus to dodge it "You're not getting away! **Ice Make: Cold Excalibur!" **he summoned a large broadsword made of ice and swung it at him.

"**Thunder Blitz Barrage!" **Laxus fired a barrage of small balls of lightning, engulfing Gray in the explosion that resulted.

"**Fire Dragon BRILLIANT FLAME!" **Natsu took the chance to hit Laxus with a two handed blast of fire from behind, sending him crashing to the ground.

"**Ice Make: Lance!" **Gray recovered from the Thunder Blitz Barrage and attacked the downed form of Laxus with a barrage of ice lances, blowing him back a short distance, and then he summoned two large broadswords made of ice and prepared to finish it "**Ice Make: Ice Bringer!" **he slashed Laxus across the chest with both swords "Finish it you idiot!"

"Right! **Fire Dragon ROAR!" **Natsu breathed out a massive stream of flames, summoning as much magic power in one go as he could, engulfing Laxus in the explosion that followed "Was that enough to take him down?"

"I think there's only one way to find out, but don't let your guard down."

"Right."

But their relief was cut short by a maniacal cackle as the smoke cleared to reveal that Laxus was completely unharmed, aside from his short being burned and torn "Don't tell me that's the best the two of you can do, and to think Natsu you actually call yourself a Dragon Slayer. You don't deserve the title."

'_You've gotta be kidding me, after all of that he doesn't even have a scratch on him. It doesn't make any sense, being insanely strong is one thing but I pulled out a crapload of Dragon Slayer magic on him and Gray's Ice Make magic. How did he take all of that without so much as a scratch?'_

"How about I let the two of you in on a little secret of mine, I haven't told anyone about this because I really can't stand the old geezer lecturing me, but now that I think about it I guess I can trust the two of you." then his muscles suddenly bulked up and ripped apart what was left of his shirt as his canines sharpened and turned more feral, and he let out a massive surge of lightning magic.

Natsu and Gray shared a horrified and knowing glance "You've gotta be kidding me, that shouldn't be possible…"

"**Lightning Dragon…"**

"But that's the exact same type of Dragon Slayer magic that Luke uses!"

"**ROAR!" **Laxus let out a primal roar, and with it a massive blast of lightning, almost instantly engulfing Natsu and Gray in the explosion that followed.

When the smoke cleared, both Natsu and Gray were on the ground, covered in burn marks and in serious pain '_Dammit…'_

"You're both still alive? Dammit, I was sure that would be more than enough to finish you off, what's it going to take for you to just kick the bucket already?"

'_Dammit this is bad, I can't even move and I don't think Gray can either.'_

"The two of you pathetic losers, Erza and Mystogan, the pathetic old geezer, all of those weaklings in Fairy Tail, and the pathetic people of Magnolia, YOUR TIME IS OVER HERE AND NOW!" with a furious roar he unleashed a massive surge of electricity.

'_Where the hell is all of this magic energy coming from?' _Gray glanced over at Natsu '_This feels really familiar, like one of the spells Gramps would use. I've got a really bad feeling about this, whatever spell he's going to bust out next. Is this the one Erza was telling me about, that ultimate judgement spell that will target anyone the caster sees as their enemy? If that's what he's doing then we're as good as dead.'_

Laxus clasped his hands together, and the electricity surging around his body was replaced by a glowing golden light "I can see it in your eyes Stripper, you know damn well what's about to happen next. I've mastered the Fairy Law spell, one of the three great magics of the Fairy Tail guild created by the First Master herself!"

"That's the most powerful spell Gramps has in his arsenal, and the most powerful spell in our entire guild! Laxus what the hell are you thinking?!"

"I'm thinking I'm bringing this era to an end!"

"Don't do this!" Natsu screamed at the top of his lungs.

"I'm not taking orders from either of you two!"

"Don't!"

"Laxus stop!" this came from an unexpected new voice.

Gray and Natsu both glanced back in a mix of horror and shock "Levy?!"

Sure enough, Levy was standing in the doorway to the cathedral "Please!"

"Levy what the hell are you doing?! Get the hell out of here or you're going to get yourself killed!"

"Laxus you have to see the master, he doesn't have much time left!" but what she was saying was failing to reach him "Master Makarov, your grandfather, he's close to death!"

That was enough for Laxus to at least hear it, and he regained his pupils and lost the maniacal grin on his face "What are you talking about?"

"Stop this now, please just go and see him one last time before it's too late!"

Natsu and Gray shared a look of disbelief and horror '_No way, it can't be… You mean Gramps is going to die? No way, it just can't be…'_

"Please Laxus, just go!"

"...So the old man is about to kick the bucket?" Laxus' grin suddenly returned even wider and more malicious than before "This is working out perfectly for me, now that that pathetic old geezer is finally at death's door I have an even better chance at becoming the new master of the guild!"

Gray tried not to let out an outright snarl "You son of a bitch…"

"This is it, this will be the dawn of a new era for Fairy Tail! I'll rebuild everything from the ground up, I'll create the ultimate guild, one of such unrivaled power that everyone will tremble at the sound of our name!"

"You son of a bitch, you can't do this!" Natsu protested "You can't just pretend you don't care about Gramps at all!"

"How does this answer your question? **Fairy Law!" **and with that, Laxus finally cast the spell, casting down a brilliant golden light over everyone and everything in the city. A few minutes went by, the glow of the spell subsided, and his grin only widened "How the hell do you like that old man? At long last I've finally surpassed you." but then he looked in front of him and his jaw dropped "What the hell? No way, that shouldn't be possible!"

As it turns out, Gray and the others were still alive and well, albeit coughing up a hell of a lot of dust "Well that's gonna make my insides look like a vacuum cleaner for a week."

"I don't get it, how in the hell are all of you still alive?"

"Hey Levy, are you okay?"

Levy nodded "Yeah I'm fine, but what about you and Natsu?"

"I'm coughing up dust by the craploads, so I'm guessing Natsu is probably about the same right now."

Laxus was still wracking his brain looking for an explanation "But how? It doesn't make any sense, I hit them with so much magic energy there's no way they should've been able to survive that."

"The other members of the guild and the citizens of Magnolia are all unharmed."

Laxus looked over and his scowl deepened "Freed."

Sure enough, Freed stood leaning against the doorway, still injured from his one sided battle against Erza "It would seem that your spell didn't work, not a single person was killed."

"But that's impossible, I know for a fact that I cast the Fairy Law spell perfectly!"

"True as that may be it doesn't matter, your true feelings have betrayed you."

"What?!"

"You've inherited more than strength from your grandfather, whether you choose to admit it, the fact is that you also have the heart of the master. It's clear to myself and anyone else in the guild that you truly do care for your comrades, the Fairy Law spell only affects those seen by the caster as their enemy. No one was hurt by your spell, and that was more than enough to show everyone how you truly feel."

Levy was quick to realize what he was getting at "His magic was able to see into his heart, and he didn't even realize it, and that's why we're all still here."

"You can try to hide your true feelings Laxus, you can deny it as much as you want, but your magic will always reveal the truth within your heart."

Of course, knowing him, Laxus wasn't willing to accept the truth "No that's just a load of bullshit, the truth is that anyone who would dare to stand in my way _is _my enemy!"

"This has gone on for far too long as it is Laxus, you need to go and see the master while you still have time left!"

"Let the old man die for all I care!" Laxus promptly bulked back up as his body started surging with electricity "HE'S NOTHING TO ME! IT DOESN'T MATTER IF HE'S FAMILY, HIS POWER IS NOTHING COMPARED TO MINE!"

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Natsu promptly staggered back to his feet, with Gray doing the same right after, both of them still raring and ready for a fight "If you couldn't even pull off the most powerful spell the guild has to offer then how the hell can you call yourself stronger than Gramps? It doesn't mean a damn thing if you're his grandson, you're no better than any of the rest of us! Blood ties don't mean a damn thing, everyone in the guild is supposed to be your family!"

"That's just some load of bullshit, blood ties do matter!"

"Quit trying to fool yourself!" Gray dropped into a stance "You've been a member of the guild long enough to know better than that, if you think you being a blood relative of Gramps means that you're better than everyone else in the guild then you're dead wrong!" he and Natsu both let fists fly forward.

"And you're both just dead!" Laxus met both of their fists with one of his own, resulting in a collision that ended with the three of them blitzing along the walls of the cathedral, and then out onto the rooftop until he ended up sending Gray flying away "How dare either of you challenge me!"

"How dare you keep running your mouth like a jackass!" Natsu dealt Laxus a fire enhanced kick to the face "We're taking you down here and now Laxus, there's no way you're getting your hands on Fairy Tail!"

"Why the hell won't you two just die already?!"

"Fairy Tail is our home, there's no way any of us would ever let someone like you get your hands on it!"

"What does it take to just up and kill you already?!" Laxus grabbed Natsu by the arm and dealt him a lightning enhanced kick, sending him skidding backwards across the rooftop "Just wake up and face the reality already, it's over! You don't have a chance of beating me, you never have and you never will!"

"You wanna bet…?" Natsu staggered back to his feet and spat out some blood "What the hell is gonna take for you to just give up the fight? The guild doesn't belong to you, it never has and it never will!"

"You wanna bet? **Lightning Dragon DEMOLITION FIST!" **in his rage, Laxus unleashed a massive blast of lightning in the form of a gigantic fist, engulfing Natsu in the explosion that followed.

When the smoke cleared, it revealed Gray standing in front of Natsu, having formed an ice shield at the last second, only for it to shatter almost immediately "That was way too close, any later and both of us would've been fried into nothing."

"Didn't the old man ever teach the two of you to respect your elders boys?"

"Not when one of our elders is the most sadistic fucker on this side of Fiore. Hey Flamehole, you still have some fight left in you?"

"You should… already know… the answer to that…" Natsu staggered back to his feet and spat out some blood.

"Yeah you bet I do, it's what we're counting on."

"That was your last mistake brats." Laxus let out a snarl "NOW I'M GOING TO OBLITERATE BOTH OF YOU!"

As he and Levy made their way outside, Freed was quick to realize exactly what Laxus was going to do next "No, not that spell! Don't do it Laxus, that much magic energy could kill them as they are right now!"

"THAT'S THE IDEA! **LIGHTNING DRAGON HEAVENWARD HALBERD!" **using all of the magic energy he was able to muster, Laxus summoned a massive halberd made of pure lightning magic and hurled it at Natsu and Gray as hard and as fast as he could, until…

"**Three Layer Magic Circle: Mirror Water!" **a savior arrived in the form of Mystogan, and he promptly cast a series of hand signs, creating three magic circles, absorbing the Heavenward Halberd and reflected it right back to where it came from "Can you both continue fighting?"

Laxus was forced to dodge the attack being reflected back at him "Dammit, he just had to come back didn't he?"

"If you can both keep fighting then I suggest do attack him with everything you had."

"Well that's obvious." Gray slammed his hands together.

"What the hell do you think we were going to do in the first place?" Natsu dropped into a pouncing stance, his body radiating every last bit of flames he was able to muster "Let's get moving."

"Right!" and so the two of them charged in for one final assault, attacking Laxus with almost every spell in their respective arsenals.

"**Fire Dragon-"**

"**Ice Make-"**

"**Iron Fist!"**

"**Hammer!"**

"**Talon!"**

"**Sword!"**

"**Wing Attack!"**

"**Lance!"**

"**Sword Horn!"**

"**Cold Excalibur!"**

"**Flame Elbow!"**

Freed and the others could only look on in awe '_Unbelievable, both of them are so powerful that it's as if either one of them could take on any foe and claim victory.'_

"**Ice Blade: SEVEN SLICE DANCE!" **Gray charged forward, summoned two ice blades on his arms and promptly slashed Laxus across the chest with said ice blades, sending him stumbling backwards a short distance "Now's your chance Natsu, FINISH HIM!"

"Right! **Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Flame Lotus: EXPLODING FLAME BLADE!" **using the last of his magic power, Natsu summoned forth a massive spiralling blast of flames, instantly engulfing Laxus and sending him flying high into the air, and eventually crashing to the ground with a loud thud.

Freed looked on in a mix of awe, disbelief and slight admiration "I don't believe it… they actually did it… they beat Laxus…"

Now barely even having enough strength left to stand, Natsu let out a primal roar of triumph, before falling on his back with a loud thud.

The Battle of Fairy Tail was finally over.

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What no one knew about was that, during the chaos of the battle, Igneel was visited by another being known as Grandeeney, and they discussed Natsu's actions.

Igneel ended up appearing to be seriously affected by Grandeeny commenting on the possibility of Natsu's death and promptly ordered her to leave, claiming that they were not allowed to meddle in the affairs of humans.

Grandeeeny sympathized with him, and gave the impression that she had an interest in humans just as Igneel did.

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The next day came, and things appeared to be finally returning to normal for the citizens of Magnolia.

"Aww dammit, the Fantasia parade won't happen until tomorrow night."

"Yeah, I heard it's because the master of Fairy Tail is sick."

"Is he going to retire?"

"Woah, who do you think the next master is going to be?"

"Well Laxus would make the most sense."

"But he's such a prick, I really hope they don't put him in charge."

"I've known him since he was just a kid and now he might be the new master, if I didn't feel like an old man before I sure as hell do now."

Porlyusica listened to these various comments as she made her way out of the city, and she scoffed lightly to herself '_That punk as guild master. Not going to happen, especially not after all of this.'_

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Meanwhile, back at the guild hall…

Erza was quick to address everyone in the guild hall "Thanks to Porlyusica lending us her aid the Master is going to pull through just fine, he'll be back on his feet in no time so there's no need for any of you to worry." she was met with various cheers.

Levy breathed a sigh of relief "Thank goodness, I have to admit I was really worried."

"Oh come on." Elfman waved that off "It's gonna take a lot more than that to take out the Master of all people, he's a real man!"

"Well it isn't that simple." Erza pointed out "The master isn't as young as he used to be, so any stress added onto his heart could have a significant impact on his health, so if no other reason but for his sake we should all try to be on our best behavior." she was met with various mock salutes from everyone.

Levy seemed a little bit unsure about the parade "I don't know, I mean is it really such a good idea to do the parade after everything that's happened?"

"Well keep in mind that the Master wants us to do it." Lisanna pointed out "Besides, it's the perfect way to boost everyone's morale and cheer everyone up after everything that has happened before."

"I gotta admit, I can't wait to see what everyone has in store for the parade." Bisca commented.

"What do you mean see?" asked Cana "You're gonna be in it with the rest of us, you're a member of the guild, aren't you?"

"Well yeah, but I'm still new to the guild I didn't think anyone would want me to be part of the parade."

"You're thinking way too much into it, just be glad we do want you to be part of it. Besides, a lot of members got hurt fighting each other, so anyone who can participate has to. Keep in mind that we need all of the people we can get, especially since a few people specifically aren't going to be able to participate in it this year." she jerked a thumb back.

"...Oh yeah, fair point."

Yeah, as it turns out, Gray and Natsu were both heavily bandaged after the beating they both took in their battle against Laxus "Yeah well what the hell can you do?" he was met with lots of muffled grumbling from Natsu.

"Can you even understand what he's saying?" asked Erza.

"I get enough of the gist to know it was just something stupid. Use your head man, how the hell are you going to be part of the action? We're both out." he received a lot more angry muffled yelling as a response "Hey that doesn't have anything to do with it, what the hell is your problem?!"

"Well I won't question what he said, most likely because I don't want to know exactly what it is he said." Erza placed one hand on each of their shoulders and gave a small smile, something that left both of them rather unnerved "You both did quite well, I'm proud of the two of you." she was met with both of them turning rather stiff with fear, but she didn't seem to notice as she looked around the rest of the guild hall '_It's good to see that everything is almost back to normal and everyone is getting along again, especially after we were forced to fight against each other only yesterday.' _but then the sound of footsteps could be heard that caused everyone to quiet down, and when she looked over at the source her frown deepened "Laxus."

Sure enough, the heavily bandaged form of Laxus quietly made his way into the building "Hey."

All of the B-tier characters wasted no time in rounding on him "What the hell do you think you're doing here?"

"Where's the old man?"

"We're not telling, you think you can just waltz in here and ask to see the Master after all the crap that you've pulled?!" and then everyone started tearing into him, until…

"Quiet everyone!" Erza barked, shutting all of them up in an instant "The Master is in the infirmary, just don't try anything."

"Yeah, I get the gist." Laxus calmly made his way through the guild hall amidst a number of fearful and angry glares, only to be stopped by lots of angry muffled yelling as Natsu leapt out in front of him "What do you want Natsu?" the two of them locked eyes for a moment, only for it to be cut short by more angry muffled yelling.

Lisanna glanced over at Gray "Do you have any idea what he said?"

"I get the gist of it at least." Gray gave a shrug "He said that the next time he and Laxus go at it there won't be any of the 2 on 1 stuff, it's just going to be the two of them face to face, and he swears he's not going to lose like that again."

"But I thought you guys were able to beat him, Freed and Levy even said so."

"No, in that fight, I'd have to say it was more like a draw. We might have stopped him and his coup sure, but look at what he did to the two of us, even after we tried teaming up with each other for once. And that was after he had drained a ton of his power using the Thunder Palace along with Fairy Law, if he had been at full power then chances are neither of us would be here right now."

"Yeah, whatever lets you sleep at night." Laxus just made his way past Natsu in the direction of the infirmary, but not before giving him a simple wave, leaving Natsu and everyone else speechless as a result.

Erza was quick to get things back on track "Alright everyone the show is over now, it's time to get ready for the Fantasia parade!" she was met with lots of cheering.

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Meanwhile, in the infirmary…

Laxus stood leaning against the wall of the infirmary, arms crossed with a tsundere-esque look on his face "They're one hell of a rowdy bunch aren't they?"

"Yes…" Makarov pulled himself out of bed "Laxus, I don't think you understand the seriousness of what you've done. Look me in the eyes young man."

Laxus reluctantly turned to face him.

"Fairy Tail is the kind of place where friends can gather together, where wizards are able to find work, and where children who have no kin to call their own can feel as if they're part of a real family. It's not something that one can simply own. It's extremely important that each member not only be loyal but also trustworthy, otherwise no bonds will be formed and the entire guild will end up eventually falling apart. The actions you've taken have proven that you lack both of those qualities, not to mention that you threatened the lives of your comrades and thousands of innocent people. That's absolutely unforgivable."

"Yeah, I know it is. Honestly I never wanted to hurt the guild, I just wanted to make it into something better, but I guess somewhere along the way I lost sight of that."

"Honestly, I swear that you're just as high strung as I am. You'd better try to relax or you're going to end up in here with me. Take some time to stop and smell the roses, if you do then you'll be able to see things you were never able to see and hear things you were never able to hear. Life can turn out to be a lot of fun, all you have to do is give it a chance. Over the years I've watched you grow into the man that you are today, and seeing you before me now I can't help but wonder. Where did we go wrong, what lesson was there that you had failed to learn? But the past is in the past, after everything you've done I have now been left with only one choice. Laxus…" he swiped his hand to the side "For your crimes against the guild, you are hereby **expelled **from Fairy Tail."

Laxus was left significantly started for a moment, but eventually he managed to get ahold of himself "I understand. Thanks for everything… grandpa." he turned around and gave a small smile "You be sure to take care of yourself while I'm gone, okay old man?"

"...Please just go." Makarov turned around and faced the window with tears streaming down his face.

Laxus walked out of the guild hall without another word.

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Sunset came, and the Thunder Legion had gathered for one final meeting under the tree in Magnolia South Gate Park, where they were informed of Laxus' expulsion from the guild.

Evergreen was the most vocal in her protests to him being expelled "No you must be joking, why would he kick you out and not the rest of us? I mean we're just as guilty as you are!"

"Well what can you do?" Laxus gave a shrug, "I guess the old man just doesn't see it that way, it was his choice not mine so it's not like there's anything I can do."

"Well if you're leaving the guild then we're leaving too." Bickslow told him "Why the hell should we bother sticking around if you're not going to be here?"

"You know you guys really know how to be such a pain in the ass, I mean can't you just say goodbye and be done with it already?"

"I just don't understand it." Freed muttered "I mean we're just as at fault as you are in this whole situation, so why are you taking all of the blame and the rest of us not even receiving any sort of punishment?"

"You guys are getting the wrong idea out of this whole thing, you can say it all you want but I know for a fact that you guys are a hell of a lot more attached to this guild than I could ever dream of being."

"But if we talk to the master then maybe we can change his mind!" Bickslow protested "I mean maybe we could get Natsu and Gray to talk to him, I mean they respect you so they'll probably go with us. He loves the two of them, I'm sure he'll listen to them."

"Just give it a rest guys, there's no going back on this so stop trying to kid yourselves."

"...Are you really leaving?" asked Freed.

"Yep, this is it you guys. Make sure you take care of yourselves." and with that, Laxus took his leave.

Bickslow and Evergreen were still protesting "Laxus wait, you can't just leave all of us behind like this! What the hell will happen to the Thunder Legion? Dammit, I just can't believe this!"

"It's alright, no need to be so upset." Freed assured them with a small smile "He wants us to live on with our comrades, and find our own paths within the guild. _I'm sure we're meant to meet again one day, Laxus…'_

(Extremely length flashback end)

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"And that was it." the cloaked figure finished explaining his story to Luke "No one in the guild has heard from him since then."

Luke paused for a moment, taking in the story he had been told, and he let out a sigh "I never thought something that serious would happen while I was gone."

"It all worked out though, keep in mind that you're not the only one in the guild who can take care of himself."

"Yeah, I know that." Luke studied the cloaked figure intently for a moment "You've gotten a hell of a lot stronger since the last time I saw you, haven't you Laxus?"

Sure enough, the cloaked figure pulled down his hood, revealing his face to be that of none other than Laxus Dreyar himself "So you could tell that it was me?"

"Never underestimate the nose of a Dragon Slayer. Which also raises the question, how in the hell are you able to use the exact same type of Dragon Slayer magic as me?"

"You can thank my deadbeat dad for that, he implanted a Dragon Slayer lacrima in my body when I was just a kid."

"That makes sense, it's the only way you could learn Dragon Slayer magic. So you've been expelled from the guild for about a year now, what have you been doing all this time?" they started walking through the streets as they talked.

"Just training across the continent, trying to find my own way."

"Like what I did?"

"No you already knew what your way was supposed to be, your job is to protect the guild. I don't really know what my way is, at least not yet."

"And you don't think the Master will let you back in yet?"

"Of course not, it's not like he can just forgive and forget after everything I've done. He'll stand by the decision he's made, that's the kind of stuff that's helped the guild to stay strong over the years."

"I can't argue with that."

"Besides, I think it's obvious to everyone that there's only room for one Lightning Dragon Slayer in Fairy Tail, and that's you. Speaking of which, all the while I was travelling I kept hearing all sorts of things, but mostly about how a certain Dragon Slayer drop kicked one of the Ten Wizard Saints."

"Okay honestly, it was awesome but it was just to protect them. It's not that big of a deal."

"Said no one ever. You got there through 18 months of training because you knew what you had to strive for. I don't have any idea what my destiny is."

"Maybe you just haven't found it yet."

"Maybe. Anyway, I just came to take a look at you myself and see if the rumors about you hold any merit. They do, not that I should be surprised."

"So what then, you want to spar to see if it holds up?"

"Thanks but no thanks, I have a hell of a lot of training to do. I'm working a few new spells of mine to see if they can give me some kind of edge. Which reminds me, I actually came here for one other reason." he pulled a book out of his cloak and held it out to Luke "Your so called senpai, the God of Eight Dragons or whatever he called himself, met up with me awhile back and asked me to give this to you when we met up. It contains a few of my heavy hitter Lightning Dragon Slayer spells, and a few different elements that he's able to use. Fire, Water, Wind, Earth and a few others."

"Huh. Didn't expect that, but at the same time it does seem like him to pull something like that out of his ass and set it up in front of me when I least expect it. So are you at least going to stick around for the Fantasia parade?"

"I haven't decided yet, but either way I'm not heading to the guild hall or anything if that's what you're going to ask. I doubt they would want to see me."

"You never know, they just might surprise you."

"Well whatever, anyway I'm out. It was good seeing you, for once that is. Just do what you do best, get a hell of a lot stronger and keep them safe." and with that, Laxus took his leave and disappeared in a flash of lightning.

'_That's one thing you'll never have to worry about Laxus, I'll be sure to protect them with my life.' _Luke looked down at the book in his hands '_And who knows, maybe this will help me to do just that, but better.'_

"So this is where you ended up."

Luke glanced back to see Bolt flying down towards him "Oh hey, dammit I didn't miss the Miss Fairy Tail contest did I?"

"Not yet, I thought you wouldn't pass up the opportunity to see Cana in a bikini. Where the hell have you been?"

"Sorry, I… I just got a little bit held up for awhile there. Come on, let's get moving already and watch Cana blow the competition away."

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Meanwhile, somewhere up in the mountains…

Noah sat on the cliffside of a rocky landscape, chomping away at a small boulder sitting next to him and speaking into a lacrima floating in front of him "So the council is going to have to take responsibility for being a bunch of arrogant fools whose bark was a lot worse than their bite. It wouldn't surprise me if they ended up getting suspended."

"_Excellent work, you've done quite well Noah. Tell me, do you know what became of Jellal after the collapse of the Tower of Heaven?"_

"My guess is his body is floating in the remains of the Tower, either that or he made his way out to sea. I feel bad for the guy to be honest, he had no idea that Ultear was playing him like a total sucker. Well he might have been played for a fool but he knew his way around a fight to an extent."

"_He was truly pitiful, it's hard to believe that in all those years he never once found out that it was simply Ultear pretending to be the spirit of Lord Zeref. Her abilities set the stage for great things, the Magic Council in turmoil, the firing of Etherion. Our plan is finally coming to fruition."_

"I guess Ultear was right on the money when she said that you and the others would be able to run around free while Jellal was raising all sorts of hell."

"_One of the keys needed to unlock the seal is now in my possession."_

"Whoo fucking hoo, go ahead and poor yourself a glass of wine Master Hades. I'll be back when that thing touches the ground, tell Meldy I said hi until then." Noah promptly crushed the lacrima in his hand, cutting their communication short, and he looked out into the distance '_Sorry things had to turn out like this Jellal, truth be told you really did deserve better. Who knows, maybe in the afterlife you will actually be free.'_

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Another day went by, nightfall came, and the Fantasia parade for the year X784 had begun at long last, with everyone giving it their all to put on a show for the people of Magnolia, whether it was Cana creating a dazzling performance with her Card Magic, Lucy, Bisca and Levy dancing with their flags, or Gray and Juvia, dressed as an ice prince and water princess respectively, combining their water and ice magic to create a brilliant ice castle.

Luke and Natsu were following towards the end of the parade alongside Bolt and Happy, with the two Dragon Slayers preparing to finish things off in style "It's about time for us to play our part, you ready?"

"You bet your ass I am, now let's do this! **Fire Dragon ROAR!" **with a roar, Natsu breathed out a few short blasts of fire, spelling out the word FAIRY in flames.

"And now it's my turn. **Lightning Dragon ROAR!" **Luke breathed out a few small blasts of lightning, spelling out the word TAIL right before FAIRY "Nice."

"That takes a hell of a lot of practice."

"Oh believe me I know."

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Makarov looked out over the parade with a small smile '_It looks like my role in the parade is about to come up.'_

"Hey master." that was when Gajeel came up to him.

"Oh, you're not going to be in the parade Gajeel?"

"Thanks but no thanks, I don't like being in the spotlight."

"Well that can't be true, you're Mr Shoo-Bee-Doo-Ba." that was enough to at least get a reaction of embarrassment from Gajeel, but not much more than that.

"...You know what, I'm just going to choose to ignore that one." Gajeel then handed Makarov a small piece of paper "Sorry this took as long as it did, but I was finally able to track down your son, Master Ivan."

"Excellent work my boy, and what have you learned from him?"

"That apparently he gave his kid Lactose or whatever-"

"Laxus."

"Yeah, whatever. Anyway he gave him the ability to use Dragon Slayer magic through some kind of lacrima, but you already knew that part, and he plans to pull it out and sell it."

"Even if it kills Laxus in the process." Makarov suppressed a growl "Good work my boy, I'm sorry this turned out to be so dangerous."

"Not a problem, I can handle something like this pretty easily. Besides it's actually pretty fun playing that guy like a sucker, and he has absolutely no idea that I'm actually a double agent working for you."

"Thank you, I truly do appreciate it. We can't allow him to do as he pleases."

"Hey Master are you ready?" another voice called out to him "It's about time!"

"Well I'd better get going, sorry but my public needs me!" Makarov promptly put on a cat hat and leapt onto the top of one of the floats.

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Laxus continued making his way through the crowd, but stopped when he noticed Makarov as he was dancing atop the float, and he gave a small smile '_Well that sure as hell brings back some memories. I still remember the first time I participated in the Fantasia parade, while the old man was just watching. I even made up that stupid sign to use during the parade, holding up the index finger with my thumb sticking out. That way he would know that even if I couldn't see him, I'd be looking his way. It was so stupid now that I think about it.' _he started walking away, but froze in his tracks when he looked back and saw Makarov, along with every single other person in the guild, performing that same sign, and he was so moved by it "Grandpa…"

"_I know you're there." _the voice of Makarov echoed through Laxus' mind through the use of telepathy magic "_I may not be able to see you, there may be hundreds of miles between us, but I can assure you that I'll always be looking your way. I'll be watching over you forever, that much I can promise you."_

"Yeah, I know. Thank you Grandpa, seriously." and with tears still freely streaming down his face, Laxus quietly took his leave.

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"Oh hell yeah, the party's just getting started!" Natsu blew some more flames into the air to spell out the name of the guild again "I'm all fired up now!"

"You and me both my friend, you and me both." Luke let out a surge of electricity to create the symbol for the guild "Okay everybody, who here is proud to be a member of Fairy Tail?" he was met with various cheers and gave a small smile to the crowd '_I know that I still have one hell of a long way to go, but I promise I'm going to give it every ounce of strength I have to keep the others safe and make sure that they can all smile and laugh, and above all, live happy lives with each other. I don't care how cliche they may sound, this is the path that I've chosen. I can't imagine my life without Fairy Tail now, and I promise that no matter what happens I'll protect them to the bitter end.'_

**A/N:**

**And with the Fantasia parade, as well as yet another silent departure from Laxus, we reach the conclusion of the Battle of Fairy Tail arc, as well as the end of the first season of the Rise of a Warrior: Fairy Tail. I want to thank everyone that has supported this story up until this point, I would never have made it this far in the story without all of you.**

**I know a good number of people dislike Laxus considering the apparently lack of remorse over his actions here, along with not being very in depth in his redemption on Tenrous Island, and that's fine. The purpose behind this arc wasn't trying to make us like him out of nowhere. The message it was trying to convey was that there are times when tough decisions have to be made, even in an anime as lighthearted and fun as Fairy Tail.**

**It's only fair I warn you guys now, now that the first season of my Fairy Tail fic has come to an end, this story is going to go on hiatus for the time being, a few months at least. Don't get me wrong, I love writing this story and I haven't lost any of my drive for it, but I've been writing out this story non stop for almost 4 straight months, and because of that my other stories are being neglected, and that's really not fair to them. So for the time being, I'll be focusing on some of my other fics, most notably my DBZ: Next Generation fic and finishing my Total Drama Underdog saga, so feel free to check those out if you want. Until then my faithful readers.**


	19. Omake II

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it, and I also want to thank you for getting this story up to 11,000 views. Here's to hopefully getting it up to 20,000! Also, I want to thank all of you for getting this story to the triple digits, over 100 favorites and 100 followers! I honestly never expected this story to get anywhere near as much love as it did, and believe me when I say that this story would be nothing without all of the support it's received from all of you over the past five months. Thank you all.**

**Ragnas Bredvolts: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you enjoyed the chapter. Yeah, I figured that since I didn't have Lucy there this time, Cana would have to take it upon herself to make everyone get their asses in gear by reminding them of the guild member that left them to get strong enough to protect all of them. In terms of original story arcs, the closest I have at the moment are these Omake chapters that I do in between some of the bigger arcs, covering some of the oneshot episodes that they have every now and then. In regards to Mystogan, while I admit they never really did flesh out on his magic too much, I don't really think they actually needed to with someone like him. But if it helps, I'll try to come up with an original spell or two for him for when we next see him. And looking back, I do sort of understand Laxus' reasons for acting the way that he did, even though the way he tried to make his own name for himself was definitely the wrong way to go about it. Also, in regards to Luke getting some new spells, I was mostly referring to some of the Lightning Dragon Slayer spells that Laxus uses like the Demolition Fist and the Heavenward Halberd, really heavy hitters like those two, but I like the idea of adding a designated name to his Dragon Slayer Secret Arts spells. I'm particularly fond of Indra's Wrath, so I think I'll go with that one.

**Altajir95: **Same routine as usual, responding to all of your reviews at the same time. Thank you for all of the positive reviews, I'm glad to see you like my ideas for the story. I wanted to do something different with the Battle of Fairy Tail arc, so I decided to make it a flashback arc and give Gray one of the main roles, considering how badly I feel he got shafted in that arc.

**Dragon storm: **Good observation, I'm surprised no one has asked that before. But before that, let me just clarify that they're not exactly "together" yet, not like Natsu and Lisanna are, or like how Alzack and Bisca are. As for whether or not Luke actually knows about Cana being the daughter of Gildarts, I plan to address that in this chapter. Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions for me.

**Guest: **I'll respond to all of your reviews at once like I do with Altajir95. Thank you for all of the positive feedback, I'm glad you're enjoying the story and I hope you continue to do so in the future.

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There are many great stories that have different sides to them. Some are important, some not so much, but regardless they still exist, and they still have an impact on the story overall.

However, for the time being (this chapter), we'll be diving this story into two different parts, with two different sides to this story.

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**(First we'll go into the first one, this one focusing on Natsu, the main character of the canon series that really didn't get much development in canon)**

Another day had come, and the sun was shining brightly over the skies of Magnolia.

Lucy made her way into the Fairy Tail Archives, the area where the records of the guild are stored away, and she found Lisanna high atop a ladder arranging some books "Hey Lisanna, what are you doing up there?"

"Oh nothing too big, just a little bit of reorganizing." Lisanna told her "I had some free time so I offered to help out the Master."

"Oh I can help you out with that."

"Are you sure that you want to?"

"Oh yeah, I'm great with boring stuff."

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Soon enough, Lucy and Lisanna were hard at work sorting through the guild archives "So why are you organizing stuff in here all by yourself?"

Lisanna gave a shrug "Well Natsu and Happy having one of their little spats again I figured now is as good of a time as any."

"Those two are fighting? I figured they shared a brain between the two of them. So what are they fighting about?"

"Oh nothing really that big, Happy's just upset that Natsu ate a fish that he caught without asking first. It happens every few weeks or so with those two."

"Sounds like it gets pretty annoying."

"Not really, that's actually part of what makes the two of them look so cute."

"You really think so?"

"Well yeah, I mean you have a guy whose boyish charms would attract you too don't you?"

"What do you- I don't-" unfortunately, that proved to be enough to cause Lucy to slip and fall off the ladder she was using, leaving her to hit the ground with a loud thud as she crashed into a pile of books.

"Lucy, oh my gosh are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, sorry about that. I guess ladders aren't my strong point." then she noticed an old painting sticking out of one of the books and pulled it out "Hey so what's with this old painting here?"

"Oh wow I remember that, that brings back so many memories."

"Is this everyone in the guild back when you guys were kids?"

"Yeah that's right."

"That kid in the boxers must be Gray, and that brunette in the dress next to him must be Cana, so am I right?"

"Yep, and behind them is Macao and Wakaba."

"No way are you serious, they look so young! So who's that little kid brooding in the corner over there?"

"Oh that's Luke, he was pretty much a loner for a good long while when he was younger, and he was pretty cocky."

"I can't imagine that, he seems so chill and down to Earth."

"He's changed a lot since then. Speaking of which, do you recognize that head of spiky pink hair?"

"That's definitely Natsu, he hasn't changed a bit. But what's with him riding a little blue dragon in that picture?"

"Hm? Oh that's just Happy."

"...Huh?!"

"Oh yeah, I'm guessing you'll need some context to understand that."

"You mean why a little blue cat looks like a little blue dragon in a picture that was painted years go?"

"Yep." Lisanna sat down in a nearby chair and gave a smile filled with nostalgia "You know, when that picture was painted I hadn't been a member of Fairy Tail for very long myself. The time has sure flown by, I guess I just never really noticed. Back then Natsu and Gray were both little balls full of hate, they'd fight until they were black and blue every time they ran into each other."

"It doesn't sound like much has changed between the two of them."

"Well they're nowhere near as bad as they used to be. Of course, there was always someone there to break them up before they got too out of hand."

"Let me take a wild guess, Erza right?"

"Yep, they'd turn on her but that wouldn't end too well for either of them. Natsu was always getting into fights like that, of course he always acted like that's exactly what he wanted, but there were a few times I would catch him sitting alone with a sad look on his face. But then a day came where things really started changing, but for the better."

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**(6 years ago, in the East Forest)**

"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!" a 10 year old Natsu was hard at work punching away at a tree with Gray and Erza's faces painted on "Stupid Erza, stupid Gray, you both suck!" he dealt the tree a mighty punch that rocked it to its core, and left his hand red and swollen "That… didn't hurt at all… ow…" but then he got hit in the head with a certain something and he was sent crashing to the ground with a loud thud "Ow, what the heck?" he rubbed the gigantic bruise on his head and looked ahead to see a gigantic egg sitting in front of him, and his face lit up like a Christmas tree.

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A few minutes later, at the guildhall…

"Hey you guys!" Natsu burst into the guild hall carrying the egg overhead "Guys check out this awesome egg I just found!"

"Where in blazes did you pick up that thing?" asked Makarov.

"Oh I found it in the East Forest when it fell on my head."

"The East Forest?"

"After it hit me on the head, yeah."

"Well look at that." Gray shot him a cocky smirk "I guess you're good for something after all, so are you gonna fry it up for us?"

"I don't know, are you gonna put on some pants?"

"Dammit!"

"And I ain't gonna fry this thing, can't you see it's a dragon egg? I'm gonna hatch it."

"Are you sure about that?" asked Cana.

"Well duh, I mean just look at the markings on the outside of it. They look just like a dragon's claws don't they?"

"I don't know about that."

"So anyway Gramps, why don't you go ahead and use a spell to hatch the dragon?"

"Don't be such a fool." Makarov let out a scoff "Using magic for such a purpose would dishonor the miracle of life. You see life is born from love and love alone, no spell can or should transcend that power."

"Uh… Sorry Gramps, I don't think I'm following you."

"Oh for the love of- Well you'll understand when you grow up."

"I don't get it."

"Allow me to try and simply it for him." this was when Erza made herself known "He's saying that if you want the egg to hatch then you'll have to work hard in order to make it happen on your own. After all, considering you usually just burn and break things all day I think it might be nice for you to try something more productive for once."

"Uh… Hey Erza, I didn't hear you come in."

"Probably because I was already here before you came in."

"I've been waiting for you to show your face Erza!" this was when a young girl with white hair and a gothic look stormed up to her "What the hell do you say we pick up where we left off last time? I say come and get some, it's about time for me to put you in your place!"

"Well well if it isn't Mira, now that you mention it we never did finish our last match. I suppose it's only fair." they both started radiating serious KI (Killer Intent).

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**(Back in the present)**

"Hold on, what now?!" Lucy nearly lost her shit at what she was hearing "Are you for real right now, you mean that girl was your older sister?"

Lisanna nodded "Yeah that's right, you surprised by that?"

"Yeah I mean I can't imagine that, and you said that your sister was picking a fight with Erza of all people?"

"Yep, those two were just as bad as Natsu and Gray, if not worse."

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**(6 years ago)**

"I'm gonna bury you alive!" Mira charged at Erza in a rage.

"I'll make you beg for mercy!" Erza met the charge in full force, resulting in a full on fight raging across the guildhall.

"Is that armor your training bra?"

"Do you like showing off your love handles?"

"You ugly prude!"

"You stupid wench!"

"Thunder thighs!"

Cana and the others could only sweatdrop as they watched them tear into each other "Well you have to give them points for being classy, I guess."

"Oh yeah that's fair." Gray muttered "She gets all mad when we get into a fight, but the two of them get to wreck the guild whenever the heck they want."

"Well that's Erza and Mira for you."

"Just wait and see." Natsu promptly cracked his knuckles "One of these days, I'm gonna give the two of them a beatdown they're never gonna forget."

"Oh come on, give me a break." this was when Lisanna came up to him "You know, if you keep up that tough guy act then you're never going to get the girls to like you."

"Oh shut up Lisanna, what do you know?"

"Now there's no need to be mean, I was just about to ask if you needed a hand with raising that egg."

"Wait you mean you want to help, like for real?"

"Yeah, I've never tried raising a dragon before. I bet it will be a lot of fun."

"Alright!"

"I don't know if fun is the right word here." Cana pointed out.

"So how are supposed to make the thing hatch?"

"I think you just need to warm it up." Lisanna told him.

"What for real? Then it looks like I'm the right guy for the job!" and then he started spewing flames all over the egg.

"Not like that Natsu, what are you thinking?!" Lisanna snatched the egg away from him "You need to be more careful, we're trying to hatch the egg, not poach it."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Just sit back and let my magic handle this. **Take Over: Animal Soul!" **with a flash of golden light, Lisanna transformed into a gigantic bird "So what do you think?"

"Holy crap, you're a bird!"

'Yeah, us birds are experts when it comes to hatching eggs."

"Aw wow, you're so smart!"

Cana glanced over to see Elfman pouting in a corner by himself "Hey come on Elfman, what's the matter?"

Elfman let out a sigh "My little sister has already perfected the Full Body Takeover, but I'm still having trouble with it. I suck as a wizard don't I?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot that you guys use the same magic."

"If I was as strong as here then I could turn into a bird and look for my parakeet."

"Your parakeet?"

"We used to be the best of friends until he flew away."

"Oh man, that's so sad."

"Yeah, you know I wish I had an egg to hatch like they do."

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**(Back in the present)**

"Aww, so that's Elfman, seriously?" Lucy couldn't help but aww over him "He was such a cute little guy back then."

"Oh yeah, he really hasn't changed much at all." Lisanna told her.

"...Seriously?"

"No, I'm just messing with you."

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**(Flashback again)**

Later, in Magnolia Southgate Park…

Lisanna blushed as she found Natsu staring at her "You know you're starting to make me kind of nervous."

"So the egg will hatch if we sit on it like this?" asked Natsu.

"Yeah that's right, though it does get kind of boring."

"Hey check it out, the egg started moving!" and then the egg started floating in the air a few feet off the ground, knocking Lisanna off it and freaking Natsu out rather thoroughly "What the heck is going on?" but then the egg stopped floating and landed in Natsu's arms "Huh, looks like the egg calmed down."

"Hey maybe the egg is trying to say something, like it wants you to warm it up instead."

"Yeah, you really think so?"

"Yeah, I mean doesn't it seem like it's happy now?"

"I don't know, hey egg do you want to be with me?" he was met with the sound of rustling coming from inside the egg "I think it said yes!"

"See, what did I tell you?"

"Right as always I guess."

"Hey I have an idea, why don't we build the egg a little house?"

"Like a secret base? I'm on it!"

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A few hours later…

"Yeah!" with a mighty yell, Natsu threw around a few rocks to create a makeshift house in the form of a small cave "So what do you think, isn't that the coolest house ever or what?"

"Uh… yeah, I think it's pretty awesome." Lisanna merely sweatdropped at the sight, only for it to collapse after a few minutes, freaking both of them out rather thoroughly.

"I guess awesomeness doesn't count for everything huh?"

"I think it's my turn now, just leave everything to me!" with a flash, Lisanna used her Animal Soul to turn into a gigantic bunny form.

"Holy crap, you're huge!"

"It's pretty cute, don't you think? Now just hang on for a second."

"This is so cool, all I'm good for is breaking stuff."

"Tada! Now I'm all done." it only took a few minutes for bunny Lisanna to build a new house made out of straw.

"Woah, nice job Lisanna."

"Thanks, now let's check out the inside."

"Uh… I don't think you're going to fit."

"I know that, just hold on a second." she promptly transformed back, and then they made their way inside with the egg.

"Woah, you know it's actually pretty roomy in here."

"Yeah, isn't it though? Anyway, why don't you go ahead and take a seat."

"Oh yeah sure." so he sat the egg down and then sat down himself.

"You know it's almost like we're a family now, isn't it?"

"Oh really, how do you figure?"

"Well there's you as the daddy and me as the mommy, and it's like the egg is our little baby that hasn't been born yet."

"...I guess that doesn't sound too bad." they both started blushing.

"How about we try and warm the egg together?"

"Uh, yeah okay." they both started cuddling with the egg.

"It's warm isn't it?"

"Yeah it is."

"Oh hey, I think it moved again."

"Oh wow, I hope it hatches soon."

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Laxus shot an uninterested and slightly unnerved over at Luke "A dragon's egg, seriously? You seriously have to be fucking with me right now."

"Do I look like an idiot to you?" Luke just laid down on a bench at one of the tables in the guild hall "I know enough about draconic reproduction from when Kaminari gave me "the talk" to know that that is _not _where dragons come from."

"And you expect me to buy that you and Natsu were actually raised by dragons?"

"I eat your lightning whenever you actually give enough of a shit to fight me. That is my answer to that statement."

"Fair point. So are you gonna try and fight me while I'm asleep again?"

"First of all, that's fighting dirty and that's not my thing. Second of all, yeah fuck it why the hell not? I don't have anything better to do."

"Not like you're gonna win though, just because you can eat lightning doesn't mean you can beat me."

"Please, as far as I'm concerned, the two of us are equals. At least until I can finally kick your ass."

"As if, try becoming an S class and then come back to me about being equals."

"...You know something Raging Dick, I might just hold you to that."

"GOD DAMMIT!" that was when Mira suddenly destroyed the table they were sitting in a blind rage.

"Speaking of raging, is it your time of the month again? For like the third time this month? By the way you've got blood dripping out of your shorts." he promptly blocked an enraged karate chop with his sword "No seriously, what's got you raging instead of sulking like literally every other goth girl in Fiore?"

"I knew something was wrong when she didn't stop by the guild today, so she's been hanging out with Natsu has she?"

"And the problem is?"

"She can't be friends with someone who's part of Team Erza!"

"...What the fuck do you think this is, the Twilight fanbase?"

"Shut up Team Erza footstool!"

"Bitch please, if anything I'm Team Laxus."

"Leave me out of this and meet me outside later you little shit." Laxus promptly walked away from the scene.

"Sad thing is he's one of the smarter members of the guild."

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Meanwhile, in the East Forest…

Lisanna followed Natsu to the area where he first found the egg "So this is where you first found the egg?"

Natsu nodded "Yeah that's right, it fell down from that tree when I punched it a lot of times and it hit me on the head."

"...I see."

"So what-" Natsu was cut off by the sound of stomping, causing them both to get freaked out upon seeing the creature causing it.

"_This monster is a vicious Gorian, also known as a Forest Vulcan. Incidentally, and mostly because of plot convenience, take a wild guess as to what its favorite food happens to be."_

"What does it want?"

"Egg." the Vulcan pointed at the egg "Give me the egg, give it to me boy."

"Yeah fat chance!" Natsu shoved the egg into Lisanna's embrace, and then he started tearing into the Vulcan "If you really want to eat something then how about my fist!"

"Oh wow, that kind of tickles."

"You asked for it!" and then he promptly got smacked across the face and sent flying all over the clearing until he hit the ground with a loud thud "Ow…"

Lisanna let out a horrified gasp "Natsu you're hurt, let me help you!"

"No way… just take the egg… and stay back…" Natsu pulled himself back to his feet and wiped the blood from his lips.

"But why would you put yourself through that?"

"Because… I'm the dad… and I have to… protect my family…"

"Natsu…"

"Besides, I'm just getting warmed up! I'll have you know that I'm the son of a dragon, there's no way in hell I'm going to lose to a monkey!" he charged at the Vulcan, only to get swatted aside by it over and over again.

"Natsu you're gonna get yourself killed, just hit him with your magic!"

"No way…" Natsu pulled himself back to his feet and spat out some blood "If this ape wants to fight with his fists then that's how I'm gonna beat him!"

"Oh really?" the Vulcan shot him a smirk "I'd love to see you try."

"You'd better stop yapping and start fighting already you stupid ape, I'm gonna paint you white and send you back to Mount Hakobe!"

"That's it, now you've made me mad!" the Vulcan dealt Natsu a solid kick to the face, sending him flying.

"I won't let you hurt my family, because I'm the dad!" Natsu rebounded off of the side of a tree and dealt the Vulcan a brutal headbutt, knocking it to the ground and knocking it out cold right on the spot.

Lisanna wasted no time in cheering for his victory "You did it, you really did it! You saved the day!"

"Yeah I know, pretty cool huh?" he gave a thumbs up, but ended up freaking her out because he looked like a wreck.

"What's wrong with your face?!"

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Unfortunately, after that it started raining.

"Come on we have to hurry, the egg is going to get cold!" Lisanna ushered Natsu towards the house they built, but stopped him once they were outside "Hold on, wait there for just a second okay?" she quickly rushed inside.

Natsu was left alone in the rain "I don't get it."

"Okay, you can come in!"

"I don't get it, but okay I guess." so he entered.

She was waiting for him, and I'm pretty sure this turned out to be the closest the two of them ever got to foreplay "Welcome back dear."

"Uh… wait what?"

"I said, welcome back dear."

"Oh, uh… Hi honey I'm home?" they both started blushing as he sat the egg down.

"Good thing we made it here, the rain isn't stopping." this was followed by the sound of a stomach growling.

"Uh, sorry about that."

"Hey I was wondering, you live alone, don't you?"

"Yeah."

"Then who cooks your meals for you?"

"I just eat at the guild."

"So then you have to pay?"

"Sure, why else would I work all the time?"

"Aw that's sad."

"You think so?"

"You know I could cook dinner for you sometime if you want."

"Woah really? I didn't know you could cook."

"I'm not as good as my sister though."

"Wait hold on a second, you're telling me that Mira actually cooks? You're talking about food right, and not little children?"

"Yeah that's right."

"Does Elfman cook too?"

"Yeah of course he does."

"...You know that actually makes a lot more sense for him, I think it suits him pretty well- Wait a second…"

"What's the matter?"

"Not a chance in hell!" Natsu suddenly snatched the egg away from her "You can forget it, I'm not giving you the egg! I bet it's Igneel's kid, I've gotta let it hatch so don't you dare try and fry it up!"

"Don't jump to conclusions! Now listen, I built this house so we could raise the egg together didn't I? I want it to hatch just as much as you do."

"Then why the hell did you scare me like that?" then he started cuddling the egg "Hey it's okay now, who's my little buddy? Yeah that's right, you are."

"You know, even if you get mad and pick fights all the time you still have a real sweet side to you, don't you? Just like Mira."

"...Come again?"

"You know it's been a lot of fun playing house with, do you think that maybe someday I could be your real wife?"

"What- What the heck got you thinking about that?"

"I just noticed how strong and brave you are, and you're good with kids too. As far as I'm concerned that's real husband material."

"Uh… you think so?" his face turned as red as his shirt.

"What are you getting so embarrassed about? I was just making a joke. Or was I?" she winked at him.

"You little- I know the word for you, that's what Gramps calls me! Nuvejile!"

"You mean juvenile? Jeez, you're one to talk."

"Hey that's not fair, why the heck do you have to be smarter than me?!" then a golden light from outside got their attention, and they walked outside to see a gorgeous sunset rising from beyond the horizon.

"Oh wow, it's so pretty."

"Yeah."

"It would be really nice if we could stay like this forever, don't you think?"

"Yeah…" they made their way back inside after a few minutes, and they noticed the egg beginning to shake "Hey check it out, I think the egg is moving again."

"Uh huh."

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What neither of them noticed that night while there were sleeping with the egg was that a certain someone made their way inside the hut and moved towards the egg…

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The next morning…

Natsu's screams were more than enough to alert Lisanna that something was wrong "The egg is gone, someone stole the egg!"

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And that led to this…

"Alright, who was it?!" Natsu promptly rounded on everyone else in the guild, who all just so happened to be at the guildhall at the same time for plot convenience "Alright, which one you wise guys stole our egg?!"

"As if." Gray let out a scoff "We don't want your stupid egg."

"I don't know anything about it." Cana waved them off "Also Gray, your clothes."

"Crap!"

Natsu wasted no time and rounded on everyone else "Laxus don't lie to me, it was you wasn't it?!"

"As if." Laxus let out a scoff.

"Luke just fess up, I know it was you!"

"Check back after lunch." Luke told him flatly.

"Okay Erza just come out with it already!"

"Now now let's not jump to conclusions." Erza told him "It wasn't me."

Lisanna looked over at Mira "What about you Mira, have you seen the egg?"

"Nope, fraid not." Mira shot a wicked smirk over at Natsu "Just go ahead and fess up pinky, you ate the egg didn't you?"

"What?!" Natsu's body started radiating flames from his rage "Oh that's it you gotchis she beast, you're so going down!"

"Yeah, well I say bring it on squirt! I'll skin you alive you little shit!" they started wrestling with each other, which somehow ended up dragging Gray and Erza into it as well.

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Macao, Wakaba and Makrov just observed the chaos unfolding from where they were all seated at the bar "Well it looks like they're at it again, honestly what the hell are we going to do with these kids? I hate to think what the guild is going to be like in the next few years."

"Don't worry about it too much." Makarov waved him off "They only fight because they acknowledge the strength of each other, and when they see themselves in one another it makes them strive to improve. To put it in simple terms, there's really nothing to worry about."

"So he says until they bring down the entire guild hall." Luke muttered from where he was munching away on a sandwich further down the bar.

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A battered and bruised Natsu was promptly pulled away from Mira by Erza, and he nursed one of the bruises that now adorned his face "Why are you being such a jerk? I just want my egg back!"

Mira shot him a smirk "Aw look at you crying, it's so adorable it makes me wanna vomit."

"I'm not crying!"

"Mira you have to quit teasing him about it." Erza shot a glare at Mira, then turned to Natsu to try and calm him down in her own special way "Now would you please stop crying?"

"I'm gonna make you cry!"

"For crying out loud Mira, just hurry up and give him the egg back already!"

"I told you I don't have the thing!" Mira promptly rounded on her "If anything it looks like you ate it Porky!"

"What did you just call me?!"

"I saw you eyeing that thing!"

"Poor egg…" Lisanna wiped away a few tears.

That is, until Cana felt a certain realization dawn on her "You know Elfman told me about how jealous he was of your egg the other day."

"What?!"

"What?!" Natsu promptly rounded on her "You mean Elfman is the one who ate it?!"

"But he would never do something like that!"

"Where is he?!"

"Hey, sorry about that you guys." that was when Elfman showed up with the egg in hand.

"It was you all along wasn't it, you're the one who stole our egg!"

"I didn't mean to steal it or anything, it's just that you toss and turn so much in your sleep that I was afraid you wouldn't keep the egg warm enough."

"Wait a second… so it's okay?"

"I'm not very good with using magic but I stuck close to it all night, and I kept it warm with my body heat."

"Oh I get it now, you were just taking care of the egg. Thanks a ton Elfman, you really are a real man!"

Mira took another chance to round on Erza "And you just blamed everything on me, isn't that just typical of you?"

"Well of course I did." Erza let out a scoff "That's because things are usually your fault."

"Like hell it is you little-" their argument was cut short when the egg started to crack apart, drawing the attention of everyone else in the guild hall.

"Holy crap, it's hatching!" Natsu and Lisanna quickly pushed through the crowd towards the egg.

In mere moments the egg hatched, and from it burst a tiny blue cat with wings "Aye!"

"Holy crap it has wings, is it a bird?"

"No it's a cat, a blue cat." Lisanna told him.

"Huh, a cat with wings. Didn't see that coming." Luke handed Laxus a few bills "So how the fuck did you?"

"Aw…"

The cat landed on top of Natsu's head and saluted "Aye!"

"He's just so cute!"

Elfman glanced over to see a bird land on his shoulder, and his face lit up as a result "Oh my gosh it's my parakeet, my best friend is back! Hey there little buddy, where have you been all this time?"

Mira just let out a scoff from afar "Yeah as if, his parakeet was red."

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Lisanna pulled Natsu away from the crowd "Do you see that? A minute ago everyone here was all worked up and fighting, and now they're all happy and getting along. He's almost like a little bluebird of happiness isn't he?"

"Happiness huh?" Natsu thought for a moment, then he grinned "Well if that's the case then I guess I'll just have to name him Happy."

"Aye!" Happy cheered at his new name.

"Yeah that's right, welcome to Fairy Tail Happy the dragon!"

"You realize that's not a dragon." Luke pointed out dryly.

"Oh well." Reedus gave a shrug from afar "I might as well paint him as one anyway."

**(End incredibly lengthy flashback)**

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"So that's how it went down." Lucy sat the picture down "That was a totally cute story, I can't imagine people like them fighting."

"Well people fighting with each other is a part of life." Lisanna gave her a smile "The closer two people are to each other, the more they fight, it's fine really."

That was when Makarov poked his head into the room "Hey Lisanna, you think you could give me a hand for a second?"

"Of course. Well I'll see you later Lucy." and so she rushed off with Makarov.

Now left alone, Lucy studied the old painting "Let's see, there's Erza, Gray, Lisanna, Natsu, and those must be Cana and Luke. I'm guessing that's Laxus, and that other girl in the goth clothes must be Mira. Well that's weird, if she's Elfman and Lisanna's big sister then how come I haven't met her yet? I wonder where she is."

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Meanwhile, with a certain pink haired moron…

Natsu sat overlooking a lake in the East Forest, his mind drifting with the wind '_I should probably go get him soon, she doesn't want us to fight.'_

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"Don't tell me you two were fighting again."

Natsu glanced up to see Lisanna standing before him "Oh hey Lisanna, I'm glad you're back."

"Natsu ate my whole fish!" was Happy's instant accusation "He didn't even ask me first, he just chomped down the whole thing!"

"Oh come on, whenever I eat any fish you say it's yours."

Lisanna let out a sigh "Oh come on Natsu, you're the dad you know."

"What?"

"You know that means you have to take good care of your wife and your son."

"For crying out loud, that was years ago!"

"Hey, what are you guys talking about?" asked Happy.

"What do you- I- None of your business!"

"Hey come on." Lisanna shot them a small smile "It's normal for families to have a fight every once in awhile, what's really important is that you make up with each other. It doesn't matter what happens, Happy is still our son."

"Oh for the love of-"

"This is bad." Happy muttered "I think Lisanna is going psycho on us."

"Hey come on man, don't talk like that!"

"Oh, then should I talk like this?" he busted out a thick Southern accent.

"You know that's not what I meant!"

Lisanna gave a small giggle "Juvenile as ever I see."

"Just stop picking on me dammit!"

**(End flashback)**

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Natsu let out a sigh as he started walking his way down towards the lake '_Yeah, it seems like I don't really have any other choice. I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to her, even if it's just something like her being upset about something stupid. I made a promise…'_

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**(Flashback- Natsu's promise)**

Natsu laid down a few flowers on top of a gravestone "I'm no da Vinci, whoever the hell that might be, but it could be worse I guess."

Happy looked up at Natsu "Hey Natsu, why did you make a grave for Mira here when there's already one at the church cemetery?"

"Because this is one of Lisanna's favorite places, she loves to sit and watch the sunset just like when we were kids before you were born. Or hatched. Whatever. The point is, I think she would want her big sister to be able to watch them too. As long as this is here, she'll never be able to miss a single one."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. So is Lisanna…?"

"She still won't even talk to any of us. I'll keep my promise though, I'll always find her no matter where she may go."

"But you're not going to talk to her?"

"Not yet. Before I do,she needs to remember what she used to say. How can she smile if she can't even remember that much?"

"What do you mean?"

"No matter what happened in the past, Lisanna always had a smile on her face that could brighten even the darkest of days. Up until now, she never once lost her smile. Even in the darkest of days, she would say that whenever you're feeling sad, that's when you need to smile the most. So wipe away the tears, show us that smile that keeps us going." he looked back behind him "You know exactly what I'm talking about, don't you Lisanna?"

Sure enough, Lisanna was standing a few feet away, tears streaming down her face without showing any sign of stopping "Natsu… I…"

"It's okay, you don't need to say anything." Natsu slowly wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug and let her quietly sob into his shoulder "You always said that whenever you're sad, that's when you need to smile the most. That smile is what's always kept me going. I promise you, no matter what happens, I'll make sure that smile never leaves your face again, no matter what."

**(End flashback)**

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Natsu stopped walking as he reached the lake and let out a sigh '_Yeah I guess it's official, I don't really have a choice right now.'_

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Happy was angrily fishing in a different part of the lake "This is the last straw, dad or no dad I'm never going to speak to Natsu again!"

"Hey Happy." that was when Natsu came up behind him.

"I can't hear you!"

"Well that's a damn shame, after all even I can't eat all of this by myself."

Happy looked back to see that Natsu was carrying a huge pile of fish overhead, and he could only look on in awe "Woah…"

"So what do you think, are you Happy now?"

"Uh… Of course I am, who else would I be?"

"I don't know, a comedian with a bad accent?"

"Hey, you swore you would never tell anyone about that!"

"Who is there to tell, we're the only ones here."

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**(Now let's talk about the main character in this story, Luke, and his love interest, Cana)**

Dark and rainy days such as this one were considerably rare in a city like Magnolia, but in the East Forest outside of the city limits, there lived a rather disreputable old woman who lives in a tree and hated humans. Yes I'm talking about Porlyusica, and she wasn't exactly thrilled about having a visitor "If I give you what you want then will you just leave?"

Her visitor was none other than Juvia, doing her usual thing regarding Gray "Yes of course, as soon as I have what I need. Drip drip drop."

"So you just want me to give you a potion that will make that idiot notice you? I usually don't tailor my concoctions to such specific needs."

"Please ma'am, if he would gaze with passion in his eyes if only once then that would be more than enough for me."

"So be it, I think I have something that should work for you." Porlyusica pulled out a bottle from a nearby cabinet "Go ahead and use this, it will do exactly what you just asked of me."

"What is it?"

"This will ensure that your man buns with a desire for only the first person he sees."

"What do you wish for me to pay you?"

"You and the rest of the annoying vermin in your guild leaving me the hell alone is more than enough for me. It's 100% effective if that helps to get you to leave."

"100%, burning with desire? I'll take the entire bottle ma'am. Drip drip drop."

"Yes yes nice doing business with you, now get out."

"Of course." and so Juvia took her leave into the storm covered skies.

Of course no one knew this at the time, but the suspicious and rather unnerving potion Juvia had just received from Porlyusica on this rainy day without any kind of negotiation whatsoever would be the key instrument that would bring Fairy Tail to the very brink of destruction, but in a way that one would only see in Fairy Tail.

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The rain was pouring down from the skies above, and even extended as far out as Mount Ivor, where two members of the guild were in the middle of training.

"**Dragon Sword Style: Iron Hammer!" **Luke drove his dragon scale sword, which will now be referred to as Raiden, into the ground and unleashed a quick surge of lightning.

"**Beast Arm: Iron Bull!" **Elfman leapt high into the air to avoid the attack, his arm covering itself in a metal armor, and he charged downwards and hurled his fist forward.

"**Lightning Dragon TALON!" **Luke cranked his neck to the side to dodge the attack and promptly dealt Elfman a lightning enhanced kick to the torso, sending him tumbling backwards a great distance "It doesn't matter how powerful your attack is if you lack the necessary speed you need to hit your opponent, get back up and try again. We're gonna keep going until you can land a solid blow on me."

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The guild hall was as lively as ever, even with a storm raging outside.

Cana let out a sigh as she took a sip from her mug and laid her head against the bar "I feel so bored right now."

"Why don't you just go on a job?" asked Bolt.

"Why bother, there's nothing good up there and it's like a typhoon out there. Besides Luke is off training with Elfman up at Mount Ivor, it would just be boring going on my own."

"Then just team up with someone else, blondie could probably use some help with paying her rent. Again."

"I doubt she would want to after the Daybreak fiasco, besides Luke and I are a team and we should stick together."

"Yeah we get it, you guys have the hots for each other and you feel like you should stick together because you haven't had any alone time since he came back to the guild about 4 months ago. I mean the two of you are basically a couple."

"Oh come on, it's not like that and you know it." and yet the fact that she was blushing said otherwise.

"Your face is red."

"I'm drunk."

"It's 10:30 in the morning."

"What's your point?"

"Look, the fact is that you guys would probably already be shacking up if we hadn't left to train when we did. You've got the hots for him, just admit it."

"...You're one seriously fucked up cat."

"You're just figuring that out now?"

"Look, even if I did admit to having feelings for Luke, which I'm not, the last thing any of us need is for us to become the equivalent of a married couple in their 90's. If we want to see something like that, then we could just look at Natsu and Lisanna. Besides, do you really want your partner to end up like that?" she jerked a thumb back at where Natsu was doing… well whatever the hell he was doing in that episode.

"Yeah well you know the difference? Luke isn't an idiot whose magic is burning what few brain cells he has into a lump of charcoal. Besides, well me and everyone else in the guild have a pool on it, so don't go screwing anything up now. Got it?"

"Duly noted, now leave me alone so I can drink in peace."

"Natsu are you kidding me?!" Erza on the other hand rounded on Natsu "What the hell is wrong with you, did your powers finally burn that brain of yours into a lump of charcoal?!"

"Hey don't be such a killjoy!" Natsu barely spared her a glance "It's important to take a break every now and then, isn't that right Happy?"

"Aye sir!" Happy promptly saluted him as they continued dancing "This sure feels great doesn't it!"

"And now I think it's time for the finale."

"Aye!"

"Chika chika chika, chika chika chika, chika chika chika!"

What no one noticed amongst all of the usual weirdness and insanity was that a certain Juvia was stalking Gray from afar with suspicious motives in mind '_My beloved Gray, all I ask for is one glance filled to the brim with passion. Oh my heart is beating so fast, I'm shaking from head to toe just thinking about it, oh the anticipation!'_

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Meanwhile, with Luke and Elfman…

The rain continued pouring down over Mount Ivor.

Elfman pulled himself out of the rubble and spat out some blood, panting heavily but still ready to fight "I'm not done… not by a long shot… I'll protect my sister… I'll protect Fairy Tail… I have to be a real man…"

Luke studied his gaze for a moment, then let out a sigh "That's what I was expecting to see from you, all you're doing is psyching yourself up. Just telling yourself that you have to come out on top isn't the same as training, you're just wasting your mental energy on something completely pointless. You need to face the reality of the situation and actually put in the real effort here. If you don't have what it takes to tap into your true power then all of the motivation in the world will be enough to protect Lisanna or the guild, much less will you be able to call yourself a real man."

Elfman froze in place, his eyes glued to the ground.

"Having things or people that you have to protect can act as good motivation, but when your emotions dominate they can cloud your judgement and just as quickly end up doing more harm than good. You want your emotions to complement your strength not weigh it down, if you let your desire to win turn into desperation and your fear clouds your focus then you won't be able to assess the fight logically, and as a result you'll misjudge the capabilities of your opponent and that will lead to your inevitable defeat."

Elfman gritted his teeth and clenched his fists tightly to the point where they were bleeding profusely "So that's it… that's what I've been doing wrong… Dammit!"

"Remember that there's no such thing as a fight that you can't lose, if you lose then not only will you die, but Lisanna might end up dying as well. That's a fact that you have to first accept and come to terms with it, only then will you be able to prevail."

"Alright… I understand."

"You have what it takes to do this Elfman, I know this for a fact and so does everyone else in the guild. I believe in you, now you have to believe in yourself."

"Luke… thank you, I promise I'm not going to let you down."

"Yeah well tell me that again after you let it sink in, I think that's enough training for today, and not just because the mountain is starting to flood. Anyway let's head back to the guild and grab some lunch."

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Cana was making her way through the halls of the Fairy Hills dormitory, brooding over her previous conversation with Bolt "Sometimes I just want to punch that cat's lights out, why can't he just take his crap and take it out on someone else for once? Sure Luke is a close friend, and he's one of the only people in the guild who know about _that, _but there's no way in hell the two of us are a couple." she let out a sigh as she opened the door "Well at least I'm home- What the hell dude?"

As it turns out, Luke was sitting on her couch calmly reading a book "Hey, what's up?"

"You know you shouldn't break into people's houses like that, for all you know I could've been walking around in here naked."

"First of all, you wouldn't mind even if you were naked when I came in. Second of all, you can't seriously talk about breaking into people's houses with a straight face."

"...Yeah okay fair enough." she let out a light chuckle "So what are you doing in my room anyway?"

"Two reasons. First, it's raining like hell out there. Second, there was something that I needed to talk to you about."

"Is it something about how you've been training Elfman, or is it something about those new Dragon Slayer spells you've been working on?"

"Nope, nothing related to training."

"So then why else would you break into my room-" she froze for a few seconds as she thought about what Bolt said to her, but she quickly pushed those thoughts out of her mind to the best of her ability, though her cheeks were fairly red still "So you mind telling me what you want and getting out? I was going to take a shower."

"Just let me say what I need to say and then I'll leave, okay?"

"No seriously, just get out already okay?"

"...Was it something I said?" he was promptly pushed towards her window "You don't even want me to use the door?"

"Never cared about that before, why would I start now?"

"Fair enough, but seriously was it something I said?"

"Nothing like that, I just… I just want to be alone right now."

"...Well if you're sure, I guess we could just talk later then. See ya." and so he calmly leapt out the window into the open rainstorm covering the city.

Cana found herself alone in her room, her facing having turned a deep shade of red '_What the heck was that, why do I feel so weird? I haven't felt anything like this in almost 2 years. Don't tell me…'_

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The next day came, the storm had disappeared and the sun was once again shining over the skies of Magnolia.

Cana was doing what she always did: drinking a mug of booze at the bar, and she let out a sigh of boredom '_So what am I going to do today?'_

"Hey Cana." that was when Luke sat down next to her with a mug of booze in hand, catching her off guard "What's up, you look kind of shaken. You okay?"

"Yeah yeah I'm fine, just don't drape yourself over me like that."

"You mean like how you used to do to me and everyone else in the guild?"

"Well to be fair I'm usually somewhat drunk whenever I do that." Cana looked away and tried to suppress her blushing '_What the hell do I do? It doesn't make sense, I can't get these thoughts out of my head. I've been getting these stupid thoughts since Bolt put them in my head yesterday, and… and I haven't felt anything like them in almost two years. Since not before he left for more than a year… What the heck does this mean?'_

"Word of warning, Natsu and Gray are trying to strangle each other again."

"Duly noted."

Of course, as per usual, Juvia was watching Gray from afar with hearts in her eyes '_Oh my beloved Gray, yesterday I felt so nervous that I was barely even able to move, but today I have more than enough courage to go through with my plan. From what Porlyusica told me, all I have to do in order for this potion to take effect is blow the bubbles right towards the man that I desire and make sure he inhales them. If I'm successful then the target will become aware of the feelings that dwell deep within my heart, provided that they are strong enough. My dearest sweet beloved Gray, the less that you notice my blazing heart the brighter the flames of my love continue to burn with passion for you, and whenever I'm near you I'm consumed by lustful temptation. But things are about to chance, one taste of this potion and you will at long last be mine. Our two hearts will become as one, from this day forward we shall be sweethearts forever!'_

"Yeah, as fun as it is to watch the two of strangle each other, which is pretty much the same thing every single day, I have something else to take care of so I'll see you guys later." on that dry note, Luke promptly took his leave.

Natsu broke off from his argument with Gray and looked over at Lisanna "Yeah it's official, they're gonna hook up."

Lisanna nodded and giggled slightly "Yeah probably, but you don't want to blurt it out like that you know."

"Yes I do."

"Okay let me rephrase that, I don't want you to blurt it out like that."

Cana was once again sitting alone at the bar, and she let out a sigh at the conversation that she was overhearing due to it only being a few feet away '_Great just what I need, rumors to start spreading about my love life of all things. I mean it's not like I hate Luke or anything, really it's anything but, but then again I've never gone out with a guy super serious or anything like that before, but I don't know if we'd actually be compatible. Besides, I can't waste any time worrying about a relationship when I still have __**that **__to deal with when the S-class trials roll around. Oh that's just perfect, now I have these stupid thoughts of him looking like some kind of kinght in shining armor on a fiery steed like it says in that song, why the hell do I have crazy thoughts like these running through my head?'_

"Hey Cana are you sure you're okay?"

"Huh?" Cana looked over to see Luke looking at her with concern, and she forced herself not to blush "Yeah I'm fine, seriously."

"Just making sure, but anyway do you think you could meet me later tonight? There's actually something I've been wanting to talk to you about."

"Uh…"

"So anyway just meet me by the Sola Tree in the middle of South Gate Park."

"I can do that, but can you tell me what the heck all of this is about?"

"All I can and should say right now is that it's important, just make sure that you come alone tonight." he looked away, his cheeks a slight tinge of pink.

'_Hold on a second, is he blushing? Oh my god he is, he's actually blushing. _You know what I'm feeling kind of hungover, I'm just gonna head back to my dorm for the time being. I'll see you in the park later tonight."

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What no one else noticed was that Juvia was finally ready to make her move '_I'm here for you my love, and at last I'm ready for you to meet me with your passionate gaze!' _she blew a few of the bubbles in Gray's direction, only for them to miss and for Makarov to end up inhaling them instead, causing him to sneeze '_Okay a minor setback, now let's try this again.' _she blew a few more bubbles, only for those to miss him as well and for several others in the guild hall (most notably Macao, Wakaba, the Thunder Legion, Team Shadow Gear and several others) to end up inhaling them instead, much to her frustration '_Oh my darling, why must you keep moving? At this rate everyone in the guild will end up burning with desire for me except for you! Wow, that's actually quite the disturbing thought. Gray my love, this time you will be mine!' _seizing her chance, she blew a large quantity of bubbles into Gray's mouth while he was in the middle of yawning.

Gray stopped himself mid yawn and blinked a few times, and his face ended up turning red out of nowhere "Woah."

'_Yes I did it, now my love will notice me!'_

"Woah, what's this strange sensation I'm feeling?" Gray started slowly walking forward, much to her delight.

'_This is the moment I've been waiting for, at long last my beloved Gray will gaze into my eyes with such passion and speak those sweet words that I long to hear!'_

But that was when things got really weird, as in Gray walked right past Juvia and set his sights on his actual intended target, that being Happy, a purple glow surrounding Gray's body "Hey you stupid cat."

"Hm?" Happy looked up from where he was munching on a fish.

"You've got a hell of a lot of nerve, you're always flying around free as a bird and trying to show me up!"

"Wait what?"

"I'm incredibly strong but I can't fly, and you're pathetically weak but you can, so as far as I'm concerned that makes us even! Listen up, as of today you are my rival!"

Natsu and Gajeel looked up from where they were arguing over something stupid at the sound of the declaration Gray had made "What the hell is has he been smoking?"

"Come on you smug little bastard, let me see what you've got!"

"He's totally ignoring me and he's trying to fight Happy of all people? Yeah it's official, he's gone totally insane."

Juvia, of course, totally had her priorities straight "But I don't get it, my beloved Gray is supposed to be noticing me!" she looked around and quickly realized that Gray wasn't the only one who had gone insane because of her potion.

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Macao and Wakaba were now at each other's throats because of the potion "So do you want to tell me how much money you made last month?"

Wakaba let out a scoff "Oh get real, I bet it's more money than you make in a year."

"You only wish you could make as much money as I do."

"Give me a break man, everyone knows I'm worth a hell of a lot more than you."

"Remind me again why I waste my time hanging out with you."

"It's because you want to keep tabs on your competition don't you?"

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Makarov's self-proclaimed rival was probably the strangest out of all of them: an actual inanimate barrel of alcohol that he was verbally tearing into "I drink you alcohol, under no circumstances will I allow you to drink me! Now listen you, I'm more than strong enough to kick your well-fermented hide! We were destined by fate to be rivals!"

Natsu and Gajeel only sweatdropped at the sight "So Gramps, are you talking about that barrel or all of alcohol itself?"

"It's kind of weird." Gajeel muttered.

"The fact that everyone in the guild lost what little shit they had, or the fact that them losing it makes trying to beat the crap out of each other a lot less appealing."

"Yes."

"...Yeah okay fair enough."

"You think you can drink me?! I'll never let that happen!" Makarov started gulping down every drop of alcohol in the barrel in a comical fashion.

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Forgetting what I just said in the scene above, Erza's self-proclaimed rival was just as strange as the one that Makarov had claimed, as in hers was a literal inanimate pillar "Curse you wretched pillar, why must you block my path and shatter my dreams of passing through here without hindrance?! Answer me scoundrel or I shall smite you! Is your silence your way of challenging me to fight you to the death?! So be it then, from the moment I met you I knew we were destined to be rivals!"

Natsu let out a low whistle "Hot damn, and I thought Gramps had a fucked up thing going with the barrel of booze. It's official, Erza can be as crazy as she is terrifying."

"Well the alcohol thing kind of made sense." Gajeel pointed out.

"Yeah but the pillar is just stupid."

"Oh Natsu~" a sickeningly sweet and absolutely terrifying voice sounded from behind him all of a sudden.

Feeling a chill go down his spine with sweat dripping down the side of his face, Natsu slowly turned around and was met with the face of death "Uh… Lisanna?"

Sure enough, Lisanna was standing between him and Gajeel, a purple glow surrounding body, and she had flashed into one of her Animal Soul forms, consisting of a pair of wings and a pair of incredibly sharp talons where her feet should be, and the smile she shot in Natsu's direction was a mix of sweet and terrifying, both sweet because of her nature and terrifying because of the ominous shadow that covered her eyes "Natsu, I think it's time the two of us had a long overdue talk about your cursing habits. It sets a bad example for our son, I'm sure you agree with me don't you my dearest hubby?" every word she spoke was more terrifying than the last.

"...Hey Gajeel, if I don't make it out of this alive just take care of my cat for me okay?" he received no response "Gajeel?" he looked over at the empty space where Gajeel had once been standing "You traitorous son of a mother-" and then everything went black for him.

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Happy was flying around the guild hall in terror and confusion "I'm so confused, I don't have any idea what the heck is going on! Natsu where are you?!"

"I've been looking for you cat!" Gray suddenly popped up in front of him "I say bring it the hell on!"

"Uh…"

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About 5 minutes later…

Gray promptly relocated himself and Happy to the roof of the guild hall in order to conduct a certain experiment "Just go ahead and watch me you stupid flying cat, I'm gonna fly farther and faster than you could ever dream of."

"You can't do this, it's way too dangerous!" Happy protested.

"Shut the hell up, I can fly no problem. Anything that you can do I can do 100 times better than you can! Do you hear me cat, I'll take you down!"

"This stinks, why the heck is everyone going crazy?!"

Juvia watched the two of them from afar in clear concern '_Miss Porlyusica never said anything about there being a time delay before the potion takes effect.'_

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"_Before any of our readers get too confused, I think an explanation is in order."_

Porlyusica looked through an old cabinet in her home and let out a scoff '_So I just ended up giving that girl was that old mixture of banned potions I had on hand from Mana-Con a few months ago. I have no idea what it's going to do to the poor soul she uses it on, but at least it gets her out of my hair.'_

"_Well there you have your explanation, now what will happen to our friends in Fairy Tail when everything settles down?"_

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Meanwhile, in the Fairy Hills dorm…

Cana lay on the couch in her dorm room, staring up at the ceiling as her thoughts continued to drift to her previous encounters with Luke '_This is getting ridiculous, why the hell am I letting myself get worked up like this? Luke just said that he wants to meet me later in South Gate Park and he wants me to come alone, sure with any other guy that would probably mean he would try and confess that he's in love with me, but I think it's safe to say that Luke isn't like every other guy out there. He already made it clear that he's not a perv into bikini babes or anything, which can't be said for any of the other guys in the guild. Really it's for the best, even if I did have any feelings like that for him, which I don't, admitting that I do would just make things way too awkward since we see each other almost all the time.' _she stood up and looked at herself in the mirror, and she smirked '_Yeah it's official, I've got the kind of body that only girls in anime can pull off right- Wait what the hell am I thinking, I'm not trying to seduce the guy!'_

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The scene in the guild hall was still one of total chaos, but the funny kind.

"Hey old man!" Bolt promptly rounded on Makarov in the middle of the chaos "I say we get a challenge going, I wanna see who can come the closest to being Cana in a drinking contest!"

"Silence cat!" Makarov rounded on Bolt "You aren't worthy of calling yourself my rival, my enemy is alcohol itself!"

"There's no way in hell you'll beat me!" they both started drinking rapidly in a comical fashion, which was pretty much drowned out by the rest of the chaos.

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At the same time, Freed and the rest of the Thunder Legion had their own thing going on with another three man team "Three against three is it? Not that it makes any difference, you may possess the same numbers as we do but our skills are clearly superior to yours."

The aforementioned other three man team was actually Levy and Team Shadow Gear "What kind of trash are you talking to us? Everyone knows that Shadow Gear is the strongest three man team, you guys want us to prove it to you?"

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Elfman had his own problems around this time "Why the hell doesn't this guild have any other real men in its ranks, why can't I find a worthy rival?! This situation is making me sad, such violent sadness!"

Gajeel just observed the chaos from where he was munching on a sandwich '_So what exactly is he looking for, a fight or a man? Either way I'm not sure I'm gonna like the answer, so I'm just going to tune out that one.'_

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Macao and Wakaba were still going at it from a more financial standpoint "So are you almost done with tallying up your numbers?"

"Yeah you bet your ass." Wakaba shot him a smirk "I was done a hell of a long time ago you old slowpoke, I've just been waiting on you. It looks to me like I'm better than you in just about every way."

"Not a chance in hell buddy, we'll just have to see about that."

"Okay then, when I say go."

"Bring it on, last month I earned exactly… Ready, GO!"

"150,000!"

"150,000!"

"What the hell, we made the same amount?!"

"Then we'll have to go by the month before!"

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"So come then, if you're ready to take us on!" Freed and the Thunder Legion wasted no time in posing like the Ginyu Force "Our Thunder Legion against your Shadow Gear, let's find out once and for all who the best three man team is in all of Fairy Tail!"

"I say bring it on!" Levy and the others did their own Ginyu Force-esque poses in response to the challenge "I hope you won't be too disappointed after we wipe the floor with you!"

"How dare you!"

"You have no idea who you're messing with!"

Gajeel just sweatdropped at the sight '_And now they're posing like Power Rangers. Yeah that sounds about right.'_

"What the heck is going on here?"

Gajeel looked up to see Lucy making her way into the guild hall "Apparently shit is getting crazier than normal for these psychopaths, so where the hell have you been all day?"

"Dealing with some stuff with my dad up in Acalypha, apparently he went bankrupt and he lost everything, so now he's going to work at an old merchant guild up there."

"And you actually give a shit? I figured you wouldn't want anything to do with him after what happened with Phantom."

"I didn't think I would either, but yesterday he showed up in town and we ended up talking, we got into a fight after he asked to borrow money from me to get for some travel expenses."

"How much?"

"100,000 Jewel."

"...I think I'm starting to see why he went broke, his monetary value must suck. So why did you end up going?"

"I heard something about the guild up there getting attacked by some dark guild, I got worried so I rushed up there to help him. Virgo got me inside and I used Cancer and Sagittarius to defeat the dark guild, but once everything calmed down _that _was when I realized that my dad never even made it into town. He walked there because he didn't have any money."

"That's cartoony levels of ironic."

"Tell me about it. I was gonna leave right away, but then he apologized and we started talking a little bit. I don't remember exactly what either of us said, but I think we both parted ways on better terms than when we started."

"Not hard considering the kind of crap he pulled on this guild in the past."

"He wasn't always like that, it only started after my mother passed away. But now, maybe he's starting to be like the dad I knew when I was a little kid again."

"Gotta start somewhere I guess, at least you got away from all of this crap. Exhibit A." he jerked a thumb in a certain direction.

"**Requip: Heaven's Wheel!" **Erza requipped into her Heaven's Wheel Armor and started stabbing at the targeted pillar with a barrage of swords.

"The sad thing is I don't think that's out of the ordinary for her."

"Be silent, heathen, this vile pillar insists on standing in my way! I need to go further inside and yet it blocks my path, and then it secretly mocks me when I have to take the time to walk around it! It's unrelenting in its obstruction of my course, what other reason would it have to do that if it wasn't my greatest rival?!"

"...Yeah, on one hand she's finally taken a few too many blows to the head. On the other hand, that thing might be the only opponent as stubborn as she is."

"Sad thing is that's probably true." Lucy muttered "So where's everyone else right now?"

"Well Thunderclap and the card chick are off doing their own thing, and I think the Animal Soul girl went and dragged Salamander into the Shadow Realm. He won't be missed, not by me at least."

"THAT'S IT! **REQUIP: PURGATORY ARMOR!" **in her rage, Erza promptly requipped into her Purgatory Armor.

"And now that's about to happen I guess."

"WHERE THE HELL IS MY RIVAL?!" Elfman promptly flashed into his Full Body Takeover form in his rage "**I have to find a real man to prove my superiority to!"**

"Why don't you see if you can find him by joining Salamander in the Shadow Realm? **Iron Dragon Club!" **Gajeel promptly dealt Elfman an iron club to the face, knocking him out cold on the spot "I swear to Zeref, the insanity in this place is infectious."

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Meanwhile, on the roof of the guild hall…

Happy was still trying to talk Gray out of attempting to take flight "Please Gray you have to listen to me, this isn't going to work!"

"Shut your stupid flying face!" Gray promptly rounded on him "There's no way in hell I'm gonna let you talk your way out of this one!"

Juvia cringed at what she was seeing from her hiding place '_No this isn't working, maybe he needs more of the potion.' _she blew more bubbles into his mouth.

"Alright now it's time to do this Happy, follow me if you can-" Gray let out a weak cough as he unknowingly swallowed the bubbles, and then he suddenly unleashed a comically massive surge of purple energy along with a furious roar.

Happy was pretty freaked out by what he was seeing "Woah, what the heck is happening to him?!"

"Now I'm even more fired up!"

"And why the heck is he acting like Natsu all of a sudden?!"

"Now watch me fly, I'm going to fly so just watch me! Behold me magnificence, for I have become the wind!" taking a running start, Gray bolted down the side of the guild hall and out onto the open water, and I'm pretty sure you can imagine how that turned out.

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Nightfall came.

Cana slowly and somewhat nervously made her way through the streets of Magnolia, until she eventually reached the Sola Tree in the middle of South Gate park '_Okay girl you have to keep it together, you've got this. You have nothing to be nervous about, it's not like you're dealing with some random guy. It's Luke. Oh crap, it's Luke.'_

Sure enough, Luke was standing beneath the tree waiting for her with a shovel hanging over his shoulder, and he smiled when he saw her "Hey, I was wondering when you would come."

"Uh yeah, sorry just traffic and… stuff. So why did you want me to meet you out here in the middle of the night?"

"I'll give you a hint: Three years."

"I… wait what?"

"Well it hasn't been three years exactly, but it's around the time I made a promise to both you and myself." Luke thrusted the shovel into the ground and dug away for a moment, and when he was done he pulled out a small metal box, which he opened to reveal a map, several photographs and a dust covered camera "Remember these?"

Cana blinked, and then the realization dawned on her "Oh yeah, back when you first became an S class you used to go on jobs all the time and come back with a bunch of pictures."

"What can I say, I like travelling and I enjoy taking pictures of the new things I see whenver I go on jobs."

"They're still beautiful."

"Apparently the people in Sorcerer Weekly thought so too, enough to the point where they asked me to be a part time photographer for them."

"That sounds pretty cool."

"Yeah, I guess but it's not all it's cracked up to be. Travelling and seeing new sights can be cool and all but I never stopped thinking about you or any of the others back at the guild. I guess there are times in life when you have to travel the world to figure out where it is you belong."

"That sounds pretty deep."

"Well I'm like an onion and an ogre, I have a lot of layers."

"...Shrek reference?"

"Yep."

"Nice, but why are you digging it up now?"

"Well…" Luke let out a sigh "Do you remember what I said after I found you passed out in that alleyway a few years back after I became an S-class wizard?"

"Oh yeah…"

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**(Flashback- After the S-class trials of X780)**

A 15 year old Luke was calmly walking through the streets of Magnolia, with Bolt riding on his shoulder as snow began descending on the city from above "I can't believe it actually happened, I got to be a full fledged S class wizard."

"Looks like someone's aiming for the top." Bolt commented while munching on what looked like a chicken wing.

"Like a wise anime character once said, there's a huge difference between those who settle and those who aim for the top. Go beyond. Plus Ultra."

"You have to love My Hero Academia references."

"I know right?" he glanced up "Oh yeah, I forgot how early it snows in Magnolia."

"Well from the looks of it, so did that passed out drunk chick in the alley."

"Wait what?" Luke glanced over into a nearby alley, and his expression dulled to the point where it had become comically deadpan at the sight of 15 year old Cana, passed out in the alley from being drunk as hell "Oh you've gotta be shitting me right now."

"So what now?"

"I got her arms, you get her legs just in case she's a sleep-kicker. Call it payback for the crap I found in your secret stash."

"Which I clearly have to relocate now."

"Yeah, how about next time you don't hide it in the same drawer that I use to keep my underwear."

"Duly noted."

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About 20 minutes later…

Cana wrapped a blanket further around her body to stop herself from shivering "Man I really owe you one, if you hadn't found me then chances are I would've frozen my butt off out there in the snow."

"Not to mention you were drunk as fuck." Luke pointed out dryly "So do you wanna tell me why you've been acting so distant and like a lunatic ever since the S class trials ended?"

"Look I know I've been kind of crazy ever since that whole thing happened, but…"

"Are seriously still that upset about not being an S class? You just got the bad luck of getting stuck with Laxus as an opponent, he's a prick but he's a tough prick. Besides none of his lapdogs or Elfman got to be S class either and none of them are getting drunk over it, there are plenty of people in the guild who are fine with not being S class."

"Well I don't want to be one of those losers, and I don't want to hear any of that crap from the jerk that made it on his first try!" her sudden outburst earned her only a raised eyebrow.

"Okay, so either it's your time of the month or there's something else going on." Luke was met with a snicker from Bolt, and he promptly smacked him upside the head "So seriously, what's really going on?"

"You don't get it Luke, I have to make it to S class. If I don't, then I'll never be able to even look him in the eye. You see…" she then proceeded to narrate her story, leaving both Luke and Bolt to be taken aback by the revelation.

"Woah…"

"That's why I have to make it to S class wizard, if I don't make it by my fifth time then I'm going to quit the guild for good. My mind is made up, you can't stop me."

"...Well if that's the case then I say it's going both ways." without hesitating, Luke pulled his map off the wall of his apartment, took down all of the photographs he had hanging on the wall, and then stuffed them in a box along with his camera before locking it shut "So yeah, that's happening now."

"What the heck are you doing?"

"Trying to stop you from making a really stupid and reckless choice that would only really work for the likes of Natsu." Luke breathed a sigh "Fairy Tail wouldn't be the same without you, and frankly I don't want to imagine the guild without you, so here's how this is going to work. I'm going to help you get as strong as possible over the next three years since that's how long it's going to be before your fifth trial, and I'll bury this thing under that big Sola tree in South Gate Park. I guarantee that by the time I dig this thing up you'll be on the road to S class. Either that or I'll end up undergoing some big life changing epiphany that will put me on a way harder path that will push me to get a lot stronger. So what do you say, does that sound good?" he received an answer in the form of Cana throwing her arms around his neck and pulling him into a hug with tears streaming down her face.

"Thank you…"

(Flashback end)

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Cana let out a sigh "Yet I haven't made it to S class, and this is going to be my last trial, so what does that tell you?"

"That you still have one left so you don't have anything to worry about." Luke dusted off all of the contents of the box and set it down "Well I met one of two requirements so that's enough reason for me to get back into the photography business. Besides, I still have a lot of work to do if I'm gonna get strong enough to protect everyone, especially. If anything happened to you or any of the others, and I wasn't good enough to keep you safe, then I'd never be able to forgive myself." he gently wrapped his arms around Cana's waist and pulled her into a tight hug "Like I said, I can't and don't want to imagine a Fairy Tail without you."

Cana's eyes widened slightly, but then she returned the hug and leaned her head against his shoulder as tears began streaming down her face "Luke… thank you. _Yeah, Luke isn't like other guys in the city or in Fairy Tail. I guess that's why I fell in love with him.'_

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The nexy day came, and things had finally calmed down in the guild hall after all of the craziness from the day before since the effects of the potion had worn off.

Erza looked at the pillar that at least half a dozen swords stabbed into it "Does anyone have any idea what happened here?" she was met with lots of muttereing in the negative.

Gajeel and Lucy shared an awkward look and both breathed a sigh '_Well at least that shit is finally over with.'_

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Happy looked down at where Gray was lying in the waters behind the guild hall in a complete and utter daze "Come on man it's morning already, you have to snap out of it and pull yourself together!"

"Fly backwards cat with wings." Juvia suddenly materialized from the water and wasted no time in pulling Gray into her arms.

"Oh good you're here Juvia, maybe you can knock some sense into him!"

"Oh please I beg for your forgiveness my darling Gray, I'm the reason you had to suffe through all of this. It's clear to me now why the potion didn't work properly, it can only be that my feelings for you weren't quite strong enough."

"Oh… Oh god…" this was when Gray finally came to.

"My beloved."

"Hey Juvia, do you have any idea what happened to me?"

"Thank goodness you're well again, I was so worried about you."

"...Huh. You know I was wondering why I felt so cold all of a sudden, I always end up soaking wet whenever I'm around you and you know I hate that."

Juvia was stunned by this and began crying anime tears "How heartbreaking, how can my beloved be so cold to me?!"

"I don't get it, is something wrong?"

"I've tried so hard to be patient but I can't take it anymore, I don't know what else to do in this situation! You'll have to drink down every last drop!" Juvia wasted no time in forcing the remainder of the potion down Gray's throat.

Gray's skin turned rainbow colors before returning to normal, but then his eyes flashed into a parody version of the Rinnegan from Naruto, and he let out a primal roar of fury as purple energy surged wildly around his body "I'M MORE FIRED UP THAN I'VE EVER BEEN BEFORE IN MY LIFE!"

"I'm right over here my love!"

"LISTEN UP ARROGANT HORIZON, YOU ARE MY RIVAL NOW!" on that comically psychotic note, Gray bolted across the seas and disappeared into the distance.

Juvia was left alone in tears, with only Happy for company "Gray my beloved, all I ask is for you to return my love…"

"Well that's weird." Happy muttered "But I guess there are just some people who were never meant to fly."

The moral of this story, Juvia's bad luck with men is just as bad as in canon.

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A few days went by, and things were finally settling down again.

Luke sat at a table in the guild hall munching away at a sandwich '_Well it feels good to be back in the photography business.'_

"So you didn't even have the guts to tell her huh?" Bolt sat down next to Luke with a bucket of chicken wings.

"Tell her what?"

"What do you think?"

"Oh for fuck's sake, are we going through this again? Cana and I are just friends, guildmates and teammates, and for the immediate future that's all we're going to be. Besides, even if I wanted to be more with her I doubt she would want the same, and even if she did she deserves better than me."

"Pull your head out of your ass man, you're the total package. You're an S class mage, you're powerful enough to defeat a Wizard Saint, you're one of the few humble and down to earth people in this nuthouse of a guild that doesn't blow shit up for fun, you put other people before yourself, what's not to like."

"That I'm the guy who bailed on her for a year and a half."

"She's not mad at you for that man, and that training trip was more than worth it."

"But that doesn't mean I don't feel bad for doing it. I don't know, maybe if I can make it up to her somehow then I might consider trying to go for something more, but until then I'm fine with things just the way they are."

"...How do you lie to yourself so easily?"

"I will not responde to that." Luke looked around at the guild hall "Is it just me or is it unusually quiet around here?"

"Probably because Natsu and Gray aren't trying to strangle each other, because Natsu got checked into rehab because of whatever Lisanna did to him, and no one knows where Gray ran off to."

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Gray looked around at his unexpected surroundings "Wait a second… Could one of you please tell me how the hell I ended up on Galuna Island?"

**A/N:**

**Hello my faithful viewers, and happy Thanksgiving 2019! Let me start by saying welcome to the second season of my Fairy Tail fic, which starts off with another Omake chapter, or slice of life chapter, whatever you want to call it. This chapter is meant to expand on a few of the romantic relationships between certain characters in the guild. It's also meant to be a breather one following the hectic events that were covered in the Battle of Fairy Tail, and just a little bit of lighthearted fun before we get to what is, to be honest, one of my least favorite arcs in Fairy Tail. I was going to wait until my next semester of college is over to get back to this, but I figured that as a little gift to celebrate the beginning of the holiday season, I would upload this chapter to keep all of you satisfied until then.**

**As I'm sure is obvious, the first part of this chapter was to expand on the relationship between Natsu and Lisanna, as well as add some much needed development to Natsu's character, as in his relationship with Lisanna and how he promises to protect her and make sure she's happy now that Mira's gone. Seriously, a good chunk of the development of his character showed up in flashbacks featuring Lisanna, but after she came back and they just shoved her to the side, that all got thrown away. That's not happening this time around, that character development is sticking.**

**The only real complaint I've had about this story so far (aside from a certain hateful reviewer who shall not be named) is that I haven't shown enough interactions between Luke and Cana, which is why I decided to dedicate the second part of this chapter to them. I decided to give Luke a hobby in the form of photography to make him less one dimensional, but I also made it so he knows about Cana's connection with Gildarts.**

**I was going to include a third story in this chapter about Lucy beginning to reconcile with her father, but considering how long the chapter already is without even getting to there,**

**As suggested by Ragnas Bredvolts in a review of chapter 18, I'm going to start adding a designated name onto Luke's Dragon Slayer Secret Art spells (You know, like how Natsu's is Flame Lotus (or Crimson Lotus depending on whether you choose to follow the dub or sub), Gajeel's is Karma Demon, and Wendy's is Shattering Light).**

**Now then, just for fun, I'm going to list my top 10 favorite Fairy Tail arcs, as in arcs that I think are the best that Fairy Tail has to offer.**

**10\. Oracion Seis: I'm going to level with all of you right now, I am not a big fan of this arc. I never thought it was bad, I mean I like Wendy and Jura, I like almost all of the new characters introduced (with the exception of Ichiya and the three idiots that kiss his ass whose names I never bothered to remember), but I always felt that it dragged out longer than it should've, and truth be told I honestly got bored with it after awhile.**

**9\. Edolas: This arc has received more mixed reviews among the fanbase. Some people love it, some people hate it, I'm neither. I like this arc, I like the counterparts of the characters, I like the alternate world of Edolas, I like Mystogan, I love that they brought Lisanna back. I like all of it, but I couldn't really put it any higher because of the lack of importance to the overall story.**

**8\. Tower of Heaven: I was never a huge fan of this arc, but I never hated it. I always thought it was good, just not as good as the rest. We learn about Erza's past, we get to see Jellal and how seriously mentally unstable he was while he was still being possessed by Ultear (pretending to be Zeref), we see a character die for the first time outside of flashbacks (RIP Simon), and we get to see Natsu enter Dragon Force for the first time.**

**7\. Phantom Lord: The first arc that ups the stakes not only for Team Natsu, but for the entire Fairy Tail guild as a whole. We learn about Lucy's past (her father is a major asshole), we see what happens when someone pisses off Makarov by hurting his children, we get to see the first of many Gruvia interactions, and we get to see a showdown between Dragon Slayers, Natsu vs Gajeel.**

**6\. Battle of Fairy Tail: Aside from Gray getting shafted bigtime, this arc was a real attention grabber from start to finish. It's had considerably more buildup than the arcs before it, we get to see a Dragon Slayer team up between Natsu and Gajeel, we get to see Mirajane's powers return and see just what one of the most ravishing and gentle hearted women in the guild is capable of when she's pushed to the absolute limit, and we learn more about Laxus as a character, along with the fact that he's a Dragon Slayer! Second Generation mind you, but still. Whether you love Laxus or you hate him, you can't deny that this arc is awesome, but it just couldn't top the rest of them.**

**5\. Alvarez Empire: Yes I know this has received some rather mixed reviews from the fanbase, some considering it the best, some considering it the worst, and while I agree that there are some parts of the arc that come up short, most notably with how some of the Spriggan 12 are defeated (God Serena, Wall, Invel, Irene), along with how Natsu defeats Zeref and Acnologia, as well as numerous death fakeouts featured because Hiro Mashina hates killing off characters (although I believe that two of the death fakeouts are important to the story overall) but considering how genuinely well done the emotional moments are in this arc (such as the final meeting between Zeref and Mavis), it's impossible to truly hate this arc. Does it meet the standards required for a final arc? Not exactly. Do I still think it's top 5 worthy? Of course I do. Do I plan to fix the mistakes featured in the arc to the best of my ability in order to give all of you something worth reading? You guys had damn well better believe I do.**

**4\. Zero: Prequel or no prequel, you can't deny that this arc was amazing. Who doesn't love a good origin story? Plus Zeref was responsible for the founding of Fairy Tail. Go ahead and let that sink in.**

**3\. Tartaros: Widely considered one of the best arcs in all of Fairy Tail and it deserves the credit it gets. Sure Fairy Tail (along with One Piece) is famous for not killing characters, but they kill 200 people in the span of 2 episodes, which shows just how brutal the arc is going to be. Plus combine that with the return of the Oracion Seis, the return and subsequent demise of the five dragons by the draconic hand of Acnologia, and we have ourselves something that we've never seen before in this anime.**

**2\. Tenrou Island: We meet Zeref and Acnologia, awesome fights throughout the war with Grimoire Heart, we reunite with Laxus (one of the most badass characters in the entire series), and we see Natsu get Lightning Flame Dragon Mode. Plus some awesome character interactions.**

**1\. Grand Magic Games: One of my personal favorite anime tournaments to watch, and whether you like Fairy Tail or hate it, you have to admit that this tournament has a lot more variety than the likes of the World Martial Arts Tournaments from Dragon Ball, the Dark Tournament from Yu Yu Hakusho, or the Chunin Exams from Naruto.**


	20. Oracion Seis I

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**Altajir95: **Yep, I had fun with this one, and I'm glad to see you enjoyed it.

**Ragnas Bredvolts: **Well, I can tell that you had a lot of fun with this one. I never thought you would be so endeared to the young and cocky Luke from the flashback portion of this chapter, and yet here we are. But anyway, I'm glad you liked this chapter, the Happy origin, young Luke and his interactions with young Laxus, the potion disaster, and the moments had between Luke and Cana. Also, nice ranking of your top 10 Fairy Tail arcs. For me, it's actually pretty close between Tenrous Island and Grand Magic Games. Overall I'm glad you enjoyed it, and you have a nice day as well.

**Guest: **Come again?

**Guest: **I'm glad to see you enjoyed the story, but since I had finished the first season, I wanted to take the time to work on some of my other stories, such as DBZ Next Generation, but now that I've reached a suitable stopping point for that one, I'm getting back to this story, at least to cover the second season.

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A few weeks had gone by since the Harvest Festival, and now that preparations were out of the way, the normal routine had resumed for our heroes.

But now a new threat was about to arise, and our heroes would be in for their most difficult challenge yet.

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Rain was pouring down over the skies of Mount Ivor.

Luke stood in front of Elfman, the form of the latter being battered and covered in wounds and various bruises, while Luke himself only had a few scratches across his body "I think it's safe to say I've spent too long keeping the training wheels on your training regimen, from here on out the gloves are off and the sword comes out." he drew his sword Raiden from its sheath, the blade crackling with electricity "Now I want you to come at me as hard as you can."

"Right! **Beast Arm: Iron Bull!" **with a mighty roar, Elfman coated both of his arms in iron armor and dropped into a combat stance.

"You've got a lot of physical power, that much I'm already aware of, but there's another weakness, and unless you can find a way to overcome it you won't last long against any heavy hitters on the level of wizards like the Element Four. If you end up going down then chances are the rest of the guild won't be far behind. I'm going to show you your weakness first hand." his body began crackling with electricity "Now come at me."

"Right!" and so the two of them charged at each other in an explosive collision, with Elfman firing off a barrage of iron enhanced punches at full speed.

Luke dodged and blocked every blow being thrown at him, but a surprise kick to the side of the head sent him tumbling backwards, but then he blitzed behind Elfman and attempted to slash at him with Raiden.

Elfman blocked the blow from Raiden with one of his iron arms and aimed another kick.

"**Lightning Dragon Heavenward Halberd!" **Luke leapt over the attack and quickly fired off a large halberd made up of lightning magic.

Elfman quickly scrambled out of the way of the spell, leaving it to blow a large chunk out of the mountain behind him, as well as leaving him stunned by the damage left behind '_What the hell, where did he learn a spell that manly?'_

"I told you before that I was taking the gloves off. **Dragon Sword Style: Thunder Perimeter: First Stage!" **Luke blitzed around Elfman and drove his sword into the ground in four different points, creating four electrical pillars around Elfman "Hey come on man, don't tell me that's all you can bring to the party. Don't blame me when you end up getting turned into steak."

"Dammit, I knew you were packing some manly levels of magic power but this is completely unreal!"

"You know just as well as everyone else does that I spent a year and a half training with the most powerful mage on the continent to get strong enough to protect you guys, and in the process I gained a level of power surpassing multiple Wizard Saints. **Dragon Sword Style: Thunder Perimeter: Second Stage!" **the four points of the Thunder Perimeter fired four simultaneous streams of electricity that connected in the center, guiding down a massive blast of lightning that struck Elfman in an instant.

When the smoke cleared, Elfman was lying on the ground, charred and unconscious.

Luke knelt down in front of Elfman's unconscious form "Alright that's enough Elfman, it's over now. You've got a lot of power and potential, that much I already know, but what concerns me is that you might lack the qualities necessary in a true warrior. If there's a chance to win then you have to be sure to close the deal, and you have to have as much brain as you do brawn. This isn't the first time this has come up. Anyone who knows about you, reputation or otherwise, knows that along with preaching about being a real man, you believe that all you need to solve a problem are two strong fists. Not only is that a narrow minded way to look at a fight, but it's also leading to another feeling that overcomes many: arrogance. So many people struggle for so long to push themselves to the limit that when they do, they end up enjoying it too much and lose sight of what's important. Instead of using their power for the right reasons, their arrogance end up leading them to their downfall. Just look at what happened to Jose, his arrogance was a big part of what led to our war against Phantom Lord in the first place. If you succumb to that again then you're sure to lose no matter how powerful you may be. You have to be more than just a man, you have to be a warrior. No matter who your opponent might be, you have to fight with everything you've got."

"You realize that he can't hear you." a new voice pointed out dryly.

"I'm hoping that his subconscious mind will absorb what I'm telling him."

"That sounds like a lot of bullshit."

"This coming from a complete disappointment of a man who still somehow made his way to being the top ranked Wizard Saint."

"...Touche." God Serena promptly shot him a smirk.

"How did you find me anyway?"

"I followed the gigantic hole in the mountain." he jerked a thumb at the hole in question.

"...Oh yeah."

"Sounds like training the Take Over guy is going pretty well."

"Better than when I first started training with you." Luke slung Elfman over his shoulder as they started walking their way away from the mountain "So just out of curiosity, do you have any idea what's up with the Magic Council these days?"

"Well I haven't been in contact with any of those old blowhards in a good long while, but after that little prick with the blue hair, whatever the hell his name was."

"You're talking about Jellal."

"Oh yeah right, anyway after he and Ultear, I'm pretty sure she was his mistress, pretty much raised all sorts of hell at least a few members ended up leaving the council entirely. I don't really care about gossip, but lately I have heard a few rumors here and there about a plan to reform the Magic Council being in the works."

"Well hopefully they'll be more competent and less biased than the last ones, their actions and poor judgement caused all sorts of hell for my guild. But from what I've heard Yajima did stand his ground against firing the Etherion on the Tower of Heaven right until the very end, and apparently he was the only one who suspected Jellal, or Siegrain, and Ultear before they actually went through with firing Etherion. The old man has conviction if nothing else."

"He's one of the few decent people to ever have a seat on the council, and apparently now he's opened up a restaurant in Hargeon."

"Yeah I know, Cana and the others took on a job request down there. Hey by the way, did you ever get a seat on the council?"

"I was offered a few times but politics really isn't my thing, I'll stick with honing my Dragon Slayer Magic to the best of my ability."

"One of the smarter things I've ever heard you say."

"Along with this. Chances are that regardless of the direction they go, the new council will be a lot different compared to the original, Yajima isn't going to be there. He took a lax attitude towards the crap your guild has pulled in the past, but now he isn't going to be there to protect you guys, so make sure they don't test the new council's patience like a bunch of morons."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind, plus I wouldn't be surprised if they try some underhanded tactics to get the guild disbanded. Plus even with Jellal out of the picture, Ultear is still hiding out there somewhere, along with Noah. Who knows where they may be hiding."

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Meanwhile, on an ominous airship flying who knows where…

"_The ominous airship in question belongs to the dark guild known as Grimoire Heart."_

Noah was floating above the floor of the airship using levitation magic, and he looked up from the book he was reading "Looks like the Oracion Seis are actually deciding to do something, and here I thought they dropped off the face of Ishgar like Tartaros did. So what are you thinking Grand Hancho, how are we gonna go about this?"

The Grand Hancho in question, a dark mage covered in shadows by the name of Hades, sat on his throne and pondered the question "For the time being we shall allow them to do as they please, surely those on the other side have no intention of standing by, and in the confusion that will ensue as a result of their clash, we will take the opportunity to locate the remaining keys required for Lord Zeref's seal, and if fortune should truly smile on us then perhaps some of our rivals may be eliminated in the process as well."

"You mean Fairy Tail, as in the only guild with wizards strong enough to go toe to toe with the Seven Kin of Purgatory?" he was met with only a dark grin "Take my advice and be careful, if you let down your guard then chances are they just might end up taking you down too."

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The next day came, and the atmosphere in Fairy Tail was uncharacteristically serious.

Lucy looked up at a chart being drawn in mid air by Reedus "What the heck is all of this?"

"That's a chart listing out the dark guilds stationed throughout Fiore, I asked Reedus to draw it up earlier." Luke told her "I just didn't realize that there were still so many around."

"What brought this on?"

"Unfortunately they've been a lot more active lately, which means that we'll need to strengthen our relationships with some of the other guilds."

"So what about the big circle in the middle then?" asked Gajeel.

"That one refers to the Big Three."

"You mean the big three from My Hero Academia?"

"...Not dignifying that. The Big Three in this case refer to the Baram Alliance, the three most powerful and dangerous dark guilds in the kingdom. The major players in that alliance are the Oracion Seis, Grimoire Heart, and Tartaros. All of them are powerful in their own right, but put them together they're the most dangerous force in the guild underworld. Each one of them has a number of lesser guilds that they control and make them carry out the dirty work they don't give enough of a damn to do themselves. But there's still one on the chart that's independent of the rest of them, that being the one called Raven Tail."

"Huh, I don't think I've ever heard of them."

"They mostly stick to the shadows and make sure to cover the tracks of any dirty work they actually do, not much is known about them though. Anyway, I'm sure you recognize Eisenwald up there."

"Oh yeah, you bet I do."

"Not surprising, that's the one that Erigor and Kageyama were part of. We faced off against them not long after you first joined Fairy Tail."

"So what does that mean then?" asked Gray "Does that mean Eisenwald was just some kind of sub guild that worked under this Oracion Seis?"

"That about sums it up, yeah. I bet a lot of people will recognize at least a few of the names up here, some of them even used to be legitimate guilds. Ghoul Spirit used to be up here, but they got taken out by the Thunder Legion about a year ago."

Gajeel nodded "Yeah, and me and Juvia took out a couple of dark guilds under the Oracion Seis back when we were still part of Phantom Lord."

"Yeah, and I took out as few of them myself when I was away training over the past year and a half. Some of them I did at the request of the Magic Council, at least it took them off the back of the guild."

"Sounds pretty creepy." Lucy shuddered slightly "Hey quick question you guys, do you think they'll take it out on us?"

"Not likely, at least not if we don't provoke them into attacking us, which is actually pretty likely now that I think about it."

"Well what should we expect from them, are they as big as Phantom Lord was?"

"Not by a long shot but they're way more dangerous, there are only six wizards in the Oracion Seis but they make up one of the most powerful guilds out there."

"Speaking of the Oracion Seis…" that was when Makarov made himself known "Word has already been passed down, they must be destroyed at any cost." this left most of those present stunned.

"Oh hey Master, you're back early. I guess things went well at the conference. But in all seriousness, what do you mean we have to destroy the Oracion Seis?"

"The recent activity of the Oracion Seis was the focus of much discussion at the conference, they pose an urgent threat and we can no longer afford to ignore them, and such they must be dealt with immediately. We will take them down before we can harm any of our fellow guilds we are sworn to protect."

"Meaning what exactly? We might be reckless, but there's no way even we would be insane enough to try and take on a dark guild of the Balam Alliance by ourselves."

"Precisely, this enemy is far more powerful than any other threat we've faced before, and to fight them alone would be far too dangerous. Our attack would surely incure the wratch of the entire Balam Alliance in no time."

"So what is our plan then?"

"The plan is that Fairy Tail is going to be part of a coalition of magic guilds."

"As in an alliance with multiple guilds. Makes sense."

"Fairy Tail, Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale and Cait Shelter, these four guilds will select members to represent them in the Allied Force. We shall join together and work as one for the sake of bringing down the enemy."

"I can imagine that some of us are more than confident in our ability to handle a threat like that on our own, shut up Natsu." he pointed at a certain Fire Dragon Slayer to shut him up "At least the council can't accuse us of not thinking of the long-term consequences this way."

"Wait hang on a second you guys." Lucy backed away nervously "We're only talking about six people here right, I mean are they really all that scary?"

"Let me put it this way, you know how scary Jellal was?"

"Yeah."

"Imagine six people on that level, all of them pure evil."

"...Oh crap."

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Meanwhile, with the dark guild in question…

The members of the Oracion Seis stood overlooking the edge of a cliff, looking down at the Worth Woodsea while discussing something known as Nirvana, a source of magic power that was said to turn light into complete and total darkness.

The magic was so powerful that it had already begun killing all of the life surrounding it.

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By this point, the team acting as part of the coalition had already been selected.

Lucy seemed rather nervous "I don't know about you guys, but I have a really bad feeling about this mission, and for that matter why am I even here? I'm not all that strong, it's not like I'm going to be of much help to you guys anyway."

"Hey come on, don't be like that. Just because you can't snap a boulder in half with your bare hands doesn't mean you're not a valuable part of this team. Besides, at least unlike someone you don't need to hang out the edge of the cart like a certain someone." he pointed over towards where Natsu was hanging his head out of the cart, trying not to hurl "Look the fact is that if the Master didn't have faith in us then we wouldn't even be on this mission, so that means we have some high expectations to live up to."

"Yeah I know, I get what you're saying but Cana, Gajeel and Juvia are better fighters."

"Cana and Juvia went off on some other job, and I think Gajeel had to take care of something else that the Master asked him to do."

"I… don't… care…" Natsu promptly slumped to the ground in comical agony "I just… wanna… get there… "

"So do the rest of us, and one ride in a carriage won't kill you."

"I beg… to differ…"

"You and none of the rest of us."

Lucy let out a sigh "I don't know, it just seems like we're always the ones getting picked for stuff like this."

"Just think of it as an honor, today is the first joint operation we do involving other guilds in our alliances so the most important thing right now is that we make sure that we start off the mission on a positive note."

"Hey guys check it out, the rendezvous spot!" Bolt pointed to the building in front of them "And is it just me or does it look like a strip club?"

"You realize that building belongs to the Master of Blue Pegasus."

"Yeah I know."

"...Just checking."

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It didn't take long for the others to disembark from the carriage and make their way inside.

Lucy cringed as she looked around "Well that's just great, another creepy old mansion."

"It's the second home of Bob, the Master of the Blue Pegasus guild." Luke told her "And if you guys are cringing or shuddering at all while you're trying to picture him I honestly don't blame you, just don't show it in front of him. The guy may have his quirks like everyone else in this guild, but he's still worthy of respect. Sort of."

Natsu let out a groan as he tried not to hurl "Just tell me when we get there…"

"We've been there for about 10 minutes."

"Yes, they've arrived at last!" three simultaneous voices echoed throughout the building "Hey hey hey hey, hello and welcome noble wizards of Fairy Tail!" a spotlight started shining from who knows where, revealing three annoying guys in suits "We're so glad you came to join us on this day, we are the elite crew of the Blue Pegasus guild, the Trimens. Hundred Nights Hibiki, Holy Night Eve and Still Night Ren."

Lucy actually found herself blushing at the display "The Trimens of Blue Pegasus, oh wow that's so cool. Those guys are like the hottest wizards around right now. Hibiki Laytis is always near the top of Sorcerer Weekly's most eligible wizard's bachelor list, he's been in the top three for the last few months!"

"Would you look at those guys!" Gray on the other hand was freaking out, while Natsu was just slumped against a wall "I feel totally underdressed!"

"...And they are not on the list."

And then Hibiki and the other members of the Trimen started doing their thing, but they chose the wrong target "I've heard tales of your beauty and they ring true, it honors us to be in your presence Miss Titania, please come with us." yep they chose to try and woo Erza, and they even brought in a couch from who knows where try and flatter her "Would you like to freshen up, or maybe something to eat?"

"No." was all she said.

"Ah but there is cake, would you like some?"

"No thank you."

"We insist."

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Lucy was less than impressed with what she was seeing "For crying out loud, what the heck is the deal with these guys?"

"Please miss, have a seat." that was when Ren sudenly popped up next to Lucy and wrapped an arm around her waist "Oh wow, you're almost too cute."

"Uh… I am?" she started blushing.

Luke and Gray were less than impressed by what they were seeing "Well it's official, there's quirky, there's Fairy Tail, and then there's these guys."

"Wait I missed something… who are they…?" Natsu muttered.

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Erza was still trying to be diplomatic with the rest of the Trimen "It's a pleasure to meet a future ally, I look forward to when we can start working together."

"You're so beautiful…" Eve started blushing, which left Erza taken aback "It's almost unreal, is this some sort of dream?"

"Uh…"

"I hope not, because I've always admired you."

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Ren slipped Lucy a drink while trying to act like a tsundere "Here, you can have it if you want but it's not like I made it for you or anything."

Lucy was somehow even less impressed than before '_Now he's trying to be coy?!'_

Hibiki and the rest of the Trimen promptly regrouped to finish their womanizing act "Well you ladies must be exhausted, feel free to spend the night. We don't mind."

"Uh…"

"Calm yourselves men, that's more than enough." a new voice stopped them in their tracks "You must be sure to give these ladies some breathing room."

'_Woah, that voice is silky smooth.'_

Ren and the other members of the Trimen were quick to stand at attention "Yes Ichiya sir, we await your command!"

"Erza my dear…"

Erza found herself pretty much shaking in terror '_Oh dear lord no, not him…'_

"It's been far too long Miss Scarlet."

"A long time yes, I must admit that I never expected to see you here."

As it turns out, the voice belong to the little troll doll that is Ichiya, the so called ace of the Blue Pegasus guild, and he wasted no time in attempting to woo Erza "Oh how I've missed you my sweet honey, but there's no need for you to cry, for I am here now." this left Erza pretty much petrified in fear.

Luke was less than impressed, and he just let out a sigh '_To think, all that was needed to leave the great Erza Scarlet speechless, was a little troll doll.'_

Ichiya wasted no time in sliding his way down the stairs atop the railing "A surprise!"

"A surprise!" the Trimens promptly echoed him.

"A reunion!"

"A reunion!"

"Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes!"

"We didn't know she was your girlfriend Mr Ichiya!" the Trimens promptly bowed to her.

'_Wait, he said what now?!' _it took all of Erza's strength to not lose it and tear into them, as easy and satisfying as it would've been.

"We beg you to forgive us for our rudeness."

"Now wait a minute Ichiya, such a thing is not true and you know that all too well!"

"Focus you fools!" Ichiya promptly rounded on the Trimens as well "Don't forget we have work to do!"

"Yes boss, sorry boss!" the Trimens quickly got to work stuffing away their romantic setting used to seduce women.

"So now they're going with boss huh?" Lucy glanced over at Luke "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's like the third thing they've called him."

"You might as well get used to it, they're always like this." Luke told her flatly "If there's one thing they're consistent with, it's being inconsistent."

Ichiya didn't miss a beat as he continued doing his thing in front of Erza and Lucy "It would seem that fate has brought us together. Miss Erza, Miss Lucy, the other three not so much." and then he promptly started sniffing them "Such sweet parfum, truly nagnificent!"

"For the record, parfum is just another word for scent."

"He's really creeping me out." Lucy muttered.

"Yeah, he has that effect on people. I'm pretty sure it's a trend for Blue Pegasus, though I'm pretty sure Erza feels it worse than you do. But that aside, creepy as hell or not he is a pretty talented wizard, and he's considered the ace of the Blue Pegasus guild for a reason." Luke then turned his attention to the Trimens and Ichiya "But in all seriousness guys, I advise you to keep your hands off these ladies. You understand?"

"I understand you very well, now take your leave." Ichiya told him flatly.

"I'm not leaving, you already know that damn well."

"Thanks for dropping by, now take your leave." the Trimens seemed to ignore him.

"In case you had forgotten Ichiya, the reason we're here at all is for the sake of some serious business."

"Yeah I'm with him." Gray spoke up "Besides, can these playboy wannabes even fight in the first place?"

"Ichiya yes, in case of the others it's more debatable."

"I heard fight, where's the fight?!" Natsu promptly bolted upright "If someone's fighting then I call first dibs!"

"Okay this is about as appealing as Teen Titans Go is to anyone who has decent taste, will everyone just calm down."

"Sniff sniff, my honey…" Ichiya was quickly drawn to Erza and starte sniffing her, and yes it's as creepy as it sounds "Your sweet parfum, it still drives me as crazy as it ever did."

"And Erza in 3… 2… 1…"

"You stay far away from me!" Erza promptly punched him away, sending him flying towards the door.

"Remember how she does things Ichiya, she may be a woman of beauty but that beauty is matched only by her iron fist and steel blades. Also Erza, 7/10 on the right hook."

That was when a certain someone stopped Ichiya by catching him by the head and encasing said head in ice magic "You dare to greet us with this flying buffoon? Lamia Scale deserves more respect than that, we insist on that."

"Whether we were involved or not, you would've been met with him anyway. Also, you should've seen this coming. Hey Gray check it out, it's your senpai."

"What the hell do you-" Gray whipped around and he and Lyon exchanged icy glares as their eyes locked on each other "So it's you."

"So you went and joined a guild after all, Lamia Scale is a pretty good choice too."

"Considering it leads to this tomfoolery…" Lyon promptly tossed the frozen Ichiya into a nearby wall "That is somewhat debatable."

"You could've joined Blue Pegasus too. Speaking of which, is it just you or did Lamia Scale send anyone else?"

"There are two others, they should be in any moment now."

"Speaking of which, what the hell is wrong with you!" Gray promptly rounded on Lyon in anger.

"In case you had failed to notice Gray, he was the one who attacked me."

"Actually Erza was the one who threw him." Luke pointed out.

"Regardless, I saw the circumstances of that and he brought it on himself."

Ren and the other Trimens were quick to round on Lyon "Hey watch it pal, that's our leader you're screwing with! As far as we're concerned, you and your pals should just turn around and go home right now."

"Unfortunately, considering what is at stake, that is a risk none of us can afford." that was when another figure calmly stepped through the doorway, this figure being young man about 15 years of age, with shaggy blonde hair and deep blue eyes, and the Lamia Scale guild mark on his right bicep, clad in a simply green t shirt and a pair of short pants, and he bowed to them "I am Xian Lee of the Lamia Scale guild, I am honored to be among you."

"Oh hell yeah, I say fight me so let's go!" Natsu started radiating flames, with everyone else shooting a bunch of dirty looks at each other, when…

"That's enough." Luke promptly shut them up with a quick surge of his own magic power, his body crackling with electricity "In case you guys forgot, easy as it might be with a certain group of people here, we're actually here on business so now's not the time for screwing around."

"The young man speaks the truth." this was when another figure stepped forth, this one being a bald man with oval shaped eyebrows and a cane in hand "The main reason we've come together was to destroy the Oracion Seis, and for this cause we must work together as one. This is not the time for us to be fighting amongst ourselves."

"I have to admit, you were one face I definitely wasn't expecting. Iron Rock Jura, one of the Ten Wizard Saints and the ace of the Lamia Scale guild." Luke stepped forward and promptly held out his hand "It's an honor to meet someone of such stature."

"Rest assured Luke Drako, the honored is all mine." Jura gladly shook it "I have heard of your many exploits over the recent months, you have made quite a name for yourself. Word of your power and courage have spread throughout the kingdom, especially following your triump over the master of Phantom Lord."

"There's a difference between surpassing a Wizard Saint and actually being a Wizard Saint, and you've got me beat there. Besides, with you here it makes sense why Lamia Scale only needed to send three."

"Speaking of such matters, have representatives from all four allied guilds arrived yet?"

"So far just the three of us, we're still missing the members from Cait Shelter."

"I see, so we must still wait for their member then. From what I've heard, they only intend to send one member."

"Just one member to join us? One would think they'd be more cautious, either they're heavily underestimating the enemy we're facing here or they're just that confident in the wizard they're sending."

"One cannot know until this member arrives."

"Yeah I guess you're right." this was followed by a thud that came from a little girl with blue hair tripping and falling face first on the carpet "Okay, 200 Jewel says that this girl is the one they sent. Anyone wanna make bets?"

"Ow…" the girl picked herself up and dusted herself off, blushing slightly "Hi, I… I'm so sorry I got here as late as I did. I came here to represent the Cait Shelter guild in our alliance. My name is Wendy Marvell, it's nice to meet all of you."

"...Yep I was right, 200 Jewel guys so pay up." Luke looked around at the others but didn't receive any replies "Yeah that figures. _Still though, Wendy… Why does that name sound so familiar?' _he glanced over at Natsu, and saw how deep in thought he looked '_From the looks of it, I'd say he's thinking the same thing I am.'_

Jura on the other hand, he didn't seem to even bat an eye "Now then, since all of us are present we can finally begin."

'_It figures he's not even fazed by this. Still though, one would think that the people from Cait Shelter would be nuts to let a little kid like her come alone, but something about her seems both different and kind of familiar at the same time.'_

"I don't know about this." Lucy muttered "I mean they just sent a little kid to a mission like this all on her own?"

"She isn't alone you Gaudy Trollop, it isn't wise for you to jump to conclusions like that so easily." this was when another figure came into the building, a small pompous looking white cat similar to Happy and Bolt, the former looking starstruck and the latter looking considerably less than impressed.

Luke studied the cat for a few seconds '_Huh, and here I thought Bolt and Happy were the only talking cats, at least from what I've seen so far.'_

Wendy was quick to recognize the cat in question "Oh Carla, you followed me here?"

"Of course I did." Carla let out a scoff "You're far too young to be travelling unaccompanied child."

Luke glanced over to see the Trimens attempting to woo Carla with poses "You guys really don't have any standards do you?"

Happy on the other hand was lovestruck, and in one of the dumbest ways possible "Bolt I swear to god, I will give you every fish I have if you tell that vision of beauty and purity I haven't been neutered yet!"

"Keep your hands off me or you will be." Bolt told him flatly '_I wonder though, would it be right to give him a taste of his own medicine? Oh what the hell do I care? _You looove her."

"That's my shtick copycat!"

"You can only use a shtick so much before you run it into the fucking ground."

"Whatever, I don't look anywhere near as creepy as you do when I do it!"

"Yes you do." Luke told him dryly.

"I'm really sorry everyone…" Wendy spoke up, blushing shyly "I know I'm probably not what you were expecting, I know I'm a lot smaller and younger than most of you and I may not be much of a fighter, but I do know how to use all kinds of support magic, so please… Please let me join the group, I would be so embarrassed if you sent me home!" this left most of those present taken aback.

Carla was quick to scold Wendy for this "Honestly, you'll never gain their respect if you can't show any confidence child."

"I'm sorry Carla."

"I swear, you'll drive me to catnip."

"I'm sorry but I just can't help it!"

"Don't mind them Wendy, they're just a little caught off guard but they don't have any problems with you." Luke got down on one knee in front of her and gave a small smile "We're more than happy to have you on board as part of our team, so no need to worry."

"Oh wow, you're Luke from Fairy Tail right? I can't believe it's really you!"

"Let me guess, you heard of me because I defeated a Wizard Saint right? I'm not bragging, but that's sort of become the default for me these days and frankly, it gets kind of annoying after awhile. Rest assured, people in our guild aren't the arrogant type, whether it be me or someone like Erza, or Titania or whatever you want to call her."

"Oh wow, your guild sounds amazing…"

"I doubt Cait Shelter is anything to scoff at either, you must really be something if you're the only one they sent." Luke glanced over to see Bolt brooding in the corner "Hey what's up with you? I thought you'd be diving into a bucket of chicken wings by now."

"That's not all I do." Bolt grumbled.

"You keep them in my nightstand, along with your certain stash of brownies."

"Alright alright fine, I don't know what it is but something about the white cat is rubbing me the wrong way."

"Is that it? Come on man, don't be like that. I know she seems kind of stuck up but she can't be that bad. Besides, if Wendy is okay with her then that should say something."

"Does that count for the Blue Pegasus jackasses too?"

"In what regard?"

As it turns out, Hibiki was already making a move on Wendy "Tell me lovely young lady, would you please come with me?"

"...On one hand, that's considerably creepy on multiple levels. On the other hand, depending on how old Hibiki is, that could make him a pedophile." Luke glanced over at Jura and Ichiya "I'm guessing you guys sensed it too?"

"Indeed, the parfum coming from that girl is quite unique." Ichiya noted "She is no ordinary child."

"Uh huh. Jura, care to share your thoughts?"

"Ichiya speaks the truth, the girl is far from ordinary." Jura noted "I sensed that about her as soon as she arrived, the type of magic power she possesses is somehow different from our own, and yet similar to yours."

"Meaning what exactly, you think that girl is a Dragon Slayer like me and Natsu?"

"I would yet to rule out such a possibility."

"Makes sense, and from the look of it I'd say Erza noticed that too."

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Meanwhile, with the newcomer and the three idiots…

Wendy was less than pleased and more than nervous about her new situation "Excuse me, but what's happening right now?"

"It's simply, we're pampering a princess." as it turns out, Eve and the rest of the Trimens were wasting no time in making their moves on Wendy "Considering a girl with as much beauty as you possess it's only fitting, so would you like to freshen up?"

"Please help me!"

"Honestly child, just what do you expect me to do?" Carla let out a scoff.

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Luke glanced over to see Natsu still having that constipated thinking look on his face "Okay what's up, you've got that look you have when you sprain a brain muscle."

"It's so weird." Natsu mutered "I feel like I've heard that little girl's name before, but I don't know where."

"Yeah I know, I have that feeling too. Give it a rest though, it's honestly kind of painful watching you like that."

"Hey Luke, can you remember her for me?"

"...Watching you think is one thing, trying to understand how you think is even more painful that facing off against Jose." on that note, Luke and Natsu both glanced over at Wendy across the room and received a bright smile.

"So you got anything yet?"

"Think of it yourself, it'll be good to exercise the muscles in your brain since you don't use them very often, if ever."

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Carla was quick to scold Wendy for what she was doing "Honestly Wendy, it's not very ladylike to smile at strange men."

"But Carla it's not like that, I was just being friendly…" Wendy protested.

And then the Trimens started doing their thing "So how about it cutie, do you like your men brash or proper? You're just the cutest, so we could go either way really."

"Enough!" Ichiya promptly shut them up in his own disturbing fashion "I told you three all of these people have come here on business, now clean this place up at once!"

"Yes dear master, we'll do so right away!" they set to work on that.

"Man…" and cue another creepy pose.

Luke just looked on and let out a sigh '_Add that to the probably never ending list of things they call him, they might not be that bright but if there's one thing they're consistent at it's being inconsistent.'_

"Okay, now that all of the parties involved in this mission are present, I do believe it's about time for us to get this mission underway."

"I agree, as long as you don't intend to do so using any interpretive dancing or flashy posing of any kind."

"Now then, our first order of business is determining the location of the Oracion Seis! And we'll do so right after I make a letter of the alphabet." and so he scampered off.

"Okay, I think I speak for everyone when I say that that's way too much information, and the fact that his possy is applauding him for it makes it way worse."

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It took a few minutes before Ichiya came back and picked up where he had left off "Oh yes, that's much better. Now then, please be sure to pay close attention. To the North of here lies the Worth Woodsea, where the ancients had once sealed away a powerful force, a magic known only as Nirvana!" he said this while posing dramatically.

'_As serious as this situation is, he makes it seem so nonchalant with the posing.' _Luke glanced around at the others and gauged their reactions '_From the looks of it, I doubt any of them would know what this Nirvana is either. Now that I think about it, I think God Serena might have mentioned it once before didn't he? Even he didn't know much about it other than its name, and it's apparently destructive in nature. I guess that makes sense why the Oracion Seis want it as badly as it seems.'_

"We assume that to be their reasons for travelling to the Worth Woodsea, as they are desperate to get their hands on such powerful magic. In order to prevent this from happening… we must destroy the Oracion Seis!" he and the Trimens started posing again.

'_I'm not sure what's more unsettling, the fact that they're still posing even now or the fact that it's starting to grow on me. _Well either way I know we have the advantage over them in terms of sheer numbers, but these guys are one of the heads of the Balam Alliance, so we definitely can't underestimate them."

"You've got that right, we may very well be in over our heads." Hibiki snapped his fingers and summoned a holographic screen and keyboard in the air next to him.

'_That's archive magic huh, looks like these guys are more capable than they were letting on beforehand.'_

"Using Archive magic, we were able to store away information such as this." Hibiki pulled up some photographs "Some images we have of the enemy, don't ask how we got them. First up is the snake wizard, he goes by the name of Cobra."

"Beady eyes and evil grin, the classic sign that this guy is going to be trouble." Luke glanced over at Natsu and Gray "I know all too well what that's like."

"Next up we have a wizard who, based on his name, likely uses some form of magic that enhances his speed. He's called Racer."

"Racer huh? Looks pretty shady." Gray and Lyon shared a look "I don't know what it is, but I don't like the looks of this guy."

"Then there's a wizard who's proven himself to be willing to wipe out an entire military unit, at least if the price is right. He's known as Divine Eyes Hoteye."

'_That guy kills for money? Sounds a lot like the guys from the Trinity Raven or other dark guilds that take on assassination requests, really makes me blood boil.' _Luke gritted his teeth.

"Next up we've got the lady of the group, she's proven time and time again that she's as vicious as she is gorgeous. This is Angel."

"Beautiful but deadly huh? _Kind of reminds me of Black Widow.'_

"The next member is such a mystery that all we know about him is his name, and he goes by the name of Midnight."

"Sounds like an interesting name, does it have some kind of relation to his magic power?"

"We can't say for certain at the moment. Finally, we have the master of the Oracion Seis, he calls himself Brain. There you have it, alone they can wipe out entire guilds and together they're all but unstoppable. We have 13 to their 6, but that's our only real advantage."

"That's encouraging." note the sarcasm in his tone.

"Yeah hi, quick question." Lucy quickly raised a hand "I'm not sure if anyone else will agree with this, but can I go home and not die today? No offense to any of you guys, but I'd rather not get killed."

"Please my comrade, cast away your fears as long as we are one." Xian put a comforting gentle hand on Lucy's shoulder "Rest assured that there is far more to this operation than simple mortal combat. I detest violence myself, but I bear it by keeping that in mind. We fight not to shed the blood of others, but to protect those they seek to hurt."

"Woah… At least you've got charm to you."

"Everything I have I've achieved through years of hard work and meditation in order to balance my chi, or what you may refer to as magic."

"Hard work and dedication huh? I like this one." Luke commented.

"The peaceful young man speaks the truth my friends." Ichiya started posing again "Rest very assured that there is more to our situation than mortal combat. With your help, perhaps we'll be able to find the enemy's stronghold."

"Stronghold huh, so you guys haven't had any luck?"

"We've looked everywhere, but that's pretty much the case." Hibiki told him "Anywhere here's the deal, they have to have a temporary base in the Worth Woodsea, and once we've located it our plan is to gather the Oracion Seis inside."

"And how do we plan on doing that?"

"We beat them up and drag their asses inside!" Natsu let out a fiery roar.

"Leave it to you to get too excited about this, so anyway what's the next part of our plan?"

"Observe from above my friends!" Ichiya pointed upwards dramatically "Once we do locate and gather the enemy, we shall grant them a one way ticket to oblivion courtesy of Christina, the majestic pride of the Blue Pegasus guild!"

"Wait a second, as in the magic bomber itself? I thought that thing was just a myth."

"Is that really necessary though?" asked Lucy "I mean there are only six of these guys."

"That just proves how strong the enemy is, don't underestimate them or you may end up getting yourself killed."

Jura nodded "The young man speaks the truth, and remember this: Under no circumstances should any of you ever engage the enemy in solo combat. The best chance we have is to separate them, and then devote two wizards to each fight."

"Agreed, no one try to play the hero and go solo, Natsu and Gray I mean you two." Luke glanced over to see Lucy and Wendy both shaking in terror '_And we already have two of them cracking under the pressure.'_

Carla was quick to scold them for their behavior, at least in her eyes "Honestly, would the two of you stop acting like children?"

"You do realize that one of them actually is a child right?" he was met with a scoff "I'll take that as a yes."

"Oh hell to the yeah, I've got a fire raging in my belly now!" on that note, Natsu promptly bolted out of the building at full speed "Time to hunt me some demons, ready or not here I come!"

"Who here wants to bet he has no idea where he's going?" he was met with various hands "Yeah that's what I was expecting."

"It's what we've come to expect from him." Erza let out a sigh "Always acting as if he doesn't have a thought in his head."

"One can only wonder about his mental state on days like this, anyone else wanna bet he didn't even hear the plan?"

"50 Jewel says he didn't." Bolt flew up onto Luke's shoulder "Wanna bet otherwise?"

"You mean so you can try and sucker me out of my money, we all know he didn't hear a word of the plan. He never does."

"True as that might be, we don't have time to watch him make a fool of himself. We have work to do." Erza pointed out.

"Yeah that's true, if we're gonna play catchup with him then we'd better get moving now."

"Agreed, so no whining everyone. We have a job to do, so let's carry it out!" so Erza, Gray and most of those present took off in the direction Natsu had disappeared into.

Xian and Lyon looked on for a moment "It would see you were correct Lyon, their levels of stamina do indeed appear to be quite infectious."

"Which raises the question, are you ready?" asked Lyon.

"I am if it means protecting those I hold dear, and keeping a promise I made, though I do hope we'll be able to avoid shedding any blood." and so they took off after the others.

"Wait a moment, we need to stick together!" and yet Jura went pretty much unheard.

Luke on the other hand, he noticed that Wendy was hesitating and he put a comforting hand on her shoulder "Hey there's no need to get nervous, just keep your cool and you'll do fine."

"Pull yourself together child!" Carla was less sympathetic and more dragging Wendy after the others "Honestly, you'll drive me to catnip one of these days!"

"...Yeah I feel like it's gonna be one of those days." Luke promptly dashed after them '_Is it a bad sign that I'm only 19 and I already feel like I'm getting too old for this crap?'_

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Now alone with Jura in front of the Blue Pegasus building, Ichiya took the opportunity to question Jura about his power as a member of the Ten Wizard Saints, only to be met with the answer that despite his ranking, he doesn't even come close to Makarov.

Satisfied with his answer, Ichiya promptly stopped Jura in his tracks with a perfume used to sap one's will to fight, and another one that left Jura in agonizing pain.

With Jura taken out of commission, Ichiya suddenly separated into two entities revealed to be under the control of Angel of the Oracion Seis, now aware of the Allied Force's plan.

So yes, Luke was right when he said it would be one of _those _days.

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Meanwhile, with the others…

"Hell yeah, I'm fired up now!" Natsu was racing far ahead of most of the others "Demons here I come, prepare to get burned!"

"For crying out loud you idiot, would it kill you to wait just once?" Luke and the others were tailing close behind him.

"Not a chance in hell, no way you're getting all the glory this time!"

"That's an order Natsu, you can't rush into this one alone!" Erza told him.

"Hey what's the matter Erza, are you afraid I might actually show you up this time?"

"Say what?!" and then Erza promptly scared the every loving crap out of Natsu "Stop moving your feet right now!"

"Hey take it easy, I was just kidding around!" and yet Natsu stopped too late, as in he had already gone over the cliff and promptly fell into the Worth Woodsea below them.

"Natsu!"

"Well that's a start, at least he stopped moving his feet." Gray pointed out.

"Honestly, if he's not dead then I'll kill him."

"You realize how counterproductive that is right?" Luke pointed out, earning only a look "Yeah, just making sure."

"Are all of your comrades in Fairy Tail like this?" asked Xian.

"Pretty much yeah, though he's worse than most of them in that regard. It's got its ups and downs, it kind of varies depending on the circumstances. Speaking of which, are you guys sure it's okay that we went so far ahead of Lucy and the others?"

"It's not like she's alone, she has the Trimens and the cats with her, and Wendy is there as well. I suppose you sensed something within her as well."

"Yeah I did, and so did Ichiya and Jura for that matter. If I had to guess, I would say that girl is probably a Dragon Slayer."

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By this point, Natsu was still running ahead of the others through the Worth Woodsea, now sporting a massive bump on his head "Oh god my head is killing me, and what the hell is with this forest? It has a pretty funky smell to it."

"Yeah I know how you feel, something definitely isn't right." Luke rushed up alongside him, with Erza and the others not far behind "The further we go into this forest, the more I get this feeling that it's kind of unsettling. Whatever happens, we all need to keep our guards up."

"Speak for yourselves, I was wondering when the hell you guys were finally going to catch up with me."

"You're unwell on so many levels, it's not even that funny anymore. Okay it's kind of funny at certain times, but this isn't one of them." they looked up as a large shadow suddenly began looming over the two of them, which caused Natsu and Gray to crash into each other, but lucky for the others Luke put a stop to it "Yeah listen guys, I think I speak for everyone when I say that no one wants to deal with that right now. But in all seriousness, look up." so they did, to see the majestic ship flying overhead "That would be the magic bomber herself, Christina of the Blue Pegasus guild."

"I totally want one of those!"

"So does pretty much everyone else, it definitely lives up to the hype. Add that to the list of reasons why Blue Pegasus is a force to be reckoned with, at least depending on whether or not they get the whole playboy thing under control. Anyway let's focus on the task at hand you guys, we have work to do. For the time being, we need to split up and start searching for their temporary base."

"I call dibs on flying the bomber thing!"

"And I speak for everyone when I say this, not on your fucking life Natsu." this was followed by a sudden series of explosions that ended up blowing Christina right out of the sky, leaving it to detonate in the Worth Woodsea before them "And I also speak for everyone when I say, that's not a good sign." Luke sniffed the area, and his gaze hardened as he drew his sword "Guys get ready, looks to me like we've got company."

"Everyone stay fiery."

"It's stay frosty- You know what screw it, it's not worth arguing with you. The magic power and a Dragon Slayer's nose don't lie, it's definitely them. The Oracion Seis."

Sure enough, from within a sphere of darkness emerged Brain and the others, looking down on the alliance with nothing but disdain "Such lowly maggots swarming together, unfortunately for you two of your companions aren't going to be joining you anytime soon. Angel has already disposed of them with ease."

"You really expect us to believe that you took down a Wizard Saint so easily. _Yet they seem so confident, so either they're bluffing or they used some sort of underhanded tactic to get him while his guard was down.'_

"He's trying to rationalize how we took the bald one down." Cobra gave a smirk "I can hear it in his head and his voice."

"I say the quicker we wrap this up the better." Racer noted "Just hang tight, I'll run you over so fast it'll make your head spin."

"Money determines strength in this world. Oh yeah, if you save but a penny today then it shall become a vast fortune in the future, and therefore-" Hoteye was promptly cut off by Racer.

"For crying out loud Hoteye, enough with the preaching already.

Luke glanced over at Midnight, only to find him snoring away '_Well like a wise man once said, it's always the quiet ones. _I have to admit though, I didn't expect you to show yourselves to us so soon."

Brain simply let out a chuckle "We have no need to hide ourselves from lowly maggots like all of you."

"If you came to the trouble of coming to us then that makes it all the easier!" on that note, Natsu and Gray promptly charged at the group at full speed and without thinking.

"Take them down."

"Yes sir. **Motor!"** Racer blitzed between Natsu and Gray, and in a single move he dealt both of them simultaneous swift yet hard kicks to the stomach, causing them to cough up blood and sending them both tumbling across the ground.

"Natsu, Gray!" and then Lucy whipped around but found her facing what looked like an identical copy of herself "What the hell?!"

"Surprise!" the second Lucy started whipping the first.

"Why the hell am I whipping myself, what the hell is going on?!" Lucy was met only with a sadistic smirk from Angel.

"Come Lyon, we cannot allow any blood to be shed!" so Xian promptly charged into the fray next, with Lyon right behind him.

"I see you!" Hoteye unleashed his own magic power, liquifying the ground "Oh yeah! You can forget about love, tranquility and balance, for money is all that you need! Money is all that you need in the world!"

'_What is this, it seems as if he's able to liquify the ground! And for that matter, how dare he say that balance and tranquility are unimportant! They're the literal key to my Chi being able to bolster my physical attacks!'_

Luke's eyes darted from one member of the Oracion Seis to another, his mind racing '_Speed and power to back it up, and from the looks of it they've got some variety in the types of magic they use, so I can't let my guard down.' _he whipped around and drew his sword Raiden just in the nick of time.

"**Motor!" **using his magic power to enhance his speed, Racer blitzed through the Trimens with ease, then blitzed behind Luke and attempted to deal him a speed enhanced kick, only for it to be blocked by the flat end of his blade "What the hell?"

"Your speed is impressive I'm not going to deny that, but it doesn't mean anything if I know where you're going to strike."

"That doesn't matter if I'm too fast for you to catch!" Racer blitzed around and attempted to attack Luke again, until…

"**Lightning Dragon Heavenward Halberd!" **in a few mere seconds, Luke had managed to strike Racer with a halberd made of lightning magic, piercing him through the shoulder and blowing him backwards a great distance '_Dammit, I barely had enough time to form the spell itself, so I couldn't charge it up anymore than that.'_

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Meanwhile, with Erza…

"**Requip: Heaven's Wheel!" **in a flash, Erza requipped into her Heaven's Wheel Armor and promptly attacked Cobra with a barrage of steel clad swords "Now dance my swords, pierce and rend!"

"Well now, that's pretty impressive." and yet with a few simple moves, Cobra promptly sidestepped her attacks with ease "But not good enough."

'_He's able to dodge them so easily, how can he read my attacks?' _Erza whipped around just in time to block an attack from Racer '_This one is fast, but his attacks are predictable. _**Requip, flight armor!" **she promptly requipped into her flight armor and started aiming at Racer with a fierce barrage of slashes from her twin swords.

"Oh yeah, now that's more like it." Racer dodged every attack with ease "I always have had a thing for fast women."

"Just give me a moment, you'll see just how fast I can really be!"

"Maybe, but it doesn't matter Titania, since I can hear your every move." Cobra suddenly blitzed behind Erza and dealt her a powerful kick to the stomach "You might as well give up while you still can."

'_So he is reading my attacks, but how?'_

"You're looking confused, I'm guessing you're having trouble figuring it out. I told you before, I hear everything."

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Meanwhile…

"Oh come on!" Natsu on the other hand, he was focused on where Midnight was sleeping on a floating carpet "Are you fucking kidding me?! Quit snoring your head off and put up your stupid fists already!" he was met only with snoring "Oh that's it, wakey wakey assclown! **Fire Dragon Roar!" **he breathed out a stream of flames, only for it to go around Midnight without even touching him "What the hell?! You've gotta be kidding me, he should be barbecued right now but he's just snoring his head off!"

"I'd be careful if I were you." Racer suddenly blitzed behind Natsu and dealt him a swift barrage of attacks too fast for him to defend himself "If you wake him up then it's gonna end up being your worst nightmare."

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"**Ice Make: Lance!" **Gray prepared to unleash an Ice Make spell, only to whip around and find an identical copy of himself standing behind him "What the hell?!"

"Ditto!" the copy promptly attacked Gray using his own Ice Make spell, sending him tumbling backwards.

'_Dammit!'_

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"**Ice Make: Eagle!" **Lyon attacked Hoteye by unleashing a rapid barrage of eagles made from his Ice Make magic, with Xian charging in with his body glowing gold and preparing a knife hand attack.

"Oh yeah, money will triumph over all!" Hoteye quickly countered their attacks using a spell of his own.

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'_Well this is as pathetic as I was expecting from the likes of them.' _Brain watched the various battles unfolding, far from impressed, with the exception of two cases: Luke weaving his way around Racer's attacks, and Erza relentlessly slashing at Cobra '_I see, so those two are the famous wizards of the Fairy Tail guild, the Queen of the Fairies herself Titania, and the Dragon Slayer who defeated a Wizard Saint, Luke Drako. Quite impressive actually.'_

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Cobra stopped Erza from launching another strike by grabbing the blades of her swords with his bare hands "You know I can hear all of it, to me it's like a symphony. Your muscles contracting, every breath that you take in, and every thought that's racing through your head." he then proceeded to back up his claim by reading the thoughts in question "What the hell, you mean you were there too?"

"You left yourself wide open! **Lightning Dragon Talon!" **Luke blitzed in front of Cobra and sent him flying with a lightning enhanced kick.

"Now's my chance!" Erza charged towards Cobra to deal him a follow up attack, when…

"I see you up there, oh yeah!" Hoteye manipulated the ground and sent Erza flying high into the air.

"I've got her!" Racer quickly followed up with an uppercut kick to Erza's jaw "For crying out loud Cobra, would it kill you to pick up the pace?"

"Way ahead of you, Cubellios do your thing!" Cobra quickly sent forward his snake "You might be fast, but that won't save you from what Cubellios has in store for you."

"Erza get down!" Luke dealt Erza a kick soft enough to not injure her, but still hard enough to blow her to the ground, leaving him to get bitten by Cubellios in her place.

"Not the one I was aiming for, but that will work for me I guess. Enjoy writhing in agony until you're claimed by death."

"Luke! Damn you, I swear you're going to pay for that! **Requip!" **Erza slashed into her Black Wing Armor, gritting her teeth as her mind was racing '_Dammit, I'm outnumbered six to one and the others are all down. I can't fight the enemy off and protect all of them at the same time, so what do I do?'_

"Such a pathetic display, prepare for the embrace of oblivion! **Dark Rondo!"** Brain held out his staff and summoned a magic circle.

'_This magic power, it's so strong and yet so dark. The others can't move, Luke is poisoned, what do I do?'_

"And now this ends!" Brain was about to cast the spell, only to stop when he saw Wendy hiding behind a rock with Bolt, Happy and Carla '_It can't be…'_

"Hey Brain, what the hell are you doing?" asked Cobra "You gonna cast the spell and take them out or what?"

"It's her… Wendy…"

"What, you know that girl or something?"

"There's no doubt about it, that's Wendy, the Maiden of the Sky herself."

'_Maiden of the Sky?' _Erza's frown deepened as her gaze hardened '_Their leader claims that he knows Wendy and calls her the Maiden of the Sky, what's going on here?'_

"To think we would simply stumble upon her here of all places, it would seem that we've made quite a find my friends. Go forth and claim our target!" he summoned a spell from a Magic Circle and used it to grab Wendy.

"You're not getting away with this!" Erza charged at Brain at full speed, only to find Cobra in her way, along with Racer "Get out of my way, if I have to tear through you both then I will do so without hesitation!"

"Where the hell… do you get… the right…?" Luke struggled to get back to his feet and spat out some blood "You attack… an innocent little kid… and strike while we're down… What's fair with that?"

"All is fair in money and war, oh yeah!" Hoteye quickly unleashed his Liquid Ground spell to swallow all of those present.

"Quick Wendy grab my hand!" Carla called out to Wendy, prompting her to reach out and grab a paw, only to find that it was Happy she grabbed instead "You have the wrong cat!" but then both of them were sucked away by Brain through a magic portal "Wendy!"

"Damn you!" Erza quickly sent both Cobra and Racer skidding backwards with two simultaneous attacks and attempted to charge at Brain, only to be sent flying backwards by a blast of magic energy.

"I have no use for the rest of you, now begone! **Dark Rondo!" **Brain quickly unleashed a Dark Rondo spell from his staff, fully intent on incinerating all of those present.

"**Requip!" **Erza flashed into her Adamantine Armor with her shields raised '_This armor has incredible defense but it lacks range, I can't shield everyone at once so I'll have to hope that I can move around fast enough to protect all of them.'_

"**Iron Rock Wall!" **fortunately, this was when Jura showed up on the scene and used his Earth Magic to shield everyone present from Brain's Dark Rondo "It seems that I was fortunate enough to make it just in the nick of time."

"You have my gratitude Jura, if not for you then I don't know for certain if I would've been able to protect all of them from that spell."

"Your thanks are not necessary Lady Erza, if anything I should be apologizing for not making it sooner."

"Whatever, you're here now and I say we take them down!" Natsu bolted to his feet, only to find that the Oracion Seis were long gone "Oh you've gotta be kidding me!"

"Face it Natsu, by now they're long gone." Erza told him grimly.

"Why the hell did we let them get away?!"

"None of you could move, I was more concerned about making sure we didn't sustain any casualties. The odds were stacked against us fighting all of them at once and we know next to nothing about their abilities, they used those facts to their advantage. The Oracion Seis all have incredible levels of power, much more than suggested by the rumors, and there are only six of them."

"Indeed, their power is most impressive." Jura noted "According to Angel, the woman who peered into minds, they know everything about our mission. We're lucky that we've sustained no casualties as of yet."

"What about all of the people inside?"

"No need to worry about any of that." Hibiki waved him off "Christina is equipped with various remote control and autopilot functions, so that eliminates the need for any sort of pilot. We were all going to climb aboard once we were able to locate their base, but as I'm pretty sure everyone here can see, we never made it that far."

"Well at least no one was killed, so that does allow for some relief."

"Indeed." Xian pulled himself and Lyon back to their feet "You never cease to amaze Jura, only you could come out unscathed."

"Don't get the wrong idea, that wasn't the case." Jura told him "In fact, I was barely able to come out alive."

"You're wounded?"

"I'm truly terrified by their power. I hate to admit it, but if it weren't for the pain killer parfum provided by Sir Ichiya, then I would be in utter agony right now."

"Those detestable Oracion Seis!" Ichiya started posing like the Ginyu Force "Instead of facing your foes with honor and courage, you decided to flee from the battlefield like cowards, and that means we win by default!"

"With all due respect Sir Ichiya, that's not how it works."

"Look, we may be battered right now but by no means are any of us beaten. All of you feel free to take a whiff, and allow my pain killer parfum to ease your discomforts." Ichiya quickly released a vile of parfum, freeing those present of the pain they were feeling "There, now do all of you understand the wonders of parfum? Let its wonders free of you the pain that inflicts all of you so dearly."

"Way to go chief, yes chief!" the Trimens started cherring him on.

Gray and Natsu shared a look '_First of all, why does he have to pose like the Ginyu Force in order to give off that stuff? Second of all, by now they have to be calling him different things for the sole purpose of pissing us off. I know this, because it's working.'_

"Oh that's just a load of bullshit, those assholes think they can take Wendy and Happy and run off like that?! Well they've got another thing coming!" Natsu's body started radiating flames in his rage and he prepared to charge after them in a blind rage "Hang tight you guys, I'm coming for you!"

"What do you think you're doing you imbecile?!" Carla grabbed Natsu by the back of his scarf and yanked him to the ground, revealing her wings "You mustn't be so reckless, you need to calm down and think this through."

"Okay first of all, you clearly have no experience with people from Fairy Tail." Bolt told her dryly as he floated up next to her "Second of all, looks like you can fly too."

"What, you mean you believed you were the only one who possessed Aera magic? Well if you haven't seen one of your own kind before then I suppose it would be surprising."

"Not really, just an observation."

"...You're both trying to copy Happy aren't you?" was pretty much Natsu's only contribution to their conversation.

"Yeah, one other thing to note about him is that intelligence isn't particulary his fortee. Just think of Goku from Dragon Ball Z Abridged, and then imagine someone even dumber with pink hair, and then you have this guy."

"Duly noted." Carla told him flatly "However I am concerned about Wendy and that other wretched tomcat, this is not a foe to be taken lightly. We cannot face them again until we come with a plan of attack."

"Yeah we know, they're a hell of a lot stronger than they let on. It's like they're Madara Uchiha levels of OP, or actually more like Hidan and Kakuzu when you think about it. Anyway, when you put aside the anime references, we have something else to deal with."

"Oh no guys, don't mind me…" Luke propped himself up against a tree, his right arm glowing an ominous shade of purple as he held it and gritted his teeth despite the pain "Just trying to stop myself from writhing in agony, how are all of you doing?"

"This isn't good." Erza gritted her teeth "The venom from where he was bitten by Cobra's snake, it's starting to spread throughout his body."

"Rest assured my honey, I know fully well what this one needs. All he needs is a little bit of **pain killer parfume, aroma increase!" **Ichiya dramatically released a considerable amount of his painkiller parfume.

"I'm aware of what you're trying to do Ichiya, that pain killer parfume of yours does far more than just ease pain like the initial one does. It also happens to have a cleansing effect that will help the body of the one it's used on to expel any toxins. Unfortunately, it seems that what he was struck with is a special kind of venom."

"And now it hurts even more…" Luke pulled out a piece of leather and started biting down on it as hard as he could "Not saying it's your parfum, but I'm not saying it isn't…"

"I wouldn't be surprised, but please Luke we need you to hang in there."

"I'm trying… Erza, sorry about this but do you have a belt or something I can use?" he was promptly handed one, which he quickly tied to his arm "Thanks, I'm just gonna have to do this though."

"What are you planning to do Luke?"

"I know this seems extreme, but if getting hit with the magic equivalent of a meteor didn't stop me from protecting you guys, there's no way in hell something like this will either." he tied the belt around his arm even tighter and held out his sword Raiden to her "Erza, there's no one else I would trust to do this. Take this and cut it off, and do it fast before the venom spreads to the rest of my body."

"Luke this is insane, at least give us time to find an antidote!" Gray protested.

"I don't have time for this Gray, if I don't then the venom will spread to the rest of my body and I won't be of any use to any of us."

"But-"

"I understand Luke, if this is what you wish…" Erza raised Luke's sword "If this is what you wish then I won't argue."

"Erza think about this, just put down the sword."

"I've already thought this through, Luke would never suggest this if he wasn't prepared to live with the consequences. You've already seen the power of the enemy we face, we can't afford to lose one our most powerful assets. Besides, if we don't help him then the venom may very well cripple him or worse, and I have no intention of allowing that to happen."

"And you're okay with just maiming him like that?"

"Stop barking at her like an angry dog Gray, just let her do it." Luke let out a growl "If she's gonna do it then she has to before the venom spreads to the rest of my body."

"I don't care, I'm not letting her do it!"

"Gray step out of the way, I won't say it again." Erza raised the sword, steadying herself as she prepared to do the deed.

"I'm not letting this happen, I'm not going to let you be known as the one who maimed Luke of all people. You don't have to do this, we can find a cure."

"Give it a rest Gray, you're not going to change her mind." Lyon told him flatly "Besides, even if you could you don't have any sort of right to interfere if this is what he wants."

"But-"

"Alright Luke, are you ready?" upon receiving a firm nod, Erza brought down the sword to do the deed.

However, the blade was stopped by a flame coated fist, courtesy of Natsu "I know Gray and I don't see eye to eye on a lot of things, but on this one he's right. Neither of us are letting you do this."

"Natsu focus on the bigger picture, right now it may very well be Luke's arm or his life."

"This is going to affect him for the rest of his life, you gonna be okay with that? We're gonna find a way to help him. There's gotta be another way for us to help him."

"Don't be so foolish, we have to be realistic in this situation."

"He is being realistic." Gray told her flatly "Seriously Erza, we thought you of all people would want to find a way."

"Just stop stalling, and do it… before…" that was when Luke finally gave out from the pain and lost consciousness.

"Luke! Dammit this is bad, there's gotta be some antidote we can find for him to stop the venom from spreading or he'll die."

"The answer to that is simple." Carla was quick to get their attention "We need Wendy, she has the powers necessary to save your comrade. This is no time for us to be bickering amongst ourselves. We need to work together to come up with a plan to rescue Wendy, and tomcat that too I suppose, time permitting of course."

"You know something we don't about her." Bolt pointed out flatly "So what then, she has some kind of anti-venom magic?"

"It's far more than something so simple as anti-venom magic, Wendy has the ability to cure fevers, relieve pain and heal most wounds."

"The more I hear about what the girl can do, the more I question why Ichiya needs to be here in the first place, and frankly I doubt I'm the only one who thinks this. But in all seriousness, I thought that healing spells are meant to be lost magic, like Dragon Slayer magic."

"Believe it or not, those actually go hand in hand with Wendy."

"So I'm guessing that has to do with their leader calling her the Maiden of the Sky?"

"At least you're smarter than the other tomcat, you see that little girl happens to be a Dragon Slayer like your companion in pain over there, taught by the Sky Dragon Grandeeny."

"...Huh, I guess that makes four Dragon Slayers I've met aside from Luke."

"Although to be honest, there's really not much more you need to know, but Wendy is the only wizard capable of saving your friend so we need her right now. Unfortunately, for whatever unknown reason it may be the Oracion Seis feel that they need her too."

"So in that case, there's only one thing we can do right now." Erza gripped her fists within her gauntlets "We're going to have to rescue Wendy and Happy, and we'll do it for Luke's sake as well as theirs. Come on everyone, we have work to do, now are you with us?" she was met with various shouts of support, some louder than others '_Please just hang on Luke, I promise we will save you, so just hang in there.'_

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"_Deep inside the Worth Woodsea, there lies a village that at one point in time was the capital of an ancient civilization. Now our story takes us to where the village had once been worshipped. It is stated that a priestess would enter a certain cave in order to hear the words of the very gods themselves. However, in this day and age the sacred cave in question serves as a hideout for the notorious dark guild, the Oracion Seis."_

Sure enough, Brain and the others set down Wendy and Happy in their hideout, where the former revealed his intention to have Wendy use her Sky magic to heal a certain someone, and while the rest of the group didn't understand at first, they quickly came to understand after Nirvana was mentioned.

Preparing for the worst, Brain quickly sent out Cobra, Hoteye and Angel to search for Nirvana, while he sent Racer to fetch the unknown person in question, and once Happy questioned him about Nirvana, he revealed it to be a magic of incredible power, as in it was capable of swapping light for darkness.

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By this point, Erza and the others decided to split up into different groups so they can cover more ground in their search for Wendy and Happy.

The first group consists of Natsu, Gray and Erza of the Fairy Tail guild, along with Carla of the Cait Shelter guild.

The second group consists of Jura, Lyon and Xian of the Lamia Scale guild.

The third group consists of, Ichiya along with ⅔ of the Trimens of the Blue Pegasus guild, Ichiya and Ren. However, Ichiya's sense of direction appears to rival his sense of style, as in they quickly lost him.

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The last few members of the alliance, mainly Lucy, Hibiki and Bolt, had been behind in order to guard Luke from any enemies or other potential threats.

Lucy was growing worried as she watched Luke writing in his sleep "It's getting worse. Come on guys, you have to hurry."

"You know that's not going to help right?" Hibiki pointed out "Instead of sitting around worrying like that, why don't we try and lend them a hand."

"I'm guessing you have a plan on how we do that?" Bolt pulled out a bucket of chicken wings, earning a few looks "What?"

"Putting that aside, I know we don't really consider ourselves a team since our coalition was pretty much thrown together at the last minute, but we need to start thinking that way if we want to have any chance of defeating the Oracion Seis." he pulled up a magic database.

"That's Archive Magic isn't it, that's what you call what you're working on right now."

"Yeah you got that right, it sure comes in handy whenever I need to keep tabs on people. What about you, you don't wanna join the others?"

"Luke is my best friend, he's the one who found me and took me in. I'm standing by his side to the bitter end."

"Makes sense, so Lucy what about you?"

"No, I need to stay with Luke too." Lucy told him "He's the one who brought me into Fairy Tail in the first place, it wouldn't be right to just leave him. Besides it's not like I'd be any help to them anyway, I'm obviously the weakest fighter of the group."

"You're just being modest, I've heard my fair share of rumors about how strong you are. There's the time you beat up 19 Vulcans that stood 10 feet tall, and then there was Fairy Tail's battle against Phantom Lord, where I heard that you knocked out their infamous master Jose with your bare hands, and the time in Acalypha where you single handedly took on a dark guild that had over a thousand members."

"...Okay, clearly you've heard some crazy as hell rumors. There was only one Vulcan, and I wasn't even the one who defeated it, Luke did. He beat Jose too, but he got beat up pretty bad because of it."

"Really?" Hibiki looked down at Luke "Looks like we all underestimated him if he was able to take down a Wizard Saint."

"Yeah. So what about you Hibiki, how come you're not going to join the others?"

"What type of man would I be if I left a lady like you all alone out here?"

"Thanks, I guess you're not as bad as I thought you were. You're definitely a lot nicer of a guy than Sorcerer Weekly made you out to be."

"Good to know. Thanks to my Archive Magic, I can keep track of the others and I can make them aware of our current position too, so that way once they've rescued Wendy and Happy they will be able to locate us and save Luke."

"Oh wow, you really do have all of the bases covered don't you?"

"Well you can thank Master Ichiya for that, I'm just doing what he taught me to do. Anyway here we go, I found Erza's group."

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Meanwhile, with Team Erza…

By this point, Natsu was talking with Carla while running alongside Gray and Erza "So if this girl Wendy really is a Dragon Slayer, then what does she eat for power?"

"She eats air of course, that much should be obvious." Carla let out a scoff.

"So does it taste any good?"

"How should I know, besides it's not like it's any different from breathing. You know the only reason that Wendy applied for this mission in the first place is because she wanted to get the chance to meet you and Luke."

"Why us?"

"Because the two of you are fellow Dragon Slayers just like her, there was something she wanted to ask you two about."

"Did she tell you what it is?"

"She did, apparently the dragon who taught her Dragon Slayer magic mysteriously disappeared 7 years ago, and she was hoping one of you might be able to tell her its whereabouts."

"I need more info, what's the name of her dragon?"

"I believe Wendy referred to her as the Sky Dragon, Grandeeny."

"Grandeeny the Sky Dragon, 7 years ago." and then Natsu hit his face on a low branch and hit the ground with a loud thud "Hold on a second, maybe Luke or Laxus know!"

"Laxus is nothing but a loser, and we don't have a clue where he is." Gray pointed out "Besides we heard before that he's not a real Dragon Slayer remember? And if Luke knew anything then he would've told you right?"

"Both of you be quiet, look at this." Erza and Carla were looking ahead in horror at a patch of black colored woods.

"The trees are all black, what the hell is this?"

"Yeah tell us about it." this was when a bunch of ape-like thugs showed up "Word going around on the street is that all of the black stuff is caused by Nirvana, some kind of magic that's so powerful the planet can't take it. Everything it touches just withers up and dies, just like every date we've ever been on."

"...Are we facing a bunch of monkey guys?"

"Whatever they are, they have us surrounded." Erza pointed out.

"Woah man, this is awesome!" Natsu gave an idiotic grin "Those two guys and all their friends have to be the dumbest pack of monkeys I've ever seen!"

"...I can think of one even worse than them."

"HEY!" one of them immediately started barking at them in a rage "You assclowns are a bunch of members of Fairy Tail aren't you?! You're friends with that blonde chick who ruined our plans in Acalypha, and now you're gonna pay with fires of hell!"

"Still not the angriest simple minded primate I've ever seen." Gray commented dryly.

"You don't wanna go messing with Naked Mummy, after all we're with the Oracion Seis right now. Only mess with us if you guys have a death wish!"

"Naked Mummy huh?"

"Who the hell are those guys?" asked Natsu.

"Are you seriously that stupid? They're the dark guild that Lucy told us about when she went to see her dad the other day."

"This was a trap all along." Erza muttered "We didn't count on having to face more than the initial six wizards."

"I say the more the merrier, all in favor of kicking some monkey ass?"

"As much as I would enjoy putting these primates in their place, keep in mind that we only have so much time to find Wendy and Happy and rescue them before Luke dies from the snake venom he was hit with."

"I know I know, but they were so kind that they were willing to come to us. We'll just beat the crap out of them until they give in and tell us where we can find their base."

"...If we do this then we'll have to hit them hard and hit them fast."

"Good enough for me." Natsu ignited some flames in his hand "Start talking guys, where the hell are you hiding our friends Happy and Wendy?"

The Naked Mummy monkeys let out a bunch of scoffs "You think a little bit of fire is going to scare us? Don't go screwing with Naked Mummy, we're with the Oracion Seis!"

"You idiots already told us that!"

"This is the end of the line for you fairies!" they all started making ape noises.

"Fairy Tail may not be the most subtle, but when you hurt one of our own you incur the wratch of the entire guild!"

Carla on the other hand, she was less than impressed '_I'm beginning to think these Fairy Tail wizards are completely insane, do they honestly think they stand a chance against this entire guild?'_

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Of course, the other groups of the alliance (Ren & Eve, Jura's group, and even Ichiya wherever the hell he was), they were all surrounded by enemy forces serving under the Oracion Seis as well.

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By this point, Racer had returned with a coffin in his possession, being commended by Brain for the feat despite taking as long as he did.

With the coffin in his possession, Brain promptly released the chains of it, revealing that inside was none other than Jellal Fernandes himself, whom Wendy had an odd reaction to, as she was reminded by Brain once that Jellal had once saved her life.

**A/N:**

**And thus we get into the real meat of what really is only the second season of my Fairy Tail fic. I'm going to be honest with all of you, I was never really a huge fan of the Oracion Seis arc. I never really thought it was bad, but I just thought it dragged on for longer than it should have, and I just got bored with it after awhile.**

**Xian Lee is another OC requested by TheCalosInferno, and he's actually one of four requested OCs that I currently plan to include. As for who he's paired with, that will come after the time skip, but I look forward to seeing if any of you can guess who it is.**

**I decided to have Luke be poisoned by Cobra instead of Erza because, while he is the main character, he doesn't have to be the star all the time. It helps to have a little bit of variety.**

**For the record, up until I started writing for this arc, I actually forgot how annoying I considered Ichiya and his three lap dogs- I mean the Trimens. No wait, I mean his lap dogs. Well, except for Hibiki that is, he grew on me after awhile.**


	21. Oracion Seis II

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it, and for getting this story to 17,000 views! Here's to 20,000.**

**YoshiChain: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you like the story. I did have something else I used for scene transitions, in my stories, but for some reason it didn't go through when I started uploading my stories, so I had to come up with something else.

**Ragnas Bredvolts: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you enjoyed the chapter. Yeah, I've gotten some complaints about the scene transitions before, but if you say you're willing to deal, then thanks for that. Yep, when Luke brings the thunder, he brings the goddamn thunder, but just because he's the main character doesn't mean he has to do everything, and so I decided to have him take the bite from Cubellios for Erza, to give the others some time to shine. Xian is the second of four OC requests I decided to take. You've already seen the first in the form of Noah, the Mountain Dragon Slayer that was allied with Jellal and Ultear. I have two more planned, but they won't appear unti after the 7 year time skip. I'm glad you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope I continue to do so, and you have a glorious day as well my friend.

**Guest: **I'm glad you like this story so much, and as much as I love Fairy Tail and writing this story, I like to take some time to work on more than one project at a time, in order to avoid getting bored with one story too quickly.

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Erza and the others stood with their backs to each other as they eyed the Naked Mummy monkey men while bracing themselves for a fight '_I can't believe we have to listen to these idiots go on like that, it's like listening to Natsu and Gray but even more idiotic.'_

"Hey bro listen up, I just got a great idea. Why don't we show these guys just how terrifying the wizards of Naked Mummy can, what do you think about that?"

"That sounds like fun, that's a good idea but I'm afraid they won't even know what hit them cause it'd be over so quick."

"Yeah it will, but I'm thinking we show these dudes first hand just how scary Naked Mummy can be, sound good to you bro?"

"Isn't that what you just said, and I agree with you."

"So you're thinking what I'm thinking, about showing these here punks just how horrifying-"

"Let's teach these guys a lesson!" and so the Naked Mummy monkey men all closed in on the wizards of Fairy Tail at full speed.

"Well I know what I'm thinking." Gray let out a sigh "These idiots really need to do a lot of work on the crappy comedy routine, the whole "bro act" looks like it's kind of stretching it too when you think about it."

"All I'm hearing is blah blah blah, blow these bastards up! **Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" **clearly sick of them talking like the rest of us, Natsu launched a fire enhanced fist at the wizards blasting at them with magic rifles.

"For once we actually agree, I say we ice these apes." Gray promptly sent a good number of the apes flying with a wall of ice.

"Alright you fairy fuckers, get yourself a taste of my magic shotgun! Yeah that's right, how the fuck do you like this?!" the angry monkey started shooting at them with a magic shotgun, promptly hitting Erza in the back but not hurting her in the slightest "Uh… that really should've worked better."

"No quite the opposite, it actually worked quite well for us." with a simple swing of one of her swords, Erza promptly sent the angry monkey flying "I think you apes will find that wizards of Fairy Tail are some of the last people in all of the Fiore Kingdom that you would want to underestimate, whether fighting them separately or all at once."

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At the same time, Wendy was being faced with Jellal Fernandes himself, quickly being reminded by Happy about all of the horrible things that he had done, only for this to be soon overshadowed by Brain reminding her that she owes Jellal her life.

Wendy was left paralyzed and unable to do anything, and in an attempt to motivate her to take action, Brain faked an attack on Jellal, leaving her to scream and fall to the ground, completely powerless.

Happy continued trying to persuade Wendy by mentioning the evil deeds Jellal had committed in the past, only to find that Wendy was inconsolable, leaving him with pretty much only one reasonable option left: Pray to the great gods above that Natsu and the others would get there soon.

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Meanwhile, with Natsu and the others…

"I don't believe it, the terrifying Naked Mummy guild was defeated by a couple of puny wizards like them."

"It's unreal, Naked Mummy was taken down by those two little guys and that red headed chick of all people."

"Yeah he just got done saying that, and frankly I'm done with your shit." Gray promptly summoned an ice mallet "Anybody got a problem with that?"

"Nope." was the simultaneous chorus from Natsu and Erza.

"Good enough for me." he promptly knocked out the two main monkey men with a clean swing at each of their heads "You know maybe Dragon Ball overhyped my expectations for monkey men, but that was honestly pretty disappointing."

"Really? Seemed like a fair workout to me." Erza pointed out.

"Yeah but all they really had going for them were strength in numbers, still though they did put up one hell of a fight."

"Yeah tell me about it, that was one hell of a workout." Natsu promptly grabbed one of the monkey men by the collar "Alright idiot start talking, tell me where you guys' hideout is right now!"

"Forget it I ain't telling you squat." the monkey man let out a laugh, only to be dealt a comical headbutt by Natsu "Ow…"

"Fine, if you won't talk then one of your friends will!"

Carla watched as Natsu tried interrogating one monkey man after another for the next few minutes, to no avail "These Fairy Tail wizards are so reckless."

"Talk, where the hell did your guys take my little buddy?!"

"Forget it… Okay pal, he's all yours… have at em…" and then the last of the monkey men passed out.

"What the hell was that one talking about?"

"Well well, what do we have here? It seems that you pesky little flies still haven't learned to buzz the hell off." this was when a familiar figure revealed himself "I suppose that's the main reason why I've been sent to come and swat you down like the insects that you are once and for all."

"Wait a second, I think I know who this guy is." Natsu looked up at the figure, and then he gave his typical stupid grin "Hey there Cool Breeze how the hell have you been, it's been awhile hasn't it?"

"What? We're enemies you imbecile, I never knew that flies could have the attention span of brain dead squirrels."

"Wait what?"

"Honestly, why do we even bother?" Erza let out a sigh "That's Erigor the Reaper from the dark guild Eisenwald, he was the one behind the plot to take out Master Makarov and the rest of the Guild Masters with the demonic flute Lullaby?"

"Oh yeah, he's the windbag that Luke roasted in that epic bridge fight!"

"I was looking for him to get my revenge on, but I suppose the three of you will have to do for the time being." Erigor floated down towards them with a malice filled grin "After the fall of the Eisenwald guild, I used my expertise as an enforcer in the service of the Oracion Seis, biding my time until now, the day that I would finally have my revenge, the day Erigor the Reaper would at last rise again!"

"So you came looking for a rematch is that it? Sounds like a fun time to me, trust me when I say we don't need Luke here to kick your ass."

"We'll see about that!" Erigor unleashed a blast of wind from his scythe.

"**Ice Make: Shield!" **Gray quickly summoned a wall of ice to protect himself and the others from the wind "Call it a hunch, but I have a feeling this one is gonna be a major step up from that stupid pack of monkeys."

"No doubt about it. **Requip!" **Erza promptly flashed into her Flame Empress Armor "Listen up you two, I want you to take Carla and go on ahead while I deal with Erigor on my own."

"Bullshit!" Natsu barked "There's no way in hell I'm gonna let you get all the fun-"

"This isn't fun Natsu!" her sharp tone made both of them recoil "We're not doing this for fun, we have to rescue Wendy and Happy in order to save Luke before it's too late. Now go save them, I'll take care of this one and I'll join you as soon as I can."

"...Don't take too long or we'll have to come back and save you." so Gray grabbed onto Carla, then grabbed Natsu by the scarf and promptly dragged both of them off.

"**Requip! Heaven's Wheel: Circle Sword!" **in a series of swift movements, Erza flashed into her Heaven's Wheel Armor and unleashed a barrage of steel swords.

"Such a pathetic fly, you think that will be enough?" Erigor blocked each sword using his wind magic "You think steel blades will be enough for you to break through my wind?"

"One wouldn't normally think so, and Luke may have had a difficult time against you when you fought him, but if you think that he was using his full power against you then you would be in for a rude awakening! **Heaven's Wheel: Pentagram Sword!" **in a flash, Erza blitzed through the barrage of wind with one sword in each hand.

Erigor managed to get out of the way for the most part, but he still ended up receiving a nasty gash to the shoulder '_I suppose the so called Fairy Queen isn't as pathetic of a fly as the others are, she's clearly on a different level than that lightning mage was back when we fought. _It seems that you are on a different level than you were before."

"I'm glad you noticed, but unfortunately for you I don't have the time to toy with you at the moment. My friends need me, and I have no intention of letting you stop me."

"Looks like having a big mouth is common for you, why don't I go ahead and shut you up for good! **Emera Baram!" **Erigor quickly unleashed his Emera Baram, engulfing Erza in the powerful blast of wind that followed, leveling a good chunk of the forest "There, now what do you say to that you pest? You flies aren't the only ones who've grown stronger, ever since I was defeated by that lightning mage I've been training nonstop to increase the destructive power of my magic, growing that much stronger for the sole purpose of bringing him down once and for all."

"That's just pitiful." the smoke cleared to reveal Erza, having requipped into her Black Wing Armor, which hadn't even been scratched by the blast "If you've spent this entire time since your defeat by Luke thinking about nothing but revenge, then you haven't grown in the slightest."

"What?!"

"People like you fail to realize that there is far more to life than something as simple minded as revenge."

"Oh please, you don't understand a thing. This isn't about what that wretch did to Eisenwald or on behalf of the Oracion Seis, it's not about him at all. This is all about me! I refuse to allow myself to be defeated!"

"We'll see about that soon enough. **Requip!" **Erza flashed into her Flame Empress Armor "If it's a fight you want, then I'll give you one, but it will be over in seconds."

"On that we can agree! **Magic Wind Palm!" **Erigor unleashed a massive tornado from the palms of his hands, engulfing Erza in an instant.

"**Flame Empress: Soaring Flame Blade!" **Erza easily burst through the tornado and quickly dealt Erigor an uppercut spiral attack with her sword coated in flames, the force blowing him away in an instant, leaving his unconscious form to crash to the ground with a thud.

'_No… not again…' _that was the last thought Erigor had before he passed out.

'_That fight took far too long for my liking, I suppose I should've started with the Flame Empress Armor. But at the same time, if he was able to improve like this and he's only here on behalf of the Oracion Seis, it makes me wonder what the actual members themselves are capable of when they get serious. Now then, is it worth trying to wake him up enough to interrogate him as to where they took Wendy and Happy? No, for now I should try to meet up with Natsu and the others as soon as I can.'_

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By this point, the other group had concluded their fights, with the exception of Ichiya, him having been captured while ranting to his captors about his abilities and strength, as well as the fact that he was under 30.

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At the same time, the other groups of the Alliance had been ambushed as well, with Ren and Eve both using their elements to defeat the Dark Unicorn guild with ease.

Elsewhere, the Red Hood guild had summoned some cute goblic creatures who were able to psychologically disarm Lyon and the others, forcing them to retreat, but in the meantime the guild had summoned a gigantic Wyvern.

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By this point, Natsu and the others (Gray and Carla) had reached a cliffside overlooking the area being used as the enemy hideout "So is this the place? Hey Happy, Wendy, you guys there?! Say something!"

"Be quiet you foolish brute!" Carla hissed at him "For all we know our enemy may be hiding down there!"

"And that means Happy and Wendy are with em! Happy! Wendy!" and then Natsu and the others almost got blown off their feet by Racer blitzing onto the scene "Oh fuck no, what the hell is this guy doing here?"

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About 30 seconds earlier…

Unfortunately, Brain and the others heard Natsu barking like a mindless dog, and he promptly sent Racer out to intercept them, and then he proceeded to incapacitate Happy while still trying to convince Wendy to use her Sky magic to revive Jellal.

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Meanwhile, back outside…

Gray whipped out of the way of one of Racer's attacks and shot a glance at Natsu "I can handle this dude on my own, you need to go down there and save the others."

"Gotcha, wreck his shit before I do." and so Natsu promptly prepared to bolt off.

'_Now to see how he falls for this.'_

"You're staying right here you little bastard!" Racer attempted to bolt after Natsu, only to slip and fall on the ice floor made by Gray.

"Huh, I didn't think that was gonna work. Anyway the cat's out of commission for now, so go ahead and use this instead." so Gray promptly used his ice magic to create an ice slide down the cliffside.

"Finally, your ice doing something that doesn't make me wanna punch you in the dick!" so on that rather crude note, Natsu promptly grabbed Carla and started sliding his way down the cliffside.

"Note to self, punch him in the dick for that later."

"You've got some nerve you little bastard." Racer blitzed behind Gray "There's no one alive that can put the breaks on me."

"Looks to me like you had a little problem with your traction." Gray glanced down the cliffside at the sound of wretching "And apparently even a slide can make him upchuck all over a literal woodchuck. And for the record Pinnochio, I can do a hell of a lot more to you with my Ice Make magic than just put the breaks on you."

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Meanwhile, with Natsu…

"Okay, okay I think I got it all out of my system. No hold that thought." Natsu promptly puked into a nearby bush, wiped the rest of it from his lip, and then started to make his way into the cave being used as a hideout, only for him and Carla to freeze in their tracks at what they were seeing "No way, you've gotta be fucking kidding me… But how?"

Wendy slowly turned to face them with tears streaming down her face "I'm so sorry… Please forgive me… I had no choice…"

"But it can't be… Jellal? Here? Alive?" Natsu looked over at where Jellal was standing in the middle of the room, his expression one of pure disbelief and a small bit of horror "But this guy is dead, I saw Luke bring the thunder and rip him apart!"

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… But I had to… I owe him…"

Carla on the other hand, was both mortified and outraged "Wendy what were you thinking, you used your healing magic on him? You know what that does to you!"

"I… I'm sorry…" and then Wendy promptly passed out.

"WENDY!"

As for Natsu, his attention, and more importantly his rage, was focused on Jellal "I don't have a damn clue why the hell you're here or where the hell you came from, but you sure as hell don't belong here! **Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" **he charged at Jellal at full speed and fired off a fire enhanced fist at him, only to be blown clear through the cave wall by a blast of golden colored magic energy.

"Excellent, it seems that your condition has done very little to deteriorate your magic power, which works out quite well for all of us." Brain gave a smirk, only for it to be wiped from his face by Jellal blasting him as well, leaving him to calmly and silently walk out of the cave completely unhindered.

"Natsu no!" Happy rushed to Natsu's side and tried to snap him out of it "Come on Natsu get up, you have to get up!"

"We will we will rock you!" Natsu suddenly bolted upright "Okay, where the hell have I heard that song before? Oh yeah, where the hell did Jellal go?"

"He just up and left." Carla told him flatly.

"That cowardly son of a-"

"Look, I'm aware that you apparently share some kind of history with him, but keep in mind that our first priority needs to be taking Wendy back to the others as soon as possible."

"But that guy is-"

"Focus on the task at hand, you do wish to save your comrade don't you?"

"...God fucking dammit I hate that guy! But you're right, we've gotta save Luke and then we'll go kick the crap out of Jellal. Come on guys, let's go."

"Aye sir!" so Happy grabbed onto Natsu, with Carla grabbing onto Wendy, and the group then set off.

Once they were gone, Brain pulled himself out of the hole in the ground he had been blasted into by Jellal "Well that was most certainly unexpected, but looking back perhaps I removed his shackles a bit prematurely. With that being said, this aggressive hostility he seems to harbor towards me now is definitely a recent development. Was he aware all this time, did he overhear us discussing our plans for Nirvana while he was unconscious?" his head suddenly snapped all the way up "No it can't be, does he intend to hoard the power of Nirvana for himself?! He must not do such a thing, it should belong to all of us! I cannot allow him to steal the power that we all deserve! Cobra I know you can hear me, listen well! Jellal has escaped with the intention of claiming Nirvana, so you must find him and stop him at once!"

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Meanwhile, far away from the hideout…

Cobra's head snapped up and he gave a smirk "Oh hell yeah, I'm reading you loud and clear boss man, just like I hear the footsteps coming from that coward."

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Meanwhile, with Lucy and the others…

"The poor guy…" Lucy looked down at Luke's unconscious form, his expression showing that he was in a great deal of pain as the purple marks on his arm continued to slowly spread across his body "He's getting worse by the minute, the poison is starting to spread like crazy. Have any of the others been able to track down Wendy yet?"

"I don't have a clue about that." Hibiki told her flatly "I haven't been able to get through to any of the others."

"What do you mean you can't, what's the matter?"

"I don't know what's going on, but I promise you we're going to save Luke."

"I hope you're right about that, I really do. _Please Luke, just hang in there for a little while longer. Please.'_

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The battle between Gray and Racer raged on, with Racer making the forms of Natsu and the others escaping from the scene a higher priority, but Gray was quick to shield everyone using his Ice Make: Rampart, which leaves him physically fatigued, but he was still raring and ready to fight, telling Racer that regardless of how fast he might be, he'll always be eating the dust of Fairy Tail.

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Now that Erigor had been taken care of, Erza was bolting through the jungle after Natsu and the others as fast as she could, when she felt a chill go down her spine '_What is this sensation, this feeling of dread coursing through me?'_

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"_The Worth Woodsea, a large forest area whose tranquility has been disrupted by the presence of a lone man heading deep into its heart.'_

Not far away from where Erza was making her way, Jellal had come across the heavily wounded and unconscious form of Erigor, and for some reason had stole his clothes, with only one thing on his mind '_Erza…'_

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By this point, Natsu was carrying Wendy and the others, having been downed by Racer, though the forest of the Worth Woodsea on foot "Hey take it easy little buddy, you okay?"

Happy slowly opened his eyes and looked up at Natsu "Hey Natsu… where are we?"

"No time to talk, I need you to try and rest up for me okay?"

"But Jellal is out there somewhere."

"Yeah I know, but you don't have to worry about him. He isn't gonna stick around for too long, and if Luke can't make sure of that then I sure as hell will."

"_Natsu, hey listen up!"_

"What the fuck?!" Natsu screeched to a halt "No way, it can't be…"

"_Can you hear me?"_

"I think this tree is talking to me."

"_Can you hear me Natsu?"_

"Yes, I hear you great tree."

"_...I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that. This is Hibiki from Blue Pegasus, anyway I'm glad that I could reach you because nobody else has responded to me so far."_

"You mean you're a ventriloquist?"

"_Would you cut that crap out, and make sure you keep your voice down. The enemy has a number of scouts throughout the Woodsea, so there's no way to tell who might be listening in on us right now, and that's why I'm using my magic to speak directly into your head. It's pretty neat isn't it?"_

"Uh… Can you start that over, I didn't really follow."

"_Oh for fuck's sake- You know what, nevermind. What's your status, have you found Wendy and your cat yet?"_

"Yeah I've got them right here with me, Wendy is out like a light but Happy woke up already."

"_Okay that's good, now hang tight for a second. I'm gonna upload a map into your mind and it will lead you to a temporary camp that we've set up. I was gonna send it to your cat too, but for some reason I can't seem to make a connection. That must mean he's running low on magic power right now.'_

"Hold up a second, what the hell are you talking about with this upload stuff? I want you to stay out of my head." and then he received the map in his head "Woah, holy crap." and then he took off running.

Happy on the other hand, he was getting concerned "Okay seriously Natsu, I think it's time you sought professional help."

"Not now Happy, I have to follow this map inside my brains! Holy crap, I think I can even see where Luke and the others are right now! This upload stuff is pretty cool, thanks a ton Great Tree- I mean Hibiki."

"Oh dear god, he's even more far gone than I thought he was."

"_Please just make sure you hurry, with the way things are progressing I'm afraid we don't have the luxury of time right now"_

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"Please just make sure you hurry." Hibiki glanced over at Luke, seeing the poison slowly spread across his body "With the way things are progressing, I'm afraid we don't have the luxury of time right now."

"Hey hold on a second." Lucy glanced over at Hibiki "I don't get it, how did Natsu know exactly where to go all of a sudden?"

"I sent our location to him using the information compression magic that comes with my use of Archive, it packages the information so that it can be transmitted and shared with other people a lot faster than it would be using words."

"I had no idea that was even possible."

"Using magic to convert and transmit the data like this is a concept that's actually still fairly new, so it's not something I expect a lot of people to know about."

"Oh wow, that's pretty impressive. Did you hear that Luke? That means Wendy is going to be here soon, so please just hold out for a little bit longer? I know that if anyone can, it would have to be you. I may not be much of a fighter, but I promise I'll stay here and protect you no matter what." she was met with a small smile from Hibiki, which sort of creeped her out "Uh, just out of curiosity, what the heck are you smiling at? Don't you have some kind of work to do?"

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean anything by that. It's just really nice to see some light in all of this darkness."

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By this point, the confrontation between Racer and Gray was about to erupt into a violent battle, in which the former taunted the latter with his speed, leaving him unable to keep up, and then he summoned numerous magic motor cycles, which he referred to as the Dead Grand Prix.

Gray was quick to mount one of the motorcycles and raced with his opponent, something that left Racer impressed, but he still had the upper hand since Gray was unable to race properly because he wasn't able to focus on both Racer and the motorcycle at the same time, which is a problem that Racer didn't have to deal with.

During the race, Gray ran into Lyon and Xian, and was quick to take Lyon with him on the Dead Grand Prix, leaving Xian on standby, while the two of them split the work, with Gray driving the motorcycle and Lyon going on the offensive. The two of them were undoubtedly fast, but still not quite on Racer's level.

Gray eventually ended up losing his cool, but Lyon was quick to calm him down, and the two of them simultaneously strip, firing off one attack after another, but Racer increased his speed and easily overpowered them.

While they were falling, Lyon took notice of the speed of the birds flying overhead, and he quickly came up with a plan.

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Meanwhile, back in Magnolia…

Cana was in the middle of having a drink in the guild hall and noticed Makarov reading a certain piece of paper, his expression deadly serious "What have you got there?"

"The investigation report has come in." Makarov told her.

"You mean the one about the Oracion Seis?"

"Yes, it seems that the fellow that calls himself Brain might have once worked for the Bureau of Magical Development."

"For the bureau huh? That doesn't sound good, do they know anything about who he is?"

"They're still looking into it, but what's even more troubling than that is this R system that was mentioned in the report. Apparently it has ties to that monstrosity, the Tower of Heaven. I can't help but wonder, will we never leave its shadow."

"And that means it's connected to Jellal in some way, so does that mean Brain is working on the same thing as him?"

"That kind of possibility certainly does exist, and if he is following in the footsteps of Jellal then the world as we know it may very well be in grave danger."

"...You know master, it might seem bad but I think it'll work out. Keep in mind that the strongest team in the guild is out there, and Luke will most likely keep idiots 1 and 2 in line, so that should be enough to keep things from getting too out of hand."

"Yes, well said Cana."

"For all we know, he'll probably keep them from destroying too much in the process."

"...Do you really believe that part?"

"Someone has to."

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Xian poked his head out from behind a tree to where Gray and Lyon were whispering '_Clearly they have some kind of plan, but what is their intention?'_

Racer was less concerned than he should be about the situation "You assclowns can strategize as much as you want, it's not gonna do you any good."

Lyon ignored him and finished filling Gray in on his plan "And if all goes well then we'll have him for sure."

"What the hell dude, are you out of your mind?" Gray let out a scoff.

"That's the plan, too bad for you." Lyon suddenly froze Gray inside a block of ice "I can take him out without your help."

"Wait what the hell are you doing, let me go you jackass!"

"It takes one to know one, and no."

"Dammit man will you quit screwing around, you can't take on a guy like this by yourself and you know it!"

"Like I need to hear any of your endless whining, just sit back from up there and enjoy the show to come while I finish this one myself."

"Not gonna lie dude, that was kind of harsh." Racer pointed out "Is that how you goodie goodie weaker guilds are supposed to treat your friends?"

"Don't get the wrong idea, if you think the two of us are friends then you're in for quite the rude awakening. We simply studied under the same master when we were young, that is all."

"Lyon this grudge between the two of you has gone far enough." Xian appeared on the scene "I believe we're going to need his help."

"We can handle this on our own Xian, together we shall give the Lamia Scale guild its greatest victory ever. Now let's get to work."

"You realize this is a mistake."

"And you realize that I don't care."

"I'd be careful if I were you." Racer warned him "Let your arrogance get the best of you, and you're just asking to get your ass handed to you. But then again, it's not like you ever had a chance of beating me anyway right?"

"Now who's showing off arrogance?"

"Maybe, but mine is justified." Racer blitzed out of view and prepared to attack.

"To think you and your comrades underestimate how important balance truly is, so now I intend to show you just how wrong you are!" with his arm glowing gold, Xian leapt into the air and let a fist fly forward, coming close to striking Racer but missing by only an inch or so.

"Not too bad of a trick Iron Fist reject, but it's too slow to catch me, it's like you're practically standing still!" he blitzed away for another attack.

"Speed means nothing if your attacks are too predictable!" Xian whipped around to where his blind spot would be and let a kick fly, just narrowly missing Racer '_He's faster than I had been anticipating.'_

"Oh yeah that's it, keep them coming!" Racer kept blitzing around, dodging Xian's attacks by very small margins, until he finally received a kick to the face that sent him skidding backwards a short distance.

"Like I said, if your attacks are too predictable then your speed means nothing."

"Okay, I'll admit you got me that time." Racer blitzed in front of Xian and dealt him an uppercut kick to the jaw, sending him flying backwards and causing him to cough up blood "But don't think it's gonna happen again!"

"**Ice Make: Snow Dragon!" **Lyon attacked Racer with an ice dragon to get his attention, only to end up missing "In case you forgot slowpoke, I'm over here."

"I don't know what the hell you're getting at pal, but there's only one slowpoke here and that's you!" Racer blitzed towards Lyon faster than the eye was able to see.

"You may be fast but speed counts for nothing if your attacks lack the power necessary to get the job done! I can prove you lack the ability to land a decisive blow! Give me a moment and we'll see how you're able to handle this! **Ice Make: Hedgehog!" **Lyon promptly covered his body with spikes made of ice in order to protect himself, forcing Racer to freeze in place "You'd better be sure not to get too close if you don't want to be turned into a shish kabob. So what's the matter now Racer, don't tell me you're afraid that beloved speed on which you pride yourself may get you skewered?" he promptly took off and leapt into the air.

"Not a good idea for you to get too cocky kid. **Gear Change: Red Zone!" **with a flash of crimson, Racer blitzed in front of Lyon and dealt him a brutal kick that sent him crashing to the ground "You're way too naive kid, did you seriously believe I'd use my full speed from the get go against such a weak opponent?"

"If you want me then come and get me already!" Lyon took off on foot after losing the ice spikes on his back.

"You're on you cocky little bastard." Racer blitzed in front of Lyon and sent him flying with a kick, only for him to take off running again "And just where the hell do you think you're going, what happened to all of that brovado?" they continued this process a few times, kicking him down but him getting back up and running "God damn, this little bastard must be one hell of a glutton for punishment. No matter, that just makes this more fun for me." he continued their game of Cat & Mouse until they reached a cliffside.

"**Ice Make: Eagle!" **Lyon leapt back a short distance and fired a barrage of eagles made of ice from a magic circle.

"Oh come on dude, when the hell are you going to realize you can't hit me?" Racer promptly blitzed around them with ease and started dealing Lyon a rapid barrage of kicks "Don't tell me that's all you've got, that's such a waste of space! What the hell happened to all of that big talk from before?" he eventually sent Lyon crashing to the ground and started looming over him in a very ominous way "Do you honestly believe I don't have enough power to land a decisive blow on you? How about you give me a minute to show you." he grabbed a nearby ice spike and pointed it at Lyon's throat "I don't need power like that to put the brakes on this fight, as fast as I am I could easily take you out before you could even think about using any sort of fancy magic. I mean don't get me wrong, you've got some serious skills kid, and you would've been fine if you had never crossed paths with me. But I'm one of the Oracion Seis. 6 demons, 6 prayers, 6 pillars that never waver, and anyone who tries to cut us off will pay the final toll for their obvious lack of respect, so it's time for you to say goodbye."

"It's… It's just as I thought." Lyon spat out some blood "I figured out the truth behind the magic you use when Gray and I were fighting together. I looked up and noticed the birds in the distance were flying incredibly fast, and then I realized it. You were never as fast as lightning, you just altererd our perception of speed so it would look that way to us. You don't become faster, you just make us slower. All I had to do was get outside the perimeter of your magic, and then I realized what was going on. Despite your name, you're just as slow as the rest of us. I thought it would be harder to defeat you, but now that you've followed me all the way out here, Gray is outside the perimeter of your magic and he can take you down."

"Wait what?!"

"He should have a clear shot from up there."

"So that means the two of you weren't arguing, you were giving him a sniping post!"

"It's about time you caught on, fresh air and a stationary target."

"There's no way he'll hit me from there, he's over a mile away!"

"Oh believe me, he can do it. After all, if there's one thing I've learned, it's that you should never underestimate a member of the Fairy Tail guild. You may be able to put up one hell of a fight, but there's no way you can stop them."

"**Ice Make: Super Freezing Arrow!" **sure enough, from within the distance, Gray fired off a massive arrow made of ice magic.

"How the hell is it so fast?!" as the arrow closed in and his shades shattered, Racer could see his life flashing before his eyes '_Yes that's right… my prayer was to be so much faster than anyone else… That's all I want…'_

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A few minutes later…

It didn't take too long for Gray and Xian to catch up to Lyon, noting Racer lying on the ground apparently unconscious "Not gonna lie, I can't believe that plan actually worked."

"What I have a hard time believe is that there are five more wizards on the same level as this one, if not a higher level." Xian pointed out "And on another note, I would appreciate if the two of you were to include all parties involved in your plans."

"Hey don't blame me, your bestie is the man with the plan."

"Yeah thanks." Lyon gave him a small smile.

"You think you can stand up?"

"I think I can, but I'd rather sit a bit longer."

"Go ahead, if you don't wanna die on your feet! I've got all of you now!" Racer suddenly bolted to his feet and ripped his jacket open, revealing something strapped to his chest "In the name of the mighty Oracion Seis, if I'm going down then I'm taking all three of you to the big slab in the sky!"

"Is that what I think it is?"

"This is bad." Xian muttered "He strapped to himself a lacrima bomb? What do these dark guilds do to inspire such loyalty?"

"Does it matter?! You're all dead!" Racer shot them a malicious and psychotic grin "We're all gonna cross the finish line together!"

"Not a chance in hell of that happening." Gray tried to prepare a spell, only to end up falling to one knee '_Dammit this is bad, I don't have any magic power left. We're all totally screwed right now.'_

"Get the hell out of the way!" Lyon suddenly tackled Racer and pushed him off the cliff, leaving both of them to fall '_Gray… I always knew you were going to be the death of me…' _and then the lacrima exploded.

'_Lyon… this isn't happening… there's no way he can die like this… _LYON!"

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Meanwhile, in the Oracion Seis hideout…

Brain suddenly stumbled slightly as one of the black markings on his face vanished "No, it can't be… Racer's been struck down? It's impossible… How could one of the Oracion Seis be defeated like this? No, it would seem that I've underestimated our adversaries." he looked over at where Midnight was sleeping in the corner "I never imagined I would be forced to send you into battle. Wake up Midnight, I have something I need you to do."

Almost immediately, Midnight bolted upright and his eyes snapped open "You woke me?"

"I did. I need you to locate our foes and toss them into your nightmare."

"Yes, I will do so… Father."

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Meanwhile, with Natsu and the others…

Natsu screeched to a halt at the sound of the explosion set off by the lacrima "What the hell is going on back there? Hey, did you guys hear that?" he was met with only the sound of yawning from Happy "Yeah that figures."

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Meanwhile, back at the battlefield…

Gray could only stare down the cliffside in horror "Lyon…"

"Gray!" that was when Erza rushed onto the scene "I was searching for you and Natsu, but then I noticed the explosion and got here as fast as I could. What happened?"

"Me and Lyon, we fought Racer of the Oracion Seis. We managed to take him down, but… he had a lacrima bomb strapped to him. I didn't have enough magic power left to try and stop him, but Lyon, he… he tackled him off the cliff before the bomb went off." Gray gritted his teeth and clenched his fist until it started bleeding.

"So that means… is he…?"

"No, don't even think that for a second. There's no way Lyon would go down that easily, so let's track him down!" Gray summoned an ice slide and promptly slid his way straight down the cliffside, with Erza right behind him.

Xian on the other hand, was left frozen in place by the events '_Lyon… he gave his life due to such a heinous act by our enemy… That enemy cannot pay for his crimes… He disrupted the balance… blood must be shed…' _a black energy slowly started radiating from his body, but it went unnoticed.

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By this point, Jura was on his own and had soon run into Hoteye, another member of the Oracion Seis, and once their battle began they seem evenly matched, for Jura's use of Earth magic made it harder, whereas Hoteye made it softer.

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Lucy was still looking over Luke's unconscious form, but her heaad snapped up when she heard some rustling from a nearby bush "What's that?"

"Here's Natsu!" that was when Natsu burst out from the bush "Doesn't have the same ring as the guy in the Shining, but whatever. You miss me?"

"Natsu!"

"Hey so how did you guys do that? All of a sudden your map popped right into my head."

"I'll explain it to you later." Hibiki toldd him flatly "Right now we have other things to worry about, is Wendy alright?"

"Yeah she's fine, hold that thought for a second." Natsu set down Happy and Carla, then promptly started trying to shake Wendy awake "Alright kid time to get the hell up, I saved you now it's time for you to save Luke!"

"Hey come on man, don't be so rough with her."

"Come on chicha, rise and shine, wakey wakey, all that good crap."

Wendy's eyes suddenly snapped open and she leapt away in terror "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry, I had to do it!"

"I'm not gonna say I get it, but that's the last thing I care about right now." Natsu suddenly bowed his head to her, taking her by surprise "Luke got bitten by a poisonous snake, he's in bad shape and we need you to save her."

"You mean… he's hurt?"

"I hate to admit it, but I can't defeat all of the Oracion Seis by myself. We need Luke if we're going to bring them down. Luke's the best of us, he's one of the ones I wanna strive to beat, and we need him now more than ever."

"Wendy please." Lucy bowed to her next "We need him now more than ever."

"I…" Wendy quickly found her resolve "Yes, I'll try to save him. No, I _will _save him. I'll do whatever it takes." so on that note, she made her way over to Luke and quickly got to work using her healing magic, her mind drifting as she did so '_I've heard that Jellal has done terrible things to hurt Erza and a lot of others in the past, and something like that is really hard for me to believe.'_

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By this point, Cobra had caught up to Jellal and was silently and stealthily following him to wherever he was heading, due to not being able to read his thoughts like he could with everyone else.

Jellal eventually stopped in front of a tree that Cobra had never seen before, and when he touched the tree it caused a black light to burst forth from it, leading Cobra to realize that he had discovered Nirvana.

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Meanwhile, with the Search and Rescue group…

Erza's head snapped up at the sight of the black light, a feeling of dread quickly washing over her as a cold sweat dripped down the side of her head '_This sensation… I really do hope I'm wrong about this…'_

Gray shot a quick glance over at her "You feel that too?"

"Yes. I can't say what it is, but I doubt it's good."

"You think one of us needs to go investigate." it wasn't a question "Look, Xian and I can track down Lyon. Go find out whatever the hell that was."

"Understood, and once you find Lyon rendezvous back with the others." so Erza promptly took off, leaving Gray and Xian behind '_I just hope this isn't what I think it is. I haven't had such a chill go down my spine since the last time I saw __**him**__.'_

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Meanwhile, with Wendy and the others…

By this point, Wendy had finished with healing Luke and turned to the others "Well that should do it, I got rid of all of the venom so now all we have to do is wait."

"What the hell do you mean wait?!" Natsu bolted upright, growing more impatient by the secnod, which shouldn't surprise anyone who knows him, only to notice Luke's eye twitch slightly in his sleep "Oh hell to the yeah, Dragon Slayers take the win again! I say somebody give me some skin!"

"It sure as hell isn't gonna be from me." Bolt told him dryly "And a good part of it is because of you being an annoying moron."

"That's part of my charm."

"No, it's really not."

"Agree to disagree, anyway Wendy thanks a ton, I guess I owe you one."

"Uh… sure." Wendy shyly looked down at the ground "He's probably not going to wake up for a little while, but he should be back to normal when he does."

"Holy crap that's totally awesome, who knew your Sky magic was so strong?"

"Don't even try asking her to fight you." Bolt told him flatly.

"Hey come on man, she's a little kid! Why the hell do you think I'm some kind of battle-crazed fight-loving lunatic?"

"Because that's exactly what you are."

"Excuse me." Carla got their attention "Now that your friend has been healed, I would appreciate it if you refreained from asking Wendy to use her Sky magic again, she'll insist that she's fine but I can tell that she's exhausted just by the look on her face."

"No Carla, you've got it all wrong." Wendy was quick to protest "I'm just worried, that's all there is really."

"Don't try and put on a brave face child."

"But I'm not Carla, I'm fine really."

"You've got nothing to worry about." Hibiki assured her "As soon as Luke comes to we're going to strike back."

"R-Right."

"Hells to the yeah!" Natsu let out a fiery roar "Prepare to have your asses roasted Oracion Seis, if you wanna get Nirvana then you're gonna have to go through Fairy Tail!" this was followed by a sudden burst of magic power erupting from within the distance.

"Wh-What's that giant pillar of black light."

"What the hell is that?"

"This is really bad, it's been unsealed." Hibiki told them grimly "That thing is what it looks like when someone's unsealed Nirvana.

"You mean that thing is Nirvana, seriously?" asked Lucy.

"Yeah that has to be it, there's no doubt about it."

"But how the hell did the Oracion Seis beat us to the punch like that?"

"I think I know how…" Natsu muttered, his expression quickly twisting into rage "That pillar of light… No doubt about it, that's where Jellal is!"

"...Jellal? As in-" Lucy was cut off by the sight of Natsu taking off running at full speed in the direction of the light "Wait hold on a second Natsu, you can't just run off without bothering to tell us what the hell is going on!"

Wendy on the other hand, was growing more and more horrified by the second '_No… what have I done? This is my fault, all of this is because of me…'_

What no one noticed was that Luke's eyes slowly opened as he regained consciousness taking in what they were saying '_Jellal… here…?' _his awakening went unnoticed by everyone present except Bolt, and they shared a quiet glance between each other.

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Gray was forced to brace himself from the shockwave being released "What the hell, that beam just shot up out of nowhere! Dammit this is really bad, don't tell me that they already found Nirvana!" he failed to notice the golden aura around Xian's body turning darker and darker by the second.

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By this point, Natsu was running through the Worth Woodsea as fast as his legs would carry him, his mind racing '_I can't risk letting Jellal run into Erza, someone's gotta take him down! No, someone's gotta destroy him so that he can never hurt her like that again, and if Luke can't then I will!'_

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Brain and Midnight observed the light shining from their place in their hideout "So it's finally happened, after all this time Nirvana is ours!"

"It seems congratulations are in order." Midnight noted "Now if you'll excuse me, there are some pesky guild wizards that I have to eliminate, so don't bother waiting up for me. You should go to the Light yourself Father."

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At the same time, Ren and Eve noticed something from where they were located, in the form of something coming out of the tree flowing towards the light, leading them to discover that it was none other than Nirvana, and so they tried to contact Hibiki, but had very little success in that regard.

From then onwards, the two of them split up,

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Gray continued his search for Lyon by pushing over a few fallen trees "Oh for the love of god, I know he's gotta be around here somewhere."

Xian on the other hand, he was standing a short distance away, his mind racing in a very unsettling way '_I can feel it… the rage coursing through my soul, my chi becoming unbalanced, but who can be held accountable for such a thing?'_

"Dammit Lyon, where the hell are you?! Just spit it the hell out and answer me! Come on, can you hear me Lyon?!"

'_This one…' _and so as his Chi grew darker, Xian's warped mind came to a conclusion '_He is the one… Because of him, another good soul has been taken away from this world… One has lost, and my beloved has lost her sense of self because of it… No more… I can allow no more good souls to lose themselves because of the clutches of death… In order to do so… the good souls must be avenged…'_

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At the same time, upon noticing the black light of Nirvana, Hoteye began acting even more strange during his battle against Jura. But then again, considering it's Hoteye we're talking about, that doesn't really say much.

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Hibiki quickly whipped around to face Lucy and the others "Come on, let's get going. We've gotta go after Natsu, and we've gotta do it fast."

"But I don't get it." Lucy muttered "I mean, why would he mention Jellal of all people out of nowhere like that?"

"I can't answer that but we can't worry about that now, for now we've gotta track him down before he gets himself into trouble." this was met with a yelp.

"What the-"

"Guys take a look!" Happy pointed to a certain empty spot "It's Luke, he and Bolt just up and vanished!"

"What the hell?!"

Carla wasn't as concerned for their disappearance, as she was pissed "I swear, where are the manners in that one? He didn't even bother to thank Wendy for saving his life!"

"You don't think he might have heard us mention Jellal's name? I know Luke was the one who defeated him, but…"

Concern aside, Wendy's expression was a mix of utter guilt and horror, tears streaming down her face to no end "How could do it? How could I have been so stupid? This is all my fault… What do I do now? I should never have healed him… It's my fault that Nirvana was found… It's my fault that Natsu ran off… It's my fault that Luke and Bolt disappeared… It's my fault… All of this is my fault…"

"**Force Blast!" **being quick to take action, Hibiki struck Wendy with an Archive spell, launching her high into the air and knocking her out cold '_That oughta do it, and just in time by the looks of it.'_

"Wendy no!" Carla was quick to round on Hibiki in her rage "What do you think you're doing you ruffian, attacking an innocent child like that?"

"I did what I had to do."

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"I've gotta find Jellal, where the hell is he?!" Natsu was still running through the forest at full speed, only to notice something up ahead "What the hell?"

As it turns out, it was a bunch of Racer's followers raring and ready for a fight "If you assclowns think you're gonna get past Racer's Harpiya guild then you've got another thing coming, you're just as stupid as you look! I say we take you down here and now!" and so they all chaged at him in a blind rage.

"Get the fuck out of my way Speed Racer rejects! **Fire Dragon Wing Attack!" **Natsu promptly blitzed through all of them in a single attack and spat out on the ground "And that's why Speed Racer can't and shouldn't be considered an anime. Now if you'll excuse me, I've gotta go track down Jellal and burn him to a crisp before Erza sees him.

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By this point, Hibiki and the others were running through the woods at full speed, the former carrying Wendy on his back as they did "Look I'm sorry about that, I never meant to scare you like that. She's going to be fine though, I just knocked her out.

"I don't get it though." Lucy commented "Why did you do it, and why are we in such a hurry all of a sudden?"

"We don't have time to waste, we've gotta catch up with Luke and Natsu. Just keep running until you reach the light."

"Oh please." Carla let out a scoff "Why should any of us have to take orders from a brute like you? I realize Wendy can be a bit of a whiner at times, but regardless that's no reason for you to strike her so harshly."

"It's like I said before, I did it because I had to. Look to be fair, I haven't been completely honest with all of you. I know a lot more about Nirvana than I originally let on."

"What, then why didn't you tell us?" asked Lucy.

"I wanted to, believe me I did, but I couldn't. Because of the nature of the magic, I wasn't able to say a word. Even just mentioning it now is pretty risky, and if I do then it might put all of us in serious danger, and that's why Bob, the master of the Blue Pegasus guild, only told me about it before this mission. Ren and Eve, and even Mr Ichiya, none of them have even the slightest clue about it."

"So what exactly did he tell you about it?"

"From what I heard from Master Bob, Nirvana is a terrifying magic like no other in the entire world, and it alone has the ability to turn light into darkness."

"You mean it can switch them just like that?"

"It can, but that doesn't happen until its final stage. The first thing it does when it's initially being unleashed is shoot off a black beam just like the one in front of us. Then it goes in search of those who are weak, it'll switch anyone wavering between light and darkness to the exact opposite allignment, even those who are only slightly wavering. In other words, a good guy who's feeling down and out will likely end up falling to the dark side."

"So that's why you knocked Wendy unconscious, you did it to protect her and make sure she didn't end up switching like that."

"Excatly. She was at high risk of becoming a target because of the guilt that she was feeling, and if I hadn't stepped in when I did then she easily could've switched over to the dark side."

"Now you've got me worried, so does that mean anger is a negative emotion? If that is the case, then I think Natsu might be in danger too."

"I can't say for certain in that regard. Under normal circumstances it would be, but because his anger is for the sake of someone else, I don't really know for sure if it could actually be classified that way."

By this point, Happy was growing restless "I feel like such an idiot, I don't know what you're saying, none of it makes any sense to me!"

"That's because you are a dummy." Carla told him dryly "Allow me to spell it out for you as simply as I can. Now that the seal on Nirvana has been broken, it has the power to turn those who have good hearts to evil and those with evil hears to turn good. Do you get it now, or has it gone beyond your simple mind even further?"

"Yeah, she about summed it up pretty well." Hibiki noted "I had to keep quite about it until now because if I told you what I knew, then you would be at risk. Thinking in terms of good and evil can bring negative emotions to the surface, and before you know it they've taken a firm hold of you. If only that person didn't exist, whose fault is it that I'm in pain, why does this always happen to me? Pessimistic thoughts like these are what attract Nirvana, and it uses that in order to take control."

"So what does that mean?" asked Lucy "Are you saying that whenever Nirvana is activated, everyone in the alliance could suddenly turn evil? And for that matter, if it ends up turning us evil then does that mean the bad guys will end up turning good too?"

"That kind of possibility does exist, but there's no way of knowing for certain, at least for the time being. What makes Nirvana truly terrifying is the fact that it can be controlled to do whatever the caster sees fit."

"Wait are you serious?!"

"Allow me to explain. Let's say that a wizard wants to use Nirvana against a guild, then they could have the members start killing each other or make them go to war with another guild for no reason, and they'd barely even have to lift a finger. We've gotta find a way to stop it and we've gotta do it fast, otherwise the light guilds will be wiped out."

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"Dammit Lyon, where the hell are you?!" Gray continued searching for Lyon, but when he wippe around he found a chi-enhanced fist slammed into his gut HARD, causing him to cough up a large amount of blood before passing out.

As it turns out, that attack came from Xian, his body radiating a sinister black energy "All of those who disrutp the balance shall pay the greatest price, and that price is their lives. It matters very little who it shall be, but if you disrespect the balance, this world shall be stained with their blood, and that of everyone they hold dear."

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As it turns out, Xian wasn't the only one to switch because of Nirvana, seeing how Hoteye also switched his personality, and now instead of talking about money, he ended up talking about love and decided to join Jura and his allies to teach them about love as well.

Needless to say, Jura was as freaked out as the fanbase was by this.

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At the same time, Eve was running away from Midnight across the forest after finding out that his magic wasn't having any effect on him, only for Midnight to catch up to Eve and defeat him with ease.

**A/N:**

**And thus we dive head first into the second act of the Oracion Seis arc. Sorry I didn't get this chapter out sooner, but I had relatives in town for about a week, along with a hell of a lot of work for college, so my writing during that time was pretty slow-going. But by no means have I lost my strive to make this story as great as I can.**

**I know Fairy Tail happens to have a lot of death fakeouts, though Lyon's was probably the first one, at least as far as I know. He survives a lacrima bomb at point blank range? I'm not going to change that because he's necessary later on, but there is going to be one noteworthy change in that regard later on.**

**One of the harder parts of this chapter to write out was Xian falling into darkness because of Nirvana. With someone like Sherry, it was easy because of the love she had for Lyon. With someone like Xian, someone who prides himself on tranquility and balance, it's meant to show another level of his character, and how warping his mindset could still be used to demonstrate some more of his character traits, which will be delved much further into after the time-skip.**


	22. Oracion Seis III

**EverFlawless: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you enjoy the story so much, but I really don't try to foreshadow more than I believe is necessary. For the record, no I have no intention of pairing Lucy with God Serena or Noah. Yes, I ship NaLi, Gruvia, Jerza and GaLe, but NaLu is just way too overdone in my eyes. Don't worry though, I have no intention of leaving Lucy without a pairing to call her own, but the one she'll be paired with isn't going to show up until after the 7 year time skip. I don't blame you for wanting to know the ships, especially Luke and Cana, since I love writing out the interactions between them. All in all, I'm glad you love the story so much, and I hope I continue to satisfy you in the future.

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"Dammit Jellal, get the fuck out here!" Natsu continued running through the thick forest of the Worth Woodsea at full speed, his mind racing "When I get my hands on you I'm gonna make sure you stay dead this time, you hear me?! I don't care what I have to do, I'm gonna make sure you never hurt Erza again- Wait what the hell is that?" he screeched to a stop and slid his way down the side of the path when he noticed Gray apparently floating unconscious in a nearby creak, fully clothed "Yeah I'm telling you, the nose always nose. Hey Gray pull the stick out of your ass, this is a weird place to take a nap and I would know. What happened to that Kid Flash ripoff, what did you kick his ass already?" he received no reply "Hey Gray get up." still no reply from him "Do I have to roar in your face like the Hulk or something? Because I'm not gonna say yes or no, mainly because I'm still afraid Lisanna is gonna pop up in front of me and chew me out for cursing, I still have the scars from last time she did that." he pulled Gray out of the water, albeit with some strain "Dammit dude you've gotta lay off the water, what the hell have you been doing with Juvia? Would you get the hell up already, I'm in a hurry."

"Yeah yeah, I'm getting up." _Gray _pulled himself to his feet with a snister smirk plastered across his face.

"Uh, hey dude you okay?"

"Oh yeah, I'm doing just fine." Gray pulled on a nearby rope, revealing that they were standing on a raft, much to Natsu's horror.

"What the hell how did you hide a raft down there?!" that was all Natsu was able to get out, before the motion sickness kicked in.

"Talk about a whole new level of pathetic. Poor Natsu, your motion sickness is going to be the death of you. I have to admit though, I never thought you would be such a pushover."

"What the hell… do you think… you're doing?"

"What does it look like?" _Gray _stomped down on Natsu's head "I'm sick and tired of having to deal with a worthless piece of crap like you. It's time to face the reality, there's just no way that fire and ice can mix. I've had enough of your bullshit, I think it's high time I end the so called partnership we have going." he summoned a lance made of ice in his hand "As far as I'm concerned, this goodbye is long overdue." he prepared to skewer Natsu on the spot, only for the ice lance to shatter in his hand "Alright, whoever's there get the hell out here and show yourself already!" he fired a barrage of ice lances into the forest, only for them to be shattered almost instantly by a rapid barrage of arrows.

As it turns out, that came from Lucy and the rest of her current party, as well as the newly summoned Sagittarius "You mind telling me what in the name of hell you think you're doing to him?"

"It would appear that we foiled his foal play." Sagittarius noted.

"Yeah, just in time by the looks of it."

"Yay… good timing Lucy… 8/10 on the shots…" Natsu gave a thumbs up, then leaned over and tried not to hurl.

"Oh for crying out loud Natsu, I know you're motion sick because you're a Dragon Slayer but watching you nearly puke after saying my name is killing my self esteem! And for the record, no I don't want you to shoot him Sagittarius. Not yet anyway. As for you Gray, what the hell do you think you're doing?! Seriously, what the hell is the matter with you?! I don't care how much you and Natsu might wanna beat each other's brains out, or lack thereof but that's really too easy for him, you're taking this way too far!"

"Oh shut up already." _Gray _let out a scoff "Could any of you be any more irritating than you are right now? Just do the world a favor and mind your own business, I'll deal with the rest of you once I make sure there's one less Dragon Slayer in the world, so just keep your little mouths shut until I get to you."

"What the hell is- Hold on a second, is this Nirvana? Has that thing already switched one of us to the dark side?"

"The dark side? This isn't Star Wars…" Natsu was writing on the raft in agony "Why the hell… won't it stop? It's wobbling… it's swaying… I want off…"

"How the hell are you still sick when it's not even moving?"

"Hang on big buddy, I'm coming for you!" Happy made a beeline for Natsu, only to be encased in a block of ice by _Gray, _leaving him to hit the ground with a thud.

"What the hell is your problem Gray? You know damn well that's not how you're supposed to treat one of your friends?!"

"Oh please." _Gray _let out a scoff "It doesn't matter if Happy's able to fly, the fact is he can only carry one person. He doesn't have any real skills when it comes to combat. That's really all the info that I could get from Gray, at least in regards to what Gray has on the little pest."

"Gray you're not making any sense at all, what the heck has gotten into you?"

"If I had to take a guess, then I would say that Gray has become the first victim of the magic power of Nirvana." Hibiki noted "He switched to the dark side. You know now that I think about it, that does sound like something out of Star Wars."

"I wouldn't know, I've never watched any Star Wars stuff. Except for the Family Guy parody episodes."

"Gray had plenty of info on Lucy too." _Gray _noted "She's still a fairly new member of the Fairy Tail guild, she's definitely easy on the eyes, and he likes the entire package."

"Uh… should I be hearing this?"

"She can be as hotheaded as Erza is, maybe even moreso, but aside from that she's hiding a pure heart. She's a Celestial Wizard too, and that makes things really interesting." and so he promptly fired a blast of ice in Lucy's direction.

"Get back!" Hibiki suddenly blitzed in front of the group and used his Archive magic in order to shield them from _Gray's _attack "Looks like my initial guess was wrong, that's not Gray. I can tell for a fact that you're just an imposter, so you can drop the act already."

_Gray _studied Hibiki intently for a moment "Accessing information on Hibiki, a member of the Trimens of the Blue Pegasus guild, ladies' man. No further details available. Well that wasn't too helpful."

"Oh please, enough of this." Carla let out a scoff "We're wasting what little precious time we have dealing with this nonsense, I wish they would just incapacitate this fool so that we could get to Nirvana already."

"Wait a second, that's it!" Lucy felt the realization hit her "Only those with emotions waning between good and evil can switch to the other side, so there's no way that could be Gray, since he's almost always as cool as they come! Alright start talking, who the hell are you?!"

"So you finally caught on did you?" _Gray _let out a chuckle, and then in a puff of smoke he was gone, and in his place was Lucy.

"What the- Is that me?! You've gotta be kidding me!"

"Yeah, you're not fooling us." Hibiki pointed out dryly "You don't honestly think you're fooling any of us do you? We all know for a fact you're not the real Lucy, so you might as well just go ahead and show us your true form."

"Oh I'll show you, and I think you're going to find that I'm just as every bit real as that bimbo over there." so on that note, the fake Lucy then proceeded to lift up her top, revealing the _contents _underneath, causing Lucy to scream and for Hibiki and Sagittarius to get freaked out like only a pervert would.

"...Yeah it's official, looks like you were right when you said they were real."

"I HATE BOTH OF YOU!" Lucy promptly kicked them away.

"How pathetic." Carla let out a scoff "Come now you floozy, think about the kind of example you'll be setting for Wendy."

"But that's not me, I mean it is but it isn't! Why the hell does this kind of stuff happen to me all the time?!"

"Hate to break it to you, but it's only going to get worse from here on out." the fake Lucy shot a wicked grin at the real one "You see, now I know for a fact exactly which keys you're carrying with you. You actually had an audience with the Celestial Spirit King? How the hell did some pathetic noob like you get the honor? No you know what, it doesn't mater. Anyway I want you to listen up Sagittarius. Take them out, show no mercy."

"What do you-" before he knew it, Sagittarius had shot Hibiki with one of his arrows, sending him crashing to the ground "What the- Did I do that?"

"Hey!" Lucy rounded on him in a rage "What the hell did you do that for?! She's the enemy, remember?"

"I… I'm so sorry my lady, but tis not I. My body is out of my control!"

Lucy quickly turned her attention to Hibiki "Hang in there for me, you're going to be alright, I promise." then she turned her attention to the fake "Tell me something, how the hell are you controlling Sagittarius?!"

"It's not that complicated." the fake Lucy shot her a wicked grin "I'm an exact copy of you, and that means your spirits are forced to follow my orders."

"Spirits aren't just puppets for you to control!"

"Forgive me Lady Lucy and Sir Hibiki, I'm fighting her with all of my strength, but I cannot control it!" despite his efforts, Sagittarius was forced to fire a barrage of arrows, which were deflected by the shiled Hibiki was using to protect them.

"Carla listen to me, take Wendy and get out of here as fast as you can! Take her and get here somewhere safe!"

"It's about time, I was just waiting for you to say that!" Carla grabbed onto Wendy and promptly soared off into the sky.

"Sagittarius listen, I'm going to close your gate so you can take a break. Don't worry, I know it's not your fault."

"Forgive me Lady Lucy, I regret I cannot aid you further." and so Sagittarius promptly disappeared as his gate was closed.

"Now then, where were we?"

"It's about time." the fake Lucy promptly whipped out a key of her own "**Now open, gate of the Archer! **Come back Sagittarius."

Sure enough, at that moment Sagittarius reappeared in a puff of smoke "I'm happy to jump back into the fray- Wait a second, how did you-? This cannot be, by what means have you summoned me?"

"Don't bother sweating the small stuff and you'll get to live a lot longer. All that matters now is that I've summoned you, and that means you have to do whatever I tell you to do."

"I shall not betray my charge, no matter what you say."

"Oh really, well what do you say we put that theory to the test? Put it right in the middle of the back of that white cat." she pointed at where Carla was still flying Wendy away."

"I can do no such thing?"

"What's that?" she shot him a terrifying look "Are you seriously disobeying an order from your master?"

"You may share her appearance and abilities, but comparing yourself to Lady Lucy is an absolute travesty upon her name, so I shall not obey you!"

"Yes you can do it Sagittarius, keep fighting her!" Lucy urged him.

"Please I beg of you my lady, send me back!"

"Okay then. Closing, gate of the Archer!" she tried to, but nothing happened "Uh, okay that's not supposed to happen."

"Actually it is." the fake Lucy shot the real one a wicked smirk "Don't tell me you forgot that I was the who summoned Horse Face? Only the wizard who summoned a spirit is able to force it back."

"No…"

"Enough wasting time. Shoot that cat out of the sky already, I don't have all day!"

"I think that's quite enough of that." that was when _she _showed up, the woman in question being none other than Angel of the Oracion Seis "I think it's best if we don't waste precious energy, wouldn't you agree my precious pets?"

"As you wish." the fake Lucy disappeared in a puff of smoke, revealing two small blue figures in her place.

"Please forgive me Lady Lucy, I shall endeavor to be much stronger than this the next time we meet." Sagittarius promptly saluted Lucy before he disappeared.

Angel shot Lucy a wicked grin "Hello Lucy darling, tell me, how does it feel to gaze upon an angel?"

"Oh please, get real lady." Lucy let out a scoff "I'm pretty sure I'd much rather be blind right now."

"Is that so? Well I'm sure that can be arranged. Have my pets been entertaining you up well until now? I'm actually quite fond of their little trick, and I believe you know them as the Gemini twins. I must say though, Celestial Spirits make the best toys."

"You're a Celestial Wizard too? That makes me wanna puke. _I'm confident that I won't fall to the dark side, and I doubt Miss Psycho Swan is gonna be fighting for truth and justice anytime soon either, so at least I don't have to worry about the trickery of Nirvana right now. Hibiki is in bad shape and Natsu is down for the count too, so that means that right now all of it is in my own hands. Lucky for me we're next to a river, and wherever there's water, there's Aquarius.'_

"You know, the Gate Keys you have in your possession would make a lovely addition to my collection, so why don't you just hand them over now or else you're going to be wearing a lot of red."

"There's no way I'm handing over my keys, not to the likes of you!" Lucy promptly whipped out a certain key.

"So be it then, time to get lost you two." Angel promptly sent the Gemini twins away by closing their gate.

"Alright, here we go. **Open, Gate of the Water Bearer, Aquarius!"**

Sure enough, in a flash of light and a mighty wave, Aquarius made herself known "Alright alright, what the hell do you want?"

"I want you to wipe her out, I don't care if you have to take me with her."

"That's just what I was planning to do."

"What the- What did I ever do to you?"

"Every last asshole here is going to drown!"

"WHY?!"

"**Now open, Gate of the Scorpion!" **Angel promptly pulled out a key of her own "**Scorpio!"**

'_Wait a second, what did she say? Okay, this is probably gonna be bad.'_

Sure enough, from within the portal emerged a humanoid figure with red and white hair, and a scorpion tail "I was born to be wicked!"

'_Yeah, this is gonna be bad.'_

And then things got weird when Aquarius suddenly grew lovestruck, as in with hearts in her eyes and everything "Oh my, Honey Bunches of Hunk!" this left Lucy, and I'm pretty sure the entire fandom, particularly freaked out.

"Well what do you know, it's my Mermaid of Delight Aquarius herself. Why don't you back that wicked tail up for me."

"Oh you have no idea how much I've missed you love muffin."

This was when Lucy finally found her voice "No way, please don't tell me that Scorpio-"

"Yep you've got that right, he's my boyfriend."

"...So many questions!"

"You know I've heard a lot about you." Scorpio shot her a smirk "Finally getting the chance to meet the wizard of my Blue Bombshell is pretty wicked."

"Okay… So what exactly has she told you?"

"Listen up blondie, and listen good!" Aquarius promptly used her death glare on Lucy "I'm only going to say this once, if you want to keep breathing then you won't even think about trying to embarrass me in front of my Scorpio or you're gonna suffer, we clear?"

"...Crystal. _Yeah it's official, when I do die it's gonna be because of her.'_

"Sounds pretty wicked awesome to me. Sorry Angel but I'm taking my lady out for a night on the town, you've got this right? No rest for the wicked." Scorpio promptly wrapped an arm around Aquarius and they disappeared in a flash of light.

"What the-"

"Go for it you two, have fun." Angel nonchalantly waved them off.

"Wait a second, you can't just leave me here!"

"Okay seriously, how have you survived this long without having an understanding of exactly how the Celestial Spirits relate?" Angel promptly dealt Lucy a brutal kick to the jaw that sent her crashing into the river "There's no way in hell a novice like you can beat me."

'_Dammit this is bad, how am I supposed to beat her without my strongest Celestial Spirit to back me up? Wait a second, she's not the only powerhouse I can call on. _**Open, Gate of the Lion!" **on that note, Lucy burst up from beneath the watery surface and opened a certain gate.

Within a matter of seconds, Loke had made himself known on the scene "Hey there, looks like your handsome prince has arrived."

"Loke listen up, we have to beat this chick or the guild is gonna be in serious danger."

"Sounds easy enough."

"Well now, you really are a slow learner aren't you?" Angel let out a chuckle as she pulled out a Gate Key of her own "Why don't I give you another lesson in compatibilities? **Open, Gate of the Ram, Aries!"**

'_No… it can't be…'_

Sure enough, at that moment Aries appeared in a puff of smoke "I'm sorry Leo, I hope you can forgive me."

'_Aries…'_

Lucy was horrified by what she was seeing '_How she did get her hands on Aries? I thought she was one of Karen's spirits… I can't ask Loke to fight a dear friend of his.' _she promptly rounded on Angel "How the hell did you get your hands on one of Karen's spirits?"

"It's not that hard to figure out." Angel gave a shrug "Who do you think was the one who put her six feet under, and as they say to the victor go the spoils. Truth be told she really wasn't much of an opponent, she tried to open two gates at once when she barely had enough energy left to stand up, so frankly the fool practically handed her keys over to me. It worked out pretty well, but I wish she would've put up more of a fight. So many Celestial Wizards have lost their lives and spirits to me, by this point I've stopped counting, so frankly you're just going to be another pitiful stone on the trail of misery I've paved."

'_Oh god no…'_

Unfortunately, this was the nail in the proverbial coffin that _supposedly _sent Hibiki to the dark side of the magic force of Nirvana '_Karen… how could she fall to someone like this? This woman… This monster who calls herself Angel… She took my love away from me… She was murdered by one of her own… a Celestial Wizard… I hate them… I hate all of them… They will pay…' _lucky for all of them he snapped out of it in time '_No don't, this is exactly the kind of thinking that allows Nirvana to change people! I can't give into my hatred! I have to try not to think about it!'_

"You finally get to see each other again after all this time, and now you're gonna be forced to fight each other?" Lucy slowly pulled out Loke's key "No way, there's no way I'd force you to go through with something like that."

Loke quickly stopped Lucy from closing his gate "It's alright Lucy, I don't need you to protect me from this. It's true that Aries and I had once been friends, but now that we have new Celestial contracts, it's our duty to fight for the wizards we made them with."

Aries nodded firmly "That's right, I may owe my life to you Leo, but in this instance you are my enemy. So for a Celestial Spirit…"

"It's a matter of pride!" and so with attacks readied and waiting, the two of them charged at each other.

Lucy could only watch in dismay as the battle unfolded '_This isn't right…'_

Angel was less than concerned about the battle unfolding "Well what do you know, the two of them are actually fighting. Not what I was expecting, but then again who would I be to stop a good show from unfolding?"

"Stop it… Friends shouldn't fight… Please stop… I'm begging you…" by now Lucy had tears streaming down her face, watching in utter and helpless despair as Loke was slowly but surely overpowering Aries.

"Huh, well this isn't working out quite the way I was expecting to, I never thought she would end up fighting a combat oriented spirit. But then again, it's not like me to worry, mainly since I never go in unprepared. **Open, Gate of the Chisel, Caelum!" **she summoned a spirit that looked like a metallic sphere "I've got some targets for you, are you excited? As soon as Aries is able to stop Leo in his tracks, I want you to do what you do best." and on that note, the sphere morphed into a cannon and promptly shot both Aries and Leo through the chest, causing both of them to cough up blood and her to burst out laughing "Okay now you see, now that's what I like to call TFS levels of entertainment."

"Loke… Aries… no…"

"I'm so sorry Lucy… I failed you…" Loke started fading away.

"Your wizard cares for you…" Aries pretty much had the same problem "I wish that I was so lucky…"

"Until we meet again…" they both reached out to each other, only to disappear a mere second before.

Angel shot Lucy a confident smirk "You see darling, now that's how you pull off using multiple gates. Looks to me like I've put your most powerful spirit out of commission for a good long while."

"You… You disgust me…" Lucy's expression of stunned horror gradually twisted into malice filled rage.

"Oh come on now, you're not actually crying are you? It's not like they actually die, all you'd be doing is wasting your tears."

"Maybe they don't die but they do feel pain, it's not like they're a bunch of mindless dolls for you to play with! A real Celestial Wizard would treat their spirits with respect! **Now open, Gate of the Golden Bull, Taurus!"**

With a wave of her key, Taurus promptly appeared on the battlefield "Moo to the moo!"

"Gemini." with a wave of her key, Angel summoned Gemini back onto the battlefield.

"Making Lucy cry was the worst moove of your life, get ready for a rodeo full to the brim with pain- Moo?"

As it turns out, Gemini had turned into Lucy again and, rather than flash Taurus like the pervert he is, she went for the other end "Come on you kobe beef stud, why don't you come on and get some?"

"I'm totally in the mood for rump roast!" Taurus went charging at Gemini like a perverted moron, only to get literally batted away by them using Caelum as a bat, sending him blasting off again like Team Rocket.

"And just like that he's blasting off again."

"Taurus no!" unfortunately, by this point, Lucy was feeling her magic power give out on her, and she promptly fell to her knees "What… already?"

"Yep, I'm afraid so." Angel gave a shrug "You might as well face it, the fact is that you're simply outgunned and I have much more power at my disposal than a mere novice such as the likes of you."

"No way…" Lucy was promptly swatted aside by Gemini, sending her tumbling backwards in a heap.

"Poor thing, you really shouldn't beat yourself up over the matter. Oh come on Gemini, don't stop now. I think she needs more pain."

"You…" Lucy struggled to get back on her feet and shot a glare at Angel.

"Hey knock it off with the staring, you're getting on my nerves."

"I want you to release Aries from her contract."

"You're kidding right, why the hell would I do that?"

"Karen tormented her, she broke her on almost a daily basis. She deserves to be happy, but that won't happen until she's free." this actual seem to get Gemini thinking, only for them to end up striking Lucy again.

"Tell me Lucy my dear, what do we say when we want something from someone? Well, I'm waiting."

"Please, I beg of you… Just let her go… She should be with Loke, and we can make that happen for them… You can do whatever you want with me, but please just release Aries so that she can find her own happiness."

"What, and do it for free?"

"You can have anything you want, except for my spirits. You can even take my life."

"My my, isn't that such a generous offer. Alright then Gemini, why don't you go ahead and collect for me."

"I…" Gemini slowly raised their weapon, only to hesitate.

"What are you waiting for, hurry up!"

"It's strange, but I can hear a voice… It's inside my head…" hearing of Lucy's unwavering compassion for spirits, tears started streaming down their face "No… I can't… She loves us, and she's willing to give up her life for us… We envy her spirits…"

"Why you little- Get out of my sight!" Angel closed the gate and sent Gemini back in a moment of rage and disgust "You're going to suffer for that, I'll make sure of it as soon as this one is out of the picture!"

Lucy was about to start feeling relieved, but then she felt a certain someone grab onto her by the neck "Wha… Hibiki…?"

"No way that's awesome, your friend switched sides in the middle of a fight?"

"What…?"

"Just relax, this might feel kind of funny. I'm gonna use Archive to teach you how to use Hyper magic." Hibiki released his grip on Lucy's neck and slid his hands up to her temples, and his hands started glowing "This is a oneshot deal, so you'd better make it count!"

"What the… all of these spells in my head… all at once… Wait a second Hibiki, I don't know if I can take it!"

"Talk about a close one… I was flirting at the edge of light and darkness for a bit there, but then the love you feel for Celestial Spirits drove every hint of darkness away from me… If there's one person I know can make this work, it would have to be you…"

"Enough of this, Caelum finish them!" Angel gave the order, which prompted Caelum to transform into a machine gun just as the downloading into Lucy's mind finished.

"I have faith in you Lucy…" with his job done, Hibiki allowed himself to fall back.

"Finish her!"

With the download complete and before she could realize what was going on, Lucy started casting a new spell "**Oh stars far and wide that embody the heavens, by thy radiance reveal thy form to me. I implore you oh tetrabiblos, ruler of the stars, let your unrestrained rage flow."**

Angel was considerably taken aback by what was happening "What the hell is this, I've never seen this spell before. Don't just float there you idiot, hurry up and shoot her!"

"**With the 88 heavenly bodies, shining! Urano Metria!" **and so with the incantation for the spell complete, Lucy unleashed the spell, summoning the 88 constellations for an absolutely massive blast of magic power.

Angel could only scream in agony as she was struck by the oncoming attack despite her attempts to defend herself.

It was only after the spell was complete that Lucy fully regained awareness of her actions and surroundings and found Angel falling into the river "What the hell happened? Did I win?"  
"Yay." Hibiki gave a thumbs up and a small smile '_I never doubted for a second that you would be able to do it, well done Lucy.'_

"So… does that mean I win? Where did everybody go? Oh crap, Hibiki, Happy! Natsu are you alright?" she was met with various comical groans of agony "Oh man, they're all in really bad shape."

"Not so fast blondie!" Angel burst up from beneath the water with a psychotic grin plastered across her face as she morphed Caelum into a cannon "There's no way in hell I'm gonna lose to you, members of the Oracion Seis don't lose!"

'_Dammit this is bad, but I don't get it. It feels like all my strength has been drained from my body, but how did it happen? Why does she look like she fought a tornado head on.'_

"I don't care if I have to use every ounce of power at my disposal, I swear I'll send you straight to the grave!" Angel fired a blast of magic energy at Lucy from her cannon, only for it to swerve around her, much to her unyielding rage "What the… How could you have missed… You damn traitorous little son of a-" and then her cannon promptly disappeared.

Lucy looked back to see Natsu floating away on the raft, still incapacitated as a result of his motion sickness "Hang on Natsu, I'll be right there!"

'_So this is it…' _Angel found herself falling back, the last of her strength having disappeared along with Caelum '_You want to know what I prayed for? What I wanted more than anything in the world was to vanish into the heavens like an angel, pure and white…' _and then she promptly disappeared into the river '_But I keep ending up all wet!'_

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"Hang on Natsu, I'm coming!" Lucy made her way through the river after Natsu's raft as fast as she could, which really wasn't anywhere near fast enough "Dammit, the thing is moving way too fast! Come on Natsu I need you to pull yourself together, I know you can do it! I just need you to reach out to me!" she reached out her hand to him, and luckily he was able to grab it "Yes, I've got you!" but then they got swept away into some rapids "Oh for the love of god, where the hell did these rapids come from?! And things are about to get worse, aren't they?" she looked up at the waterfall a short distance away "Yeah that figures, just my luck. Well in that case, only one thing to do I guess." so on that note, she promptly grabbed onto Natsu as the two of them went over the waterfall.

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Meanwhile, in the Oracion Seis hideout…

Brain's head snapped up as he felt some more of the markings disappear from his face "This is impossible, it cannot be! Not only Racer, but now Angel has also been defeated? Mark my words my children, I shall avenge both of you and make your foes suffer! It's only a matter of time before the light of this world comes crashing down!" of course he hadn't realized that Angel was still alive.

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Meanwhile, with the actual main character of this fic and his talking cat with wings…

By this point, Luke was bolting through the forest of the Worth Woodsea at full speed with Bolt clinging onto his shoulder, his mind racing "This is bad Bolt, this is seriously bad. I honestly never thought Jellal would come back."

"It's not like it's that big of a deal though." Bolt pointed out "I mean all you had to do was use your Lightning Sea King Dragon mode and you wrecked him, take it seriously and he'll only last a few minutes tops."

"Maybe but that's not important, if he gets his hands on Nirvana then we're all gonna be in some serious trouble, as in Dragon Ball levels of trouble." Luke shot a quick glance back "I guess you noticed it too Erza."

Sure enough, Erza ran up alongside them, her expression rather pale "I assumed that the dark power we were all sensing was Nirvana, but I never expected Jellal to be involved."

"I don't think any of us did really."

"I don't understand how that could be possible, nor do I understand how he could've ended up in here of all places. I just… I wish I knew what I was supposed to be feeling right now."

"I wish I could answer that Erza, I really do. But even if I could, I doubt anything I said would really satisfy you. Let's forget about that for now and just focus on the task at hand."

"Right."

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En route to Nirvana's current location, Hoteye was in the middle of explaining to Jura how its magic actually worked, and that the bad things he had done were all for the sake of finding his younger brother, but Jura had helped him to see the light.

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At the same time, Ren was in the middle of a confrontation with Midnight of the Oracion Seis, but he quickly found that no matter what he did, none of his attacks had any effect on him whatsoever.

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The sun was setting over the skies.

Wendy had regained consciousness, but was brooding and sulking over the choice she made to heal Jellal "I don't know Carla, maybe I shouldn't have joined the alliance."

Carla was quick to scold Wendy for her attitude "Come on now child, stop beating yourself up like that. It wasn't your fault."

"Yes it was."

"You're playing with fire Wendy, Nirvana could change your heart at any moment."

"The truth is I'm just a coward, I left Lucy and the others instead of just staying to fight alongside them."

"You know as well as I do that if you had stayed then you would've only gotten in the way."

"You see, I shouldn't have even come."

"Don't you dare say that, keep in mind that if you hadn't been there then we would've ended up losing Luke for sure."

"Yeah I guess, but the Oracion Seis found Nirvana because of me."

"Is it really all that bad child? I can sense that a small part of you is actually happy that you get to see Jellal again, though I cannot understand why. Would you care to explain exactly who he is to you? You said something about owing him your life, but I'm confused. If he's so important to you then why have you never bothered to mention him before now?"

"It's nothing personal, it's just that it never came up. I first met him about 7 years ago, not long after the Sky Dragon Grandeeny disappeared. I went looking for her and I eventually ended up meeting him, and he told me he was on his own too and asked me if I wanted to join him on his journey. We ended up travelling together from that day forward, we didn't know where we were going but I don't think either of us really cared. We travelled together for a few months, and he always looked after me. But then one day he started acting strange, he mentioned something called an Anima, and then he decided that we shouldn't travel together anymore, saying that it was too dangerous. I didn't want to, but once we got beyond the forest we were in, he left me at the Cait Shelter guild, and I've been there ever since."

"So then what happened to him after the two of you parted ways?"

"That was the last time I ever saw him, but I did hear rumors every now and then. First there were people saying there was a member of the council that looked like him, and the most recent ones were all about how he had been doing these incredibly evil deeds. That's so silly, he would never think about doing such horrible things. I wonder, do you think he even remembers me anymore?"

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Meanwhile, near Nirvana…

Luke and the others made their way closer to where Nirvana was being unleashed, but then the former stopped their party in their tracks "He's up ahead, I can smell him. This is it Erza, are you sure you can face him?"

"I'll have to either way." Erza told him flatly "As grateful as I am for you looking out for me, now isn't the time for you to try and shield me from reality."

"I know that damn well, now let's go."

"Right." so they made their way forward to where Jellal was standing near the core of the magic being unleashed, with Erza being too stunned to speak.

Luke spared a quick glance back at where Cobra was hiding '_If I had to guess then I would say he didn't expect me to survive his poison, though he probably did sense me coming. He'll try and stop us from taking down Jellal before Nirvana is fully activated, so we'll have to ready oursevles for a fight.'_

"Jellal."

"Erza…" Jellal slowly looked up to meet her glare.

"Now tell us, how did you end up here?"

"I… I cannot answer that question. Erza… who is that?"

"What?"

"I have no memories to call my own, and yet I can remember that name." he suddenly grabbed his head "I have no knowledge of who I am or where I came from… Can either of you tell me, do either of you know? At least tell me who Erza is. Please, if you know then I need you to tell me."

"Jellal…"

Luke spared a quick glance over at Erza to see the tears brimming in her eyes '_His memory has been wiped clean? I wasn't expecting that.'_

"Jellal…" Erza started slowly walking towards him, her gaze hardening further with every step she took.

"Stay back, stay away!" Jellal suddenly fired at Erza with a blast of magic energy, though it did little more than leave a slight mark on her face.

"Fine then, if that's the case then you come to me. I'm the person you're looking for."

"So then… you're Erza?"

"She is." Luke told him calmly "And I am Luke. You are Jellal. There was once a time the two of you were close friends."

"We… We were?"

"We were." Erza confirmed it, her expression still stoic "However, that was from a time before you became derranged, you desecrated the dead, you hurt many of the people that I hold dear to my heart, you destroyed the Magic Council and you killed Simon." her face slowly twisted into suppressed rage "Let me make this clear, if you even dare to think about trying to forget about the pain you've caused, the people that you've hurt, I swear I'll take my sword to your heart and engrave it there! Now come to me, face the atonement for the crimes you've committed!"

"I… I did that to people I called my friends?" tears started streaming down his face "What have I done?"

Luke and Bolt watched the exchange between them from the sidelines in silence '_The look in his eyes, he's being sincere about this.'_

"Please no, tell me it's not true. Tell me, how can I make amends?"

'_It doesn't even feel like we're dealing with the same person.'_

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Meanwhile, with our washed away heroes…

Lucy's eyes snapped open and she bolted upright, only to find her wounds treated and her clothes replaced with a new outfit "Okay… first question, who treated these? Second question, who changed my clothes?"

"I thought garments from the Celestial World would suit you." Virgo was quick to get her attention "As for who dressed you, that would be me."

"Wait a second, Virgo?!"

"At your service Princess."

That was when Natsu bolted upright "Okay, so now where the hell am I?"

"I also took the liberty of providing Sir Natsu with a matching set of clothing."

"Cool as that is nevermind that now, where's that weird light thing?" Natsu looked over at where the light from Nirvana was shining high into the air "Woah."

"Indeed."

"Well we're definitely closer." Lucy noted "But it looks a lot different compared to what we were seeing before."

"Yes, the light emitting from that spot changed from black to white while the two of you were unconscious."

"I wonder what it means."

"Son of a-" Natsu's vein started throbbing comically, but then he just let out a sigh, which freaked Lucy out, and then he shot her a grin "Hey Lucy, thanks a ton for saving my butt back there."

"Yeah sure, don't mention it. I just hope that the others are doing okay, even if we did somehow manage to take Angel down she was only one of six."

"Speaking of which, where the hell is Happy? And now that I think about it, wasn't one of those freaks from Blue Pegasus with you, and wasn't a certain blonde supposed to stay with Luke and the others?"

"I was, but we got split up after you charged off like a crazed bull!"

"Well then why the hell are wasting time standing around when we should be running towards the light?"

"Did you say it like that on purpose."

"Maybe, you don't know what I do."

"...That explains so much."

"I'm happy I could serve you Princess, until next time." Virgo promptly bowed to the two of them and then left.

"Wait Virgo hold on a second! _That's right, I never summoned her. She must have crossed over using her own magic power, but does that mean I'm all out of mine?'_ Lucy jumped when she heard a rustling in the bushes, only to relax slightly when she saw Xian reveal himself "Oh it's just you Xian, hey I'm glad you're okay and all but did you have to scare me?"

"Wait a second…" Natsu stared long and hard at Xian for a moment, until the realization dawned on him "Yeah I knew it, you remind me of Iron Fist!"

"You wanna run that by me again?"

"Look I saw this Spider Man cartoon that showed this chi user or whatever, and I swear this guy has been making."

"...It scares me how your brain works sometimes. Anyway Xian, what are you doing here and where are the others?"

"I can sense him." Xian's aura was slowly flickering between gold and black "I can sense the energy of the one who brought death and destruction everywhere he went… he is dead because of this man, and her life has been ruined ever further… I cannot allow this to stand…"

"Get the hell down!" that was when Gray burst onto the scene and tackled Xian to the ground, causing his darkening aura to subside "Sorry guys but I think he might be possessed, first he punches me out talking about how I disrupted the balance or something, and now he's talking about how the evil one is back and ruined _her _life or something. He's been acting seriously out of it even since that light showed up, not to mention Erza took off awhile ago to find out what that's about. Have you guys seen anything?"

"Well I know I have, and I know that I owe you a kick in the icicles for that crap you pulled on me earlier." Natsu snarled at him, his tone bitter.

"Come again?"

"You know damn well what I'm talking about."

"Take it easy Natsu, in case you hadn't noticed before that wasn't the real Gray doing all of that back there." Lucy told him.

"Doesn't matter, I wanna kick him in the icicles either way."

"You see, it's things like this that make me wonder how Gray survived being in the same guild as a bunch of lunatics like you."

Lucy and the others whipped around and their eyes widened "Lyon!"

Sure enough, Lyon limped his way out of the bushes, carrying the unconscious form of Racer over his shoulder, only there was one glaring different about him "Yes yes I'm alive, although I would've thought you guys would have more faith in me than that."

"I had faith in you." Gray pointed out "You might not look it but you're tough as fuck, and I can only say that about Craig Robinson. Though not gonna lie, there is one thing about you I wasn't expecting."

"Oh, you mean this?" Lyon looked down at the stump where his left arm used to be, covered in dried blood "Yes, that was far closer than I was hoping for it to be. Even after I tried to put some distance between us and the lacrima bomb strapped to him, I spent every ounce of magic power I had left trying to keep the blast at bay. I was able to do so, but at a cost. It took me awhile to recover and treat the wound before I ended up bleeding out."

"Sounds like you had as rough of a time as the rest of us did." Lucy noted.

"Speaking of which Salamander, where the hell did you find that get up?"

"Why is that?" Natsu gave a cocky smirk "You jealous?"

"Do you actually hear some of the things you say?" Lyon just rolled his eyes and glanced over to where Xian was lying on the ground "I didn't expect you to lose control of yourself so easily over something like this."

"I-I know…" Xian pulled himself to his knees as a dark energy emerged from his body and quickly evaporated "I'm truly sorry for all that I've done… when a Chi warrior's balance is distured, the actions they commit and the emotions they go through are almost entirely unpredictable."

"Looked to me like you were being possessed by something, so I guess that had a fair part in it too."

"Yeah, no kidding." Lucy muttered "But now we're running out of time."

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Erza continued her staredown with Jellal, her mind racing '_Jellal…'_

"Erza listen up." Luke quickly got her attention "As much as I hate to interrupt, we have some unwanted company." he jerked a thumb back.

Sure enough, this was when Cobra chose to reveal himself from his hiding place "Alright listen up Jellal, if you've lost your memory then that explains why I wasn't able to hear your thoughts up to this point, but now I've got a whole slew of questions for you to answer."

"I was wondering when you were going to reveal yourself."

"So you noticed, I guess I should be impressed but I'll get to you soon enough. Anyway Jellal, I want to know how it is you were able to track down Nirvana. But even more than that, I want to know how the hell you broke its seal."

Jellal breathed a long sigh "While I was still unconscious, I found myself hearing a voice that stated that it must have Nirvana. It's strange, but when I woke up I some how knew precisely where to find it. Somehow I could also sense how incredibly dangerous and powerful it is, and so I made a decision to break the seal on Nirvana, in order to obliterate it." this was met with various stunned looks.

"How exactly do you intend to destroy something like that?" asked Luke.

"I rigged this monstrosity with a self destruction circle, so it's only a matter of time before Nirvana crushes itself."

"What?!" Cobra was quick to rush forward and try to stop the self destruction, but he found himself having very little success '_Dammit, this is bad. I've never seen a magic circle with this kind of complexity before, if I can't find a way to stop this then we'll lose everything! _Alright start talking Jellal, tell me how to disarm it or I'll beat it out of you!"

Rather than give the answer, Jellal stumbled forward slightly and started coughing "Erza… it's strange, but whenever I hear that name a calm sensation washes over me… Cheerfulness, kindness, fierce unwavering loyalty." he looked up at Erza and gave a smile "I have no doubt in my mind that you will continue to despise me, believe me when I say that I don't blame you for such a thing. I would most likely feel the same. If I am truly one you called a friend once, then I cannot allow that hatred to keep robbing you of your freedom." a complex magic circle suddenly formed on his chest.

"But… What are you saying?" Erza finally found her voice again.

"I'm sorry that my actions have caused you to suffer. I promise you, I intend to do everything I can to make it right. Be free from hatred Erza, escape from your past." Jellal started to fall back into the white light "I will take your pain and your sadness, all of it. Such things cannot shackle you anymore."

Luke and the others stood on the sidelines, watching in disbelief, though the former was more composed than the others '_He's seriously going through with it, he's sacrificing himself just like that? It seems weird to think that this is the same guy I fought in the Tower of Heaven.'_

"Erza, I bid you farewell." Jellal allowed himself to fall back onto the ground, supposedly accepting his fate.

"JELLAL!" in a move that shocked everyone present, Erza rushed towards Jellal and yanked him up by his coller, only to see the self-destruction square on his chest spreading "Don't do this, don't you dare do this!"

'_Dammit, this is bad.' _Cobra gritted his teeth '_If Jellal goes down, then he's taking with him the only way to shut down the self destruction circle!'_

"Listen to me Jellal, you can't do this! I won't allow you to die like this! You have to atone for the sins you've committed! It doesn't mean anything if you die now like this, ignorant of what you've done! You need to own your guilt, and you need to live! JELLAL!" tears began streaming down her face.

At this, Jellal's eyes snapped open, and he gave Erza a small smile "Erza, please don't cry. You have no reason to." this caused her tears to stop flowing "Yes… you're a good person."

"Jellal, come on you have to pull yourself together!"

"He's not the only one." Luke turned to face the new arrival, dropping into a combat stance as his hand rested on the hilt of his sword as he motioned for Bolt to hide "Hate to interrupt again guys, but we've got some more company."

Sure enough, that was when Brain revealed himself on the scene "What could be the meaning of all of this foolishness?"

'_So the leader finally decides to reveal himself.'_

"A magic circle of self-destruction."

"You can thank Jellal for that." Cobra told him "We've gone through all this trouble to bring about Nirvana, and this idiot is trying to destroy it!" he was met with only a smirk.

"Spare me the hysterics Cobra, keep in mind that I don't answer to the name Brain by mere chance. Tell me, do you know how I came to be called that? I once worked at the Bureau of Magical Development. During my tenure there I produced hundreds of spells, including those designed to bring destruction, such as this one. I still hold that knowledge within my mind to this very day." he made his way toward the light of Nirvana "In fact, I was the one who taught you how to use them, or have you forgotten Jellal?" he looked down at him "You mastered it in record time too, but you wanted to take it further. So it seems that he's placed himself under one as well, he intends to take the disarm code with him to the grave then does he?"

"Hate to break it to you Brain, but I don't think he's gonna be travelling down memory lane with you. Sorry, but it looks like all of that ethernano wiped all of it out." Cobra was met with only a laugh from Brain.

"Is that so? How comical. No matter, we have no further need of his assistance. I know how to nullify the magic circle in question, quite simply actually." and so with but a simple wave of his hand, Brain nullified the magic circle of self destruction with ease.

"Hot damn, nice one." Cobra gave a smirk.

"You tried your best Jellal, but now Nirvana is finally under my control!"

"You're forgetting one thing." Luke stepped forward with his sword Raiden drawn, both his body and the blade crackling with electricity "Both Erza and I are still here and standing in your way, and we're not moving anytime soon."

"It matters little Dragon Slayer, very little. Now then, arise Nirvana and reveal your true face to all!" this caused the ground beneath all of them to begin to give way."

'_Dammit, this is bad!'_

"Yes, yes it's about damn time!" Cobra's face had pretty much lit up like a Christmas tree "Yes, I can hear it! The sound of the future, the sound of light crashing to the ground!"

Erza could only look on in horror as Jellal fell into the light below "No, Jellal!"

"Erza hang on!" Luke quickly grabbed her by the arm with one hand, his other hand firmly holding onto Bolt as they were flown above the carnage unfolding."

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It didn't take long for Wendy and Carla to notice the carnage unfolding "This is bad, I think it's getting worse."

"Quickly child, we have to get to safety." Carla told her.

"No Carla, we can't!"

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Lyon and the rest of the group looked on in awe and dismay at the sight unfolding "So it looks as though our mission was a failure."

"HOLY SHIT!" Natsu had pretty much exploded.

"And of course, your reaction is the most over the top."

"I hope it's not as bad as it looks." Gray muttered.

"Hate to break it to you Gray, but I'm fairly certain it is."

"And once again, Luke and Erza are caught in the middle of it."

"This is fucking insane." Natsu muttered "It's like this is the second most dangerous thing I've ever smelled!"

"What the hell do you mean second?"

"Have you seen Lisanna angry?"

"Dude, it's still up for debate about whether or not Lisanna can even do angry."

"Oh yeah she can." this was followed by the true form of Nirvana bursting up from within the ground and destroying the ground above it "Yeah this is a definite second, but it's still got nothing on her."

"What the hell is this thing? It's going everywhere, and it doesn't even feel like magic. Does that mean this is Nirvana?"

"I don't know, but that really bad feeling is coming back again." Lucy muttered.

"Yeah you said it." and then the ground from beneath them burst up to reveal another portion of the body of Nirvana bursting up from beneath them "What the hell did I tell you?!"

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Wendy quickly found herself being blown high into the air by all of the chaos unfolding, only for her to be caught by Carla and flown above it into the air "Carla!"

"It's alright child, I've got you." Carla assured her.

"Thanks." but then they noticed something in the distance, which turned out to be the massive form of an ancient city "Wait Carla, look over there! Do you see that?"

"I do, but… could that be Nirvana?"

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"YES!" by this point, Brain was basking in the glory of his triumph "Yes, at long last I have finally obtained it, the ultimate weapon to extinguish light! The legendary reversal magic in all of its glory, Nirvana! Those near sighted guilds will cling to their piety, their fellowship and their trust! But now, such things will be stripped of their meaning!"

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Meanwhile, with our heroes…

At the same time, Luke was holding onto the side of Nirvana, with Erza and the others hanging onto him for dear life "You guys doing okay?"

"Given the circumstances, we could be a lot better." Erza looked down at Jellal "Listen to me very carefully Jellal. The magic circle you placed on yourself before, I need you to undo it this instant. You have duty and it requires you to stay alive."

"But, I failed…" Jellal looked down in shame "I wasn't able to stop Nirvana, and now the world is doomed."

"Yeah yeah we get it." Bolt grabbbed Jellal by the hair "We get the shtick, you've got red in your ledger and you need to wipe it out."

"What?"

"I get it, Black Widow reference, nice." Luke caught Bolt in a quick fist bump, and then he helped Jellal to his feet "Anyway you're wrong about that, if there's one thing I've learned in my time at Fairy Tail, it's that there's always hope. Take a look over there." he jerked a thumb over at a comotion in the distance "Natsu and the others are making their way here as we speak, and when they show up you know that things are gonna get crazy."

"In a good way or in a bad way?"

"Yes. Anyway, my point is that as long as we still have breath in our lungs, all of us keep hope alive inside our hearts. That hope is what guides us on the road of life, so that's exactly why you have to live."

"...You're right. I will. Now let's go, um…"

"Luke, the name is Luke Drako. You might not remember this, but I was the one who defeated you last time we met. Anyway let's get moving you guys, we have work to do."

"Right." Jellal accepted the hand being held out to him by Erza.

"Of course, knowing what Natsu is like, he'll probably try to punch the thing until it gives out, so we should probably get moving. You know what hold that thought, I should probably go do some damage control. Bolt let's get moving, Erza and Jellal you better guys get to work." so on that note, Luke grabbed onto Bolt and wound up soaring off into the distance.

Jellal shared a look with Erza, in which they both nodded and promptly set off on foot as fast as they could.

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Meanwhile, with Natsu's party…

Gray and Lucy glanced back, but neither were amused to see Natsu already beginning to wretch further down from them "Oh for fuck's sake, you've gotta be kidding me! Of all the times for you to start getting sick, there's no way in hell you could do it now!"

"I'm sorry…" Natsu tried to hold it in, to his obvious pain "I can't help it…"

"Well you've gotta try dammit!"

"This thing's moving… from one place to another…"

"It may be moving but it's not like it's a vehicle! Don't think of it that way you idiot!"

"I… Hey yeah, you're right!" Natsu bolted to his feet and started stomping his way up the path… but he only got about 10 feet before he felt it again "Nope, you're wrong and it hurts like a mother fucker."

"Just think of it like a giant octopus, being on the back of a giant animal doesn't hurt you like that does it?"

"An octopus in the woods is all kinds of wrong?"

"Don't try and make sense out of a giant Transformer robot moving around in the middle of the woods turning people to the dark side of the Force!"

"That fucks up so many franchises… But you're right Gray, all I have to do right now is get my mind at ease." but then Nirvana started walking "Woah…"

"For fuck's sake you idiot, just stay alert!"

"I know what I'm doing icicles, this is a piece of cake!" and then Nirvana took another step, which sent Natsu comically falling into the Worth Woodsea below, until…

"Coming in hot, just hang tight!" lucky for him, that was when Luke soared down towards him with Bolt carrying him and he grabbed Natsu while he was still in mid air "Sorry I'm late, but I'm back and better than ever."

"You're damn right you are, now hold on while I hurl." he then proceeded to hurl over the Worth Woodsea.

"Oh joy, first I take a blow for Erza and get bitten by a poisonous snake, then I have to watch you puke up yesterday's lunch and whatever Lisanna did to you all over some random forest in the middle of what I think is the apocalypse. Anyway if you're done, then just hold on for a quick second." he motioned for Bolt to take them back up, and once they were high enough he promptly flung Natsu back onto the leg of Nirvana next to Gray and Lucy "Just hold onto him for the time being and head in there so you can see what it's like on the inside, Bolt and I are gonna take it all the way to the top."

"Got it!" so on that note Gray and Lucy promptly grabbed Natsu and dragged him with them as they went inside Nirvana.

Now on their own, Luke and Bolt promptly soared up the legs of Nirvana until they came across something very interesting "Woah, wasn't expecting this."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Bolt muttered "It looks like some kind of creepy old city like something you would probably seen in Game of Thrones."

"Put the references aside for now, not only can I sense their magic power but I can smell both of them too."

"We go in?"

"Oh yeah."

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Cobra looked around the top of Nirvana and shot a smirk at Brain "I've gotta hand it to you, you actually pulled it off. You got us Nirvana, a city that's been long dead brought back to life after all this time. How about you Cubellios, don't you think this is amazing?" he was met with a hissing from his snake.

"Yes, indeed it is." Brain let out a chuckle "Behold Cobra, take a good long look at the world that now spreads out beneath our feet. An entire city, unshackled from time and from the Earth itself. This is the true form of Nirvana, and from this seat of power, I can move this city to anywhere I see fit!"

"Is that right? Well I'm sure you've got somewhere in mind, so where the hell are we going from here?"

"I know exactly what our first target is going to be, in the form of a certain guild hall."

"So we're starting with a bang then are we?"

"Indeed we are, it shall be the first of many lights to be extinguished." Brain held up his staff and a perimeter of magic circles surrounded them "The time has come Nirvana, the time for you to begin your march has come to us! Transform my darkness into light!" but then he noticed something descending from above "What in the-"

"**Lightning Dragon TALON!" **that was when Luke descended from above with a lightning enhanced kick that missed Brain only by a few centimeters "Hate to break it to you guys, actually no I don't, but I'm putting the breaks on this thing."

"Dammit, the lightning dragon!"

"If you thought that poisoning me was enough to keep me from protecting my comrades, then you're in for one hell of a rude awakening! **Lightning Dragon ROAR!" **Luke breathed out a powerful blast of lightning.

"Dammit!" Brain was forced to use his magic to shield himself "Don't waste time Cobra, stop this wretched fool at once!"

"I hear you, Cubellios do your thing!" Cobra quickly sent his snake forward.

"Not this time!" Luke grabbed onto Bolt and allowed himself to be flown out of the way of the snake's attack "I'm not one of those people who fall for the same trick twice."

"We'll see about that!" Cobra blitzed in front of Luke and aimed claw attack at his face, only to be met with a fist to the gut and a kick to the face that sent him flying backwards, only for him to be saved by Cubellios, which had apparently sprouted wings "And for the record, you're not the only one who has a few tricks up his sleeve."

"...Okay, not gonna lie, I wasn't expecting the flying snake."

"And I wasn't expecting you to be puking your guts out when you're riding your cat, I thought vehicles made you sick or something."

"It's different for animals compared to actual vehicles, besides you can't upchuck if you've got nothing in you to chuck."

"So what then, you have to stay in the air while Nirvana is moving because being on there during that will make you hurl?"

"Weren't you listening? I've got nothing in me to hurl right now. All I have to do is take down you and the Grand Hancho down there, then stop this giant Death Star reject."

"You're gonna need the luck of the devil to do that."

"I'm pretty sure the term is luck of the Irish."

"You mean that one Disney movie? Whatever, my point is that there's no way in hell you're gonna get near Brain. Bring it on so called Lightning Dragon Slayer."

"Bring it on, I'll take care of you before I go for the Brain. Bolt, let's go." Luke promptly soared ahead towards Cobra, then suddenly made a beeline towards Brain himself '_I can't waste too much time on him, take off the head and the rest of the snake will fall with it.'_

"Not so fast!" Cobra quickly tried to attack them using Cubellios' tail, only for Luke to leap above it at the last second "If you wanna get to Brain, then you're gonna have to go through me first, and there's no way that's going to happen."

'_Dammit, not only are his reflexes fast but it's like he knew what I was going to do.'_

"The magic I use allows me to hear your movements before you even make them."

"So you can basically read minds?"

"Call it whatever you want, but I say we have some fun."

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By this point, Wendy and Carla had returned to the ground of the city of Nirvana, due to the exhaustion the latter was dealing with "I'm sorry that was so hard for you Carla, I wish I could help out more."

"Don't worry about it child." Carla waved it off "We made it here, and we managed to do so mostly in one piece. But tell me, now that we've arrived what exactly is it that you plan for us to do? You're trying to find Jellal up here aren't you?"

"No I'm not!"

"Be honest with me child."

"...Well in a way, I guess I sort of am, but this thing does have to be stopped, so now that I'm here maybe there's something I can do about it to make that happen."

"Maybe…" but then Carla noticed something that froze her to the core "No…"

"What is it Carla, is there something wrong?"

"I don't know… I mean I could be wrong, but…" she wandered her way towards the edge of the city "Please don't tell me it's going where I think it's going."

"What do you mean, where do you think it's going?"

"If it continues to travel on the same course it is now, then very soon it will trample right over the home of the Cait Shelter guild."

"Wh-What?!"

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Meanwhile, back at the fight…

Luke continued his mid air battle against Cobra, his mind racing '_This is going nowhere, even if he can't land a hit on me it doesn't mean anything if I can't get him either. Clearly he has an advantage if I continue fighting him in the air like this, but can I risk my motion sickness by fighting on the ground?'_

"He's clearly more used to fighting in mid air than we are." Bolt pointed out "But we're gonna have to take him down quickly if we wanna get to fighting the Grand Hancho."

"I know that all too well Bolt, so are you ready? We're gonna have to give these guys a beat down and stop this Death Star reject right in its tracks."

"Right."

"Okay, so let's do this."

"Well now, this oughta be a riot." Cobra let out a chuckle "It ought be a great way to keep me entertained while we make the trip over to our next stop. Come on Thunderclap, why don't we get this fight started already?"

"As if you had to ask. Believe me when I say this, you're in for one hell of a fight."

**A/N:**

**And thus we move into the third act of six for the Oracion Seis arc, with two of the Seis now out of commission, one in the middle of a heated battle against our own main character, and one of the seis having switched sides due to the influence that comes with Nirvana. In simple terms, 3 down, 3 to go.**

**In regards to all of the Star Wars references: Come on guys, there's no way none of you were thinking of that too. I mean seriously, I never even watched any Star Wars stuff, unless you count the Family Guy parody episodes, and I totally get the reference in there.**

**Also, I'd like to take the opportunity to reevaluate my opinion of Ichiya and his lapdogs, aka the Trimens. While Ichiya's face haunts my dreamns and I do still consider Ren and Eve to be annoying, I actually do like Hibiki. He seems pretty cool to me.**

**For the record, when Natsu is talking about Xian, he's referencing the Ultimate Spider Man cartoon. I know it's gotten a considerable amount of hate, but it's honestly one of my favorites, and in all seriousness, Xian does remind me of Iron Fist a great deal. I don't know why, he just does.**

**So yes, while Lyon does survive the explosion of Racer's lacrima bomb, but at a serious cost: losing his left arm, which adds a new level of suspense and tension to the overall arc, something that Fairy Tail tends to lack at times.**

**Yep, while this chapter might end on a cliffhanger, it's setting up for a showdown between Dragon Slayers. Luke vs Cobra, Lightning vs Poison.**

**Now then, before I conclude these notes, I want to go on record and thank everyone who's reviewed, favorited or followed this story since its first chapter back in June of 2019. Since then, this has officially become my most popular story of all time! I could never have reached this milestone without all of your support, so thank you all for that.**


	23. Oracion Seis IV

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**Ragnas Bredvolts (ch 22): **Wow, you REALLY hate Jellal don't you? Anyway, putting that aside for now, I'm glad to see you liked the chapter. I'm not rushing you, take your time to read each update. Yes, I don't even watch Star Wars and I could see the similarities to it with the concept of Nirvana. Luke and Cobra's battle is one I've been looking forward to since Luke has been out of action for so long. Cobra may be at a disadvantage in terms of power, but his mind reading and reaction time do give him an advantage. As for Lucy's pairing, I don't know where the idea came from to pair her with God Serena, but that sure as hell isn't going to be happening in this story. I'm as open minded as the next guy, but that pairing makes no sense. But there will be no threesomes, that's where I draw the line. As for My Hero Academia, I keep up with the anime, not the manga. But anyway, I hope you continue to enjoy this story, and you have a nice day as well my friend.

**Ragnas Bredvolts (ch 21): **Don't worry about it, truth be told I think the problem is that you made the entire thing one word. Anyway, no harm done so don't worry.

**NovaBeast13: **Sounds interesting, I'll have to check it out later.

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Nightfall came, and the moon was shining brighlty as Nirvana continued marching closer to the Cait Shelter guild, step by step.

Luke continued his mid air battle against Cobra, his mind racing '_This is going nowhere, even if he can't land a hit on me it doesn't mean anything if I can't get him either. Clearly he has an advantage if I continue fighting him in the air like this, but can I risk my motion sickness by fighting on the ground?'_

"He's clearly more used to fighting in mid air than we are." Bolt pointed out "But we're gonna have to take him down quickly if we wanna get to fighting the Grand Hancho."

"I know that all too well Bolt, so are you ready? We're gonna have to give these guys a beat down and stop this Death Star reject right in its tracks."

"Right."

"Okay, so let's do this."

"Well now, this oughta be a riot." Cobra let out a chuckle "It ought be a great way to keep me entertained while we make the trip over to our next stop. Come on Thunderclap, why don't we get this fight started already?"

"As if you had to ask. Believe me when I say this, you're in for one hell of a fight."

"Hold that thought for a second lover boy, check it out." Bolt pointed down at the city below them.

"What's up?"

"I thought that magic circle disappeared after that last attack, but it looks like either we missed it or Grand Hancho down there put a new one up in its place."

"Which means that as long as he's still standing, he'll keep putting them back up. We've gotta cut the head off to get the rest of the body."

"You say that like it's going to be easy." Cobra shot him a smirk "I hate to break it to you, no I don't actually, but you're dead wrong."

"I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you, I spent over a year training to protect those I hold dear, and I have no intention of letting that training go to waste."

"I think we'll see about that."

"Enough prattling Cobra, handle these fools for me." Brain told him.

"As if you had to ask, besides Cubellios could use a snack right about now."

"Go ahead and try to swallow us, I'll just claw my way out." Luke told him flatly.

"We'll see about that, now go forward Cubellios!" so Cobra promptly charged in to begin the battle.

"Don't think I'm gonna go down so easily! **Lightning Dragon Surge!" **Luke unleashed a surge of electricity from his hand.

"And you missed." Bolt noted dryly.

"Doesn't matter, I just need some time to get a grip on mid air combat. **Dragon Sword Style: Thunderclap Strike!" **Luke pointed his sword Raiden forward and unleashed a blast of lightning from the blade, only for Cobra and Cubellios to weave their way around the blast, albeit with some difficulty "Well that didn't work."

"One would think that at least one of your attacks is going to hit him, so much for the guy who defeated a Wizard Saint."

"Spare me the Rick and Morty levels of snark, I told you before that mid-air combat isn't particularly my forte, so I need some time to get a grip."

"You're not getting enough time for that." Cobra promptly attacked them with Cubellios' tail, only for Luke to whip out of the way at the last second "Besides it's like I told you before, I know the moves you're gonna make before you even make them. There's no way you'll ever be able to land a hit on me."

"Keep thinking that for as long as you can, just because you have superhearing doesn't mean you have enough power to back it up." Luke had Bolt release his grip on him, then suddenly blitzed directly above Cobra "**Lightning Dragon TALON!" **he promptly attacked Cobra with a lightning enhanced kick.

Cobra dodged the attack for the most part, but still received a slight burn across the side of his face from the attack, leaving him pissed "I guess he wasn't kidding around, bastard's faster than he looks."

"Speaking of fast, hey Bolt it's time for a pickup!" fortuntately Luke was caught by Bolt before he hit the ground "Thanks for the pickup, and for not letting me go splat."

"Considering how you keep trying to clear out my stash back home, it's not like it wasn't tempting." Bolt shot him a grin "So where is he? I don't see him."

"Probably trying to come at me from my blind spot.

"Maybe, maybe not!" Cobra and Cubellios blitzed behind Luke in his blind spot and attempted to smack him with its tail, only to narrowly miss "You can run as much as you like, it just makes hunting you weaklings all the more fun to me."

"Yep, classic bad guy routine, enjoys torturing people for shits and giggles."

"We must be dealing with one lonely bastard." Bolt noted "Chicks don't dig the cocky type, one can only imagine how many nights he spends masturbating."

"...Ignoring that, dive bomb into that building." they dove into the building "I'll hide around a corner and try to get the drop on him." he lowered his voice to a whisper "Make sure you're as quiet as you can be." once the wall next to them was shattered, Luke whipped out his sword and made the slash, only to end up striking air "Okay, that idea seemed better in my head."

"Like I'd fall for that!" Cobra kneed Luke square in the face, only to end up receiving a simultaneous kick to the jaw, sending both of them skidding backwards, but Cobra shot them a pissed off glare as he wiped the blood from his lip "Okay, not bad. But seriously you annoying pains in my ass, I might be cocky but I'm not a chronic masturbator. That's Racer's thing, not mine."

'_And he apparently heard that, just how advanced is this guy's super hearing?'_

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By this point, Gray, Lucy and the still incapacitated form of Natsu had entered the abandoned city and met up with Hoteye and Jura, only for all of them to encounter Midnight not long after this.

After revealing his true name to the other members of the Allied Forces with him, Hoteye then made the decision to battle against Midnight himself while Jura and the others continued onwards towards the King's summit.

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Meanwhile, with Luke vs Cobra…

The battle above the city of Nirvana continued.

Cobra had Cubellios fly out of the way of Luke's next oncoming attack "You realize this isn't gonna go anywhere for you, it's not like I'm just gonna roll over and die for you."

"I wouldn't expect anything less." Luke raised his sword for another attack "But if you think that either one of us is gonna roll over and die for you, then you're gonna be in for one hell of a rude awakening."

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you."

"This is bad." Bolt muttered "It's like whatever magic he's using is allowing him to predict our moves before we actually make them."

"Actually I bother listening, that's a lot more than what you can say about a certain Salamander in the middle of puking his guts out down there."

"Sad thing is he's probably not wrong."

"My point is that I can hear what your next move is going to be because I can read your thoughts even as we speak?"

"If that's true, then what's my cat thinking about right now?" Luke was met with only the sound of a growling stomach.

"I don't need to use magic to know that your cat has chicken wings on the brain, and something about special brownies. Okay they've got weed in them, that makes sense."

"Trust me it's not fun, you try having your talking cat with wings hide brownies filled with weed in your underwear drawer."

"You haven't seen what I've had to feed Cubellios." then Cobra started reading Luke's mind, and he shot a smirk "Not gonna lie, I never noticed the similarities between Star Wars and Nirvana before. I mean switching people to the dark side, a Death Star with legs, that's actually kind of obvious now that I think about it."

"See, you get what I'm talking about. I've never even seen any of the Star Wars movies and I get that. _The only question is, how do I get around this guy's mind reading.'_

"Hang tight for a second, I think I have an idea." Bolt told him "I know how to get around his mind reading abilities and wreck his shit like something straight out of Dragon Ball."

"Are you planning on having me think about attacking from the right while I'm really attacking from the left?"

"...I'm still a little bit stoned from before we left."

"Well that figures."

"You're not wrong either." Cobra pointed out "For the record, your cat isn't the first one to come up with that plan and he probably won't be the last, I just hope that you're gonna be more original next time."

"Figures." Luke took a deep breath and fell silent, his expression calm as he and Cobra stared each other down for a moment.

"Now that approach has a lot more originality going for it, trying to flood your mind with various different thoughts. Must be painful having about half a dozen in there at once, and none of them are even that bad, but it's gonna take a lot more than that."

"I figured as much. _This isn't good charging him head on while using a fighting style I'm not used to could get me killed. God Serena said something about thinking too much when you're in a fight, but what was it again? Right, he said that if you spend too much thinking about what's coming, you lose sight of what you're dealing with in the present. I have to be fully in the moment so that I can fight without having to think. I have to find the space between my thoughts and learn to live there. Now that I think about it, that's probably what Natsu does. Okay, find the space between my thoughts. Don't think, just do. _Come on Bolt, let's move." and so they charged forward.

'_Dammit come on, I can't ready any of his thoughts now!' _Cobra quickly gave up on this and tried to weave out of the way of a slash from Raiden, only to be met with a quick kick to the jaw that sent him flying backwards, but he quickly stopped himself and wiped the blood away from his lip "How did you-"

"**Lightning Dragon Surge!" **faster than he could react, Luke blitzed in front of Cobra and unleashed a surge of electricity directly onto Cobra's chest, blowing him back and sending him flying right off Cubellios' back.

'_Dammit what the hell is going on, why can't I hear him anymore? Did he really find the space in between his thoughts?' _Cobra quickly rebounded onto the back of Cubellios just in time to grab the blade of Luke's sword in the middle of his attack "I guess not all members of the light guilds are morons, I can only think of one other time anyone has landed this many hits on me."

"Take it from someone who actually has a crutch implaned into his back, relying too much on parlor tricks isn't gonna be enough to help you win in a serious fight."

"I figured as much, but that's not the only trick I have up my sleeve." Cobra's arm suddenly covered itself in dragon scales and he coated both the blade and part of Luke's arm in what looked like a deep red poison.

Luke retracted his arm in pain and put Raiden back in its sheath '_The power I'm sensing, don't tell me that this guy is…'_

"You guessed it right, you're dealing with a Poison Dragon Slayer now."

"So that familiar sensation I was feeling from wasn't just my imagination after all, you really are a Dragon Slayer. Why am I not surprised?" Luke wasted no time in dodging and weaving his way around Cobra's attacks, being sure to avoid his poisonous claws '_I can't tell how lethal his poison is, but considering one bit from his snake put me out of action before, I think it's safe to say it's pretty lethal.'_

"**Poison Dragon Talon!" **Cobra blitzed in front of Luke and dealt him a poison enhanced kick to the face, sending him spinning away from the collision and leaving poisonous black flames burning across his cheek.

'_Dammit…' _Luke spat out some blood '_I can feel that he doesn't have much packing in terms of raw power, but every time he attacks me I can feel my body beginning to get numb. It must be the corrosive effects of his draconic poison.'_

"Your pain is like music to my ears, all you need is one hit from a Poison Dragon Slayer and that will be more than enough to leave you as good as dead."

"It's gonna take a lot more than that to leave me out of action, if I wasn't scared facing off against a Wizard Saint then you sure as hell can't do that job. My lightning against your poison, why don't the two of us find out which one is more potent." Luke's body began crackling with electricity "I think it's time for us to kick things up a notch."

"I couldn't agree more Thunderclap, it's time for you to fester and fall. **Poison Dragon Fang Thrust!" **Cobra unleashed a wave of poison shape like a large and fanged snake head, and he sent it hurtling forward.

"**Lightning Dragon ROAR!" **Luke breathed out a powerful blast of lightning that crashed right through Cobra's poisonous wave, the force of the collision blowing both parties back a great distance, leaving Luke to crash through one of the abandoned buildings of Nirvana. He quickly pulled himself back to his feet and forced himself not to hurl '_At least I can control my motion sickness to a certain degree, that's more than can be said for other Dragon Slayers.'_

"Hang tight, I've gotcha." Bolt grabbed onto Luke and hoisted him back into the air "You feeling better yet?"

"Like I said, you can't upchuck if you have nothing to chuck. I can power through this at least until we take this guy down."

"Well now, you're a resilient." Cobra shot him a smirk "Finally, it's been awhile since I had a decent challenge, let alone had to use my Dragon Slayer magic."

"I have no intention of going down against an enemy that tries to hurt my friends, I have no intention of making you an exception to that rule." Luke's magic power surged even higher as he and Bolt then he charged forward.

Cobra quickly leapt out of the way of his attack and then landed on Cubellios "Looks like someone is starting to get desperate. It must be so hard for you, you might have brains but you've got a crappy disposition that weighs it down."

'_Dammit this is getting me nowhere, finding the space in between my thoughts was working before, but figuring out that he was a Dragon Slayer shook me out of it. I have to find a way to put the breaks on my thoughts, dammit this is so much easier for people like Natsu. I have to find the space in between my thoughts and live there, if I don't then he's just going to keep reading my thoughts and this fight will never end. Remember Luke, in order to win against him you have to fight without thinking. Don't think, just do.' _Luke took a deep breath in order to center himself, his thoughts momentarily racing, then ceasing altogether.

"You gonna turn off your brain anytime soon?" Bolt interrupted him "You've gotta turn off your thoughts or he's just gonna keep screwing with you. I thought it wouldn't be that hard for you to turn off your brain, it's not like many people in Fairy Tail use theirs to begin with."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? Just because Natsu and Gajeel don't use their brains, that automatically means that I don't?"

"What I'm saying is that you've gotta pull that stick out of your ass, instead of wasting time thinking things through you've gotta go with your gut. Quit wasting time and start fighting, do what those impulsive jackasses do."

"You're saying you want me to be an impulsive douchemonkey?"

"If it means getting the job done faster then I say you hurry the hell up and just use Dragon Force on him or something!"

"You know how much of my magic power that form uses, try using your head."

"Which is what you do way too much of."

"Which is supposed to compensate for certain other wizards not using anywhere near as much as they should."

Cobra eyed both Luke and Bolt during their exchange, then looked down at Cubellios, his expression appearing to be one of disappointment '_These two…'_

"You know what fuck it, let's just do this already. I'm already wasting time as it is."

"For once we agree Thunderclap, let's get back to the fight already. **Poison Dragon… Spiral Jaw!" **Cobra hurtled towards Luke with a poison enhanced spiralling kick.

"**Lightning Dragon TALON!" **Luke countered the kick with his own lightning enhanced kick, the attacks colliding and sending both of them spiralling backwards and crashing to the ground of the city of Nirvana. Once he pulled himself back to his feet, Luke glanced up to see one of the massive torches lighting up the city was falling towards them, but rather than panic, his expression only dulled '_Why am I not surprised that something is about to crush me? Maybe this is a sign that I need to reevaluate how I make life decisions. Well, only one thing to do.' _and then they supposedly got crushed by the massive torch, resulting in the explosion that followed. When the explosion subsided, the flames that resulted were blown away by a suddenly burst of magic power, courtesy of Luke, his body heavily crackling with electricity "It's times like this I'm really grateful for Thunder Drive."

Cobra observed this from his place atop Cubellios "Looks like Thunderclap over there is finally getting serious, which means that we're about to have a real fight on our hands."

"You ready to do this?"

"I've gotta say that you're just full of surprises, kind of refreshing, but if you're done screwing around then I say it's time for us to finish this."

"On that we can agree." with his new level of speed and power, Luke easily weaved his way around Cobra's next set of attacks and started falling back "Hey come on now Snake Eyes, don't tell me that I'm too fast for you now."

"How about you get the fuck over here and say that to my face!"

"Or you can actually do something other than bark at me like a cocky jackass?"

"Fine! **Poison Dragon Scales!" **Cobra unleashed a barrage of poisonous blades from within a magic circle.

"Alright Bolt, I think you've saved up enough of your magic power. You ready to do your thing yet?"

"Way ahead of you. **Max Speed!" **Bolt pushed his flight speed to the max and rammed straight through a nearby building, but when he came back up into the air Luke wasn't with him.

Cobra was quick to take notice of this '_Where is he-'_

"**Lightning Dragon TALON!" **Luke soared down from above with a lightning enhanced kick armed and ready, only for it to be countered by a surge of poisonous energy from Cobra's hands, which were now covered in dragon scales.

"It's not gonna be enough you know, no matter how many times you try or now matter you you try you won't be able to hit me. I know every move before you can make it."

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean you can dodge it if I'm attacking at point blank range. **Lightning Dragon-" **Luke was cut off by Cobra grabbing him by the face and sending him flying, only for him to be caught by Bolt "Thanks for the save, and now it hurts to talk."

"Hey it seemed like a good idea at the time." Bolt told him flatly.

"Better than anything Natsu could've come up with, though that doesn't really say much when you think about it."

"Maybe not, but this does." Cobra shot them a smirk "I don't know about you, but all of this fighting has worked up one hell of an appetite for me. Cubellios, it's time for you to do your thing." this prompted Cubellios to unleash a cloud of poison, which he quickly consumed in a matter of seconds.

'_Okay, poison based Dragon Slayer magic + cloud of poison = I'm probably fucked. Plus considering the odds of him choking on it are pretty much nonexistent, I'd say this is probably going to be bad.'_

"Alright, now that I've gut a full gut I think it's time for us to get down to business. I hope you're ready Thunderclap, because it just so happens that I have a gift for you."

"Any chance I can exchange it for something I actually want?"

"Nope! **Poison Dragon ROAR!" **Cobra let out a roar, and with it came a powerful stream of poison.

Luke and Bolt were sent flying, but they managed to stop themselves in mid air, though the former spat out some blood "You call that a roar? Not packing much in terms of power if you ask me." and yet they suddenly lost a few feet in the air "Easy Bolt, I need you to hang in there for me little buddy."

"Easy for you to say." Bolt spat out some blood "Not all of us can train until we're built like fuckinig rhinos! I'm trying man, but frankly I can barely flap my wings."

"Try harder or we're gonna fucking die!"

"Well if I didn't have to carry you!"

"I do it for you all the time, as far as I'm concerined it's about damn time!"

"Spare me the squawking." Cobra promptly shut both of them up "How do the two of you like my Poison Dragon breath? Right now the virus it contains is flooding both of your bodies even as we speak, and each second that passes brings you that much closer to death. Your fates were both sealed the very second my breath attack hit you, if you would continue to fight now then it would be absolutely pointless."

"We get it, you use poison, let it go. I don't have anymore time to screw around with you, it's time for me to end this and shut you up for good." Luke's body began surging with electricity in the form of makeshift wings.

'_This bastard must have one hell of a death wish, but he's determined if nothing else.'_

"**Lightning Dragon… WING ATTACK!" **Luke burst forward and unleashed a two handed lightning attack that ended up blowing apart a good chunk of the city.

"Didn't I tell you I could hear you movements?" Cobra whipped his way around the attack with considerable ease "It doesn't matter if you can fight without thinking, I can hear the moves you make regardless."

'_Dammit, so much for the fighting without thinking tactic working. Now how the hell am I supposed to beat him?'_

"The answer to that isn't overly complicated, you're not gonna win this fight. Now then, I say we get this over with Cubellios. You ready Thunderclap, or are you gonna have another lovers' spat with your cat again?"

"Nope, all I have to do is get him high again and we'll be good."

"Good, now get ready for the next round. That is to say, if an older-generation Dragon Slayer like yourself can handle it."

"You going to elaborate on what that means?"

"Might as well. I happen to be part of a new wave of slayer, a dragon lacrima was implanted in my body, and that makes me infinitely more powerful than those who came before me."

"I actually do know someone like that from Fairy Tail, I just didn't know about it until a few weeks ago. He has a dragon lacrima implanted in his body, and it lets him use the exact same type of Dragon Slayer magic as me. But that means you guys aren't genuine Dragon Slayers like me, Natsu, Gajeel or Wendy."

"A genuine Dragon Slayer?" Cobra let out a scoff "There's no such thing as that, the only beings capable of mastering Dragon Slayer magic are the dragons themselves. Humans will never be able to obtain that power in this day and age, because everyone knows that dragons have been extinct for a damn long time."

"You couldn't be further from the truth, my father is the lightning dragon Kaminari, and he once told me that you don't assume the worst if you don't see it with your own eyes. There's only one way I'll believe he's dead, and that's if his lifeless corpse is standing before me."

"Get real Thunderclap, how long no one but you has ever seen them? If you don't believe me, then how about I give you some proof? **Poison Dragon Twin Fangs!" **Cobra crossed his arms and unleashed a spiralling stream of poison that engulfed Luke and Bolt and blew both of them backwards.

Luke barely managed to stop himself in mid air '_Dammit this is bad, his poison is still numbing my body, I can barely move.'_

"I can hear it loud and clear, the poison has circulated throughout your body. It looks to me like you're going to rot away real soon, just like your dragon."

"You're gonna regret saing that… you little…" Luke coughed up some blood.

"I'm fading…" Bolt spat out some blood of his own "I'm sorry Luke… I can't keep this up for much longer…"

"Can you make it for one more round?"

"Yeah, but that's about it."

"Good… I want you to drop me right on top of him."

"You've gotta be insane, that's pretty much suicide as you are now."

"I know, that's why I have to finish this now, before my body gives out on me."

"What are you planning to do?"

"I can't say, he'll hear it."

"Not gonna make a difference." Cobra told him dryly "Let me take a wild guess, a full power Lightning Dragon Roar or another Dragon Sword Style spell? Come on dude, I already told you before that I can hear your thoughts."

"You'll see… Bolt, make the drop…" so Luke was promptly released and sent hurtling downwards.

'_This isn't going to be much of a challenge now that he's thinking again. _Come on dude, come and get me!"

"Fine! **Lightning Dragon…"**

"It's not gonna work, you're going for a wide spread attack out of desperation because you think I won't be able to dodge it. Well guess again!" Cobra blitzed above Luke "You can't hit me if I'm right behind you, now can you?"

"Actually…" Luke grabbed onto Cobra's wrist with one hand, his other beginning to surge with electricity.

"It's not gonna work, I'm going to end this fight by crushing your thick skull. How about you tell your dragon I said hi when you get to the other side!

"If I have to go down… then you come with me…" Luke thrusted his hand onto Cobra's chest and grabbed onto him with all the strength he had left "And now… it's over… **Lightning Dragon… HEAVENWARD HALBERD!" **using all of the magic power he could muster, Luke quickly fire a halberd made of pure lightning magic directly through Cobra's chest, leaving a gaping wound as a result while both of them were sent crashing to the ground, one in a bloody heap and the other in a poisonous heap.

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Meanwhile, atop the King's Summit…

Brain looked down on the results of the battle from his place atop the King's Summit "This is quite interesting, not only did he manage to endure Cobra's poison long enough to land a decisive blow, but he used Cobra's arrogance against him. It would appear that I've greatly underestimated the foes we face.

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Meanwhile, back on the ground…

Bolt floated down to the ground and got down in front of Luke "Okay, not gonna lie, that was both brutal and awesome at the same time…"

"That's… what I go for…" Luke spat out a considerable amount of blood, but he gave a thumbs up regardless "When I have people… I have to protect… I'll always go… that extra mile… even if it kills me…" he spat out some more blood.

"Yeah I know, if anyone in our guild knows that, then it would have to be me. I'm not feeling so good though…" Bolt dropped to his knees.

"Yeah… it's cause of… his poison… and now I… can't even move…"

"You little shit…" Cobra staggered back to his feet despite the blood pouring from the gaping wound in his chest "I swear… on the honor of the Six Demons… I'll take you out… if it's the last thing I do…"

"Go ahead… do your worst… but even if you take me out… You've got a bunch of other guys… who could take you anywhere… and anytime…"

"I can hear it loud and clear… the bell tolling on the old generation… it's over… you and your kind are finished… The time has come for the new Dragon Slayers!" he prepared to unleash a blast of poison that would finish Luke, only to be met with a blast of magic energy from behind that went clear through his shoulder.

As it turns out, that blast came from Brain from where he was standing behind him "I think that's enough of that Cobra, you may stand down now."

"Brain… but why… Are you mad…?"

"You've performed extrarordinarily well up until now, but I believe the time has come for you to rest. _How pathetic, what good is a false Dragon Slayer to me? Especially one who can be beaten by one of the official guilds so easily. _Oh I'm sorrry, did you hear that?" he let out a loud mocking laugh.

"How dare you… you traitor…" Cobra glared up at Brain with tears of fury streaming down his face, but then his vision began to fade '_All I ever wanted… my only prayer… was to someday hear the voice of my one true friend… Cubellios…' _he reached out to his snake, only to collapse afterwards and lose consciousness.

"Pathetic wretch, to think I once thought he was so capable."

'_He's still alive, but he's fading fast…' _Luke struggled to pull himself back up to his knees, and he levelled his furious gaze on Brain "People like you make me sick… You cast away your comrades… like they're pieces of trash to be thrown away…"

"It matters very little. I now have the power of Nirvana at my disposal, with it I will have no problem gathering comrades that will serve me far better than he ever could."

"True loyalty and camaraderie… those things don't come… from power and intimidation… all you'll get… is a bunch of worthless pawn…"

"You shouldn't be making such a fuss, after all your power is what I've come to admire about you the most. The famed Thunderclap of the Fairy Tail guild, the wizard who has mastery over Lightning Dragon Slayer magic to the level where he's capable of defeating one of the Ten Wizard Saints. It would do me good to have someone like you as a comrade, or to use the same terminology as you, to have you as my pawn."

"Oh gee, let me think about that. Thinking, thinking, thinking, not on your life."

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Meanwhile…

Still influenced by Nirvana, Hoteye continued his battle with Midnight, and he was supposedly winning, which promptlyed Midnight to retreat.

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Meanwhile, with the Allied Forces…

"Hey guys check it out, there he is!" Gray and the others (still carrying the useless motion sick form of Natsu) arrived on the scene, only to quickly find that Brain was draggging Luke away for his own agenda "Dammit man you look horrible, what the hell happened to you?"

"You can thank Cobra for that…" Luke spat out some blood "His poison is giving me all sorts of hell…"

"You just got off the stuff and now it's put you out commission again."

"He's not the only one…" Bolt got his attention from where he was sprawled out on the ground, unmoving.

"Eesh, looks like you're not much better off."

"It would seem that Sir Cat is still alive." Jura noted.

"Are you talking about Bolt?"

"Happy isn't here dipstick…" Bolt lifted his head, but it obviously caused him pain "You guys have to save Luke… Brain is trying to take him away…"

"Why the hell would he do that?"

"It's not that complicated." Brain turned to face them "The six demons of the Oracion Seis have been cut down to a meager three, our ranks have been cut in half. So in order to stop the bleeding of our once healthy ranks, I intend to fortify them with this one."

"I should've figured that this was gonna happen someday, that one of these dark guild was going to try and pull one of us over to their side. But you would have to be out of your fucking mind to think that someone like Luke would ever even think about working with someone like you."

"It doesn't matter, all I have to do is wait until his heart is darkened by Nirvana, and then he will gladly do my bidding. His new goals will be intertwined with my own."

"In your dreams!" mustering what strength he could, Luke took up his sword and promptly slashed it at Brain, only for it to be swatted away while Luke himself started coughing up more blood.

"I suppose I should be surprised that you still have the strength to fight, all the more reason it will be invaluable to have you on my side."

"You'd be surprised… what I can do… when I'm desperate…" Luke spat out some more blood and tried to pull himself to his feet, with little success.

"It would seem that while your spitit is strong, your body doesn't have what it takes to back up your talk in your current condition."

"Tell me about it… kind of gets in the way at times… But even if… I can't stop you… you still have to… get past the others…"

"Oh really?"

"He's got a point you know." Gray pointed out "Even if Flame Brain and Luke are both out of commission, we're all raring and ready to take you down."

"Is that so?" Brain let out a chuckle "You really expect me to believe that you're capable of stopping Nirvana? You're more than welcome to try your best, but let me tell you now that you have very little time to lose. We're quickly approaching our first target, the hall of the Cait Shelter guild."

'_That's the one Wendy and Carla belong to.'_

"And that one is only the first of many."

"And what then?" Jura stepped forward as his gaze hardened "What is your objective? What could you possibly hope to gain from their loss?"

"What I have to gain is the world on its head, in the blink of an eye this guild of light will be consumed in darkness. Just imagine the things we shall see, just imagine the splended horrors that await us."

"We have no intention of allowing you to do such a thing, whether it be myself or any of the others involved." Jura slowly stepped forward, his body glowing golden from the magic power he was releasing "And you still have yet to tell me, what do you hope to gain?"

"What do I have to gain?" Brain barked out a mocking laugh "I have no need to answer to the likes of you! I hold the reigns of light and darkness in my hands! Kneel before me and ask for only one thing, for mercy!"

"What a bothersome fool."

"So what are you planning to do?" asked Gray.

"The only thing I can do given the circumstances. He is far too delusional to hold a conversation with me."

"Didn't you hear me?! I asked you to kneel!" Brain pointed his staff at him.

"I will not kneel, not before you." Jura pointed two fingers at Brain and sent a barrage of boulders towards him, blowing him away and leaving everyone else speechless at the sheer force and power he was displaying.

Brain was just as taken aback as the others, having been blown clear off his feet "His power, it's incredible!"

"Rise to your feet, once you've explained to me why you've set your sigts on the Cait Shelter guild then I will allow you to rest."

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Gray and Lucy shared a look "I guess this guy isn't screwing around. So this is what it looks like when a Wizard Saint gets serious."

"It shouldn't be that much of a surprise." Bolt crawled his way over to them "Jura of the Iron Rock, another one of the 10 Wizard Saints like Jose and Makarov, so it makes sense he wouldn't screw around."

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Jura's gaze hardened as he levelled his glare on Brain "I believe that I told you to stand up."

Brain let out a chuckle "I must admit I am surprised, but it seems that your strength merits such prestige."

"I know for a fact that there are numerous guilds closer than the Cait Shelter, so to go so far out of your way, it betrays a specific intention."

"As I said, I have no need to answer you. By the time we reach the Cait Shelter guild, you will be nothing more than a fading memory. **Dark Rondo!" **Brain fired forward a wave of magic spirits from his staff.

"**Iron Rock Wall!" **Jura didn't even flinch as he summoned a number of earth pillars to block the Dark Rondo with ease.

'_To think he could so easily block the Dark Rondo, I may have underestimated him.'_

"It is pointless for you to continue attacking me Brain, and I demand you give me an answer to my question."

"Why do my reasons concern you? **Dark Rondo!" **Brain unleashed another barrage of Dark Rondo.

"**Iron Rock Wall!" **Jura rose his Iron Rock Wall even higher to block the second Dark Rondo "I told you before, your attacks are pointless."

"Are they now?" Brain suddenly blitzed behind Jura "I've got you now! How is this for a pointless attack?"

'_So he intends to attack from behind.'_

"**Dark Capriccio!" **Brain unleashed a beam of darkness magic from his staff.

"A more daring approach, but it's far from sufficient." Jura bent one of the Iron Rock Walls to block Brain's attack, only for it to slowly drill through it.

"Your defense is what's pointless, the Dark Capriccio is a spell of darkness that pierces through everything it encounters! That rock will be rendered as ineffective as paper!" the Dark Capriccio pierced through the rock wall, forcing Jura to dodge the attack.

'_It would seem that he was not bluffing, that attack was far more daring and effective than the last one. It appears he's decided to become serious in this fight. _You may need to rethink your claim."

"That is true, if running is your defense. So tell me Wizard Saint, is that how you intend to proceed from here? **Dark Capriccio!" **Brain fired another Dark Capriccio.

"**Iron Rock Wall!" **Jura unleashed another barrage of Iron Rock Walls.

"Simply doubling down? It seems that you're out of ideas!" Brain's Dark Capriccio slowly pierced through one wall after the next "You're just delaying the inevitable. It doesn't matter how many walls you put up, my attack will tear through all of them until it reaches you."

"Another foolish claim." Jura slammed his hand into the ground, causing one rock wall to bend and redirect the Dark Capriccio upwards.

"Another evasion? No matter, this will hit you head on. **Dark Capriccio: Scream!" **Brain then unleashed a stronger and faster version of the Dark Capriccio.

"**Iron Rock Wall: Chain!" **Jura unleashed a continuous row of rock walls to shield himself, only for them to be shattered by Brain's attack within a matter of seconds '_It would seem that this spell is much faster and more powerful than the original. No matter, all I need to do is alter his trajectory slightly.' _with a wave of his hand he promptly surrounded Brain with a barrage of rocks and rubble, one of them hitting him in the face hard enough to redirect the Dark Capriccio: Scream so it missed, and then he proceeded to use the rubble to engulf Brain "And now this battle is over. **Supreme King Rock Crush!" **and so he caused the rocks to all immediately crush against Brain on the inside '_Using the rubble created by his own attack against him. It would seem that he allowed his arrogance to blind him to the possibilities.'_

Gray and the others could only look on in awe '_Now I see why Lyon and the others respect him so much, that was fucking amazing. _He actually did it, Jura just took down the leader of the Oracion Seis!"

"Indeed, this battle has come to an end." Jura made his way over to where Brain was lying on the ground "Now then, I still need an answer as to why you're attacking the Cait Shelter guild."

"For the record Jura, I'm a fan of interrogation as much as the next guy, but don't we have to worry about stopping this thing?"

"If all goes well, we shall learn that from him as well."

"No…" Brain spat out some blood "I never imagined… I would fall like this… losing a battle… to someone from one of the light guilds… Midnight… please hear my words… you are the last remaining hope… for the six demons… you must not allow… all of the six prayers… to disappear… they are our only hope… of keeping _him_ at bay…" and then he lost consciousness as another one of the lines on his face disappeared.

"Keeping who at bay?"

"Hold on a second." Gray looked over at Brain's face "Is it just my imagination, or did one of those black lines on his face just disappear?"

"Truth be told Gray, I think it's more like you just trying to scare me." Lucy noted dryly, then shuddered slightly "And it's starting to work."

"Not the plan, I'm just calling it like I see it."

"Hey you guys!"

Gray looked up to see Wendy and Carla running towards them in the distance "I was wondering when they were going to catch up."

"Just as I thought." Carla let out a scoff "Only a pack of hooligans such as them would be able to cause such a ruckus."

"Oh joy, she came too."

"I think we're in a lot of trouble." Wendy told them "I don't know why, but I think this city is headed straight towards my guild!"

"Yeah we already figured that out, but everything is going to be okay so don't worry." Gray then jerked a thumb over towards Brain, earning a horrified gasp from Wendy "And his buddy the snake charmer is lying right over there." he jerked a thumb over at Cobra.

"Oh wow."

"From what we can gather, this creepy guy Brain is also the one that's been controlling Nirvana up until now." Lucy told her "And now that he's out cold thanks to Jura, the city should stop any minute now."

"Something doesn't sit well with me." Carla got their attention "Their master may be down, but did you ever find out his reasoning for targeting our guild?"

"No, it doesn't seem important." Gray waved that off "I think that's just the kind of thing that villains do."

Jura looked down at Brain and his frown deepened "I still have some lingering concerns, but it would seem that the worst is over."

"No… I don't think so…" Luke crawled his way over to the others, still coughing up a considerable amount of blood "Not as long as… there are still members of… the Oracion Seis to defeat…"

"Luke! Oh my gosh, just hang on and I'll heal you right away!" Wendy promptly rushed over towards Luke and Bolt, and then she promptly started healing both of them, freeing them from the effects of Cobra's poison "You must have dealth a lot of his poison."

"You did it the first time… But he got me good… during our fight… Turns out he's… a Poison Dragon Slayer… go figure…" once the healing spell had been finished, Luke pulled himself to his feet and wiped the blood from his lip "Thanks a ton Wendy, that's two I owe you now."

"No need, as long as everyone is okay now."

"No… not everyone…" Natsu looked up from his place on the ground, doing his best not to hurl all over the place "Guys… I'm begging you… for the love of god… please stop this thing… It'll kill me…"

"Oh you poor guy, you've been poisoned too?"

"Somehow, I doubt that's the case." Luke noted dryly.

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Meanwhile, with Hoteye vs Midnight…

Though it seemed that the battle between Hoteye and Midnight had reached a conclusion, with the former emerging as the supposed victor, Midnight took the opportunity to reveal that he had been casting an illusion, which he then dispelled and revealed himself to be completely unscathed, much to the shock of Hoteye.

Now that he was done messing around, Midnight then proceeded to defeat Hoteye soundly with ease after telling him that he had surpassed Brain's magic power and that no magic was able to harm him, and then he proceeded to walk away.

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Meanwhile, with Brain…

Brain's eyes snapped open as he felt another marking disappear from his face "And so, the fifth prayer has now disappeared… hear me Midnight… No matter what happens… you must not fall as well… my prayer is for your strength…"

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Meanwhile, atop King's Summit…

Luke and the others looked around "Okay this doesn't make any sense, I know I saw those magic circles Brain was putting up when I was fighting Cobra."

"That's what makes it weird." Gray pointed out "You would think there would be some kind of control panel up here."

"There was, Bolt and I both saw it with our own eyes."

"Well this sucks, I was almost positive that once we took Brain out this Death Star reject would stop moving."

"That was the main theory, but now that he's out cold we can't even get any answers from him about how to stop it."

Wendy looked down at the motionless form of Natsu "What do we do? I cast a spell to cancel out the venom, but he's still sick."

"It's not the venom making him like this." Bolt told her "It's a Dragon Slayer thing to get motion sickness, Luke has it too but nowhere near as bad as this."

"That is so pathetic." Carla let out a scoff.

"Hey at least my Dragon Slayer can control it, when it finally kicks in for yours she's gonna be spewing all over the place, and chances are it's gonna be bigger than she is."

"Oh, well if it's just motion sickness then I can just cast a spell on him that restores his sense of balance." Wendy placed her hands on Natsu's head and promptly cast the spell "**Troia." **and then about 5 seconds later…

"YOSHA TO THE YOSHA!" Natsu suddenly bolted upright "Salamander is back and he's ready to kick some ass!"

"I'm glad to hear it, I thought that might work."

"Holy crap you're a real lifesaver Wendy, you've gotta teach me that spell sometime!"

"Oh, but it's my Sky magic. Sorry."

"Oh. Oh well, I don't feel like I'm riding on anything now! Hey somebody turn into a train or a boat or something!"

"And you're riding on your own ego." Luke noted dryly "In case you forgot Natsu, this isn't the time for us to start screwing around like nothing is wrong, because in case you didn't notice, something is very wrong. We have to find a way to stop this thing, and it's pretty obvious there's nothing up here that will help us do that."

"I don't get it though." Gray muttered "I thought this is where Hoteye, I mean Richard, said that this thing was being controlled by Brain."

"Does that mean he was lying?"

"No, I believe that one to be a man of his word." Jura told him.

"So then what?"

This was when Carla spoke up "There is a much more pertinent question at hand, or should I say, a different way of phrasing the question of how to stop it."

"There's no signs of any controls, the royal throne is empty, and the one we thought was controlling it was taken down by Jura, so the real question is why this thing is still moving in the same way that it was before."

"Precisely."

"Think there's a chance of it being put on autopilot? If that is the case then it could've also been programmed to attack."

Wendy was horrified by the thought of this, and tears began streaming down her face '_Our guild… our poor guild is in trouble…'_

"Don't worry." Natsu put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down "We're gonna find a way to stop this thing and save them."

"Natsu's right." Luke turned to face them "You saved us before, me twice actually, so the least we can do is stop this thing from hurting the people you hold dear."

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Things had quickly grown chaotic at the home of the Cait Shelter guild when a member started freaking out about how Nirvana was heading straight for them.

Roubaul, the master of the guild, didn't believe that member at first, but soon realized that he wasn't joking.

One other member of the guild asked if Nirvana attacking them was fate or if it would prove to be mere coincidence, and he suggested they evacuate, however Roubaul told him that even at that moment, there were people fighting to stop Nirvana, people that they should believe in to succeed.

He ended his discourse by claiming that Nirvana attacking the guild is not fate, and that perhaps the time had come for them to pay for their crimes.

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Meanwhile, on the King's Summit…

Luke was quick to voice the obvious question "Well it's pretty obvious we can't destroy this thing, so what's our plan?"

"What else, we blow it the hell up." Natsu told him flatly.

"To be completely realistic Natsu, that's as predictable as they come. And not to be "that guy" in this situation, but that's a pretty tall order, even for us."

"But before that, I believe we should see if Brain knows of a way to stop Nirvana." Jura pointed out.

"With all due respect Jura, you knocked him out cold, and even if he was conscious I doubt we'd be able to get much information out of him."

'_What about Jellal? He might know how to stop it.' _Wendy suddenly froze at the thought '_No, I could never suggest something like that.'_

"Hey Wendy what's the matter, you have any ideas that could help?"

"Well I'm not quite sure, but given the circumstances it may be the best option we have, so I promise I'll do my best to find it." and so she rushed back inside.

'_She's hiding something.'_

"Wendy where are you going, get back here child!" Carla flew off after her.

'_I wonder, is she thinking about… _Maybe."

"_My friends, can you hear me? It is I, the wizard known as Hoteye."_

"And just like that things are getting even more crazy, sounds about right for us."

"How did you fare Richard?" asked Jura "Were you successful in defeating Midnight?"

"_My apologies, tried my best but in the end it seems my magic simply wasn't strong enough to trump his. But you need not concern yourselves with my rescue. All of you must work together in order to bring Midnight down for good. If you succeed in defeating him, the source of magic power driving Nirvana will dry up, and the city will cease in its destructive path."_

Natsu blinked "Wait I don't get it, am I supposed to know this guy?"

"You were with us when we saw him." Gray pointed out dryly "So anyway, we can stop Nirvana without having to destroy the whole thing?"

"_Midnight is currently directly below you, just outside the royal throne. His power is not one it would be wise to underestimate, so please be cautious my friends."_

"Well that works for us, as far as I'm concerned this whole thing just got a hell of a lot easier for us."

"Oh hell yeah, now that works for me!" Natsu gave a cocky smirk "I hope you're ready, we're coming for you Sleepy Head!"

"Okay even by your standards, that was pretty weak." Luke noted dryly.

"Okay then, how about Sir Snores a Lot?"

"How about you just stopping before you hurt yourself, and one of us?"

"_Only one of the Six Prayers of the Oracion Seis still remains on the battlefield. Every ounce of my trust and confidence belongs to you my friends, so please defeat Midnight and stop Nirvana once and for all. Oh yeah! I wish you all the best of luck, my faithful comrades." _and cue the grunt of pain.

"You heard him guys, let's go." so Luke and the others prepared to bolt to the ground level, but his expression was one of concern '_Something doesn't seem right about this.'_

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As it turns out, Luke's hunch was correct, since it was actually Brain that contacted them with his telepathy while posing as Hoteye '_Run to your doom you wretches, you may have bested me, but it will come at a great price.'_

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"Alright freak, let's wreck some shit!" Natsu charged at the door at the bottom of the massive staircase, only to ram straight into it face first "Ow fuck! He must be using some kind of magic to keep it shut to save his own skin!"

"Or the doors are pull, not push." Luke pointed out dryly.

"...Oh yeah, I totally knew that. Alright you freak, time for a dirt nap!" Natsu yanked open the doors, only to be met with a massive white light "Oh shit."

"Yeah that figures, now everyone get the hell down! **Lightning Dragon Thunder Dome!" **as he saw the danger, Luke made a dive and spread out his arms in front of him as the explosion went off.

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Meanwhile, nearby…

Erza and Jellal were quick to notice the explosion going off not far away "What in the world was that explosion?"

"I believe that was near the royal throne." Jellal told her "This seems unsettling."

"Honestly, Father can be so selfish sometimes." this was when Midnight revealed himself "He had to take a big bite out of my fun, and he left me with only the measely scraps." he started walking towards them "Now then, since the two of you are the last of my prey, at least try to make it entertaining for me."

"Erza stand back, he's mine. Let me handle this."

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Meanwhile, back with the others…

Natsu's eyes snapped open and he bolted upright "Ow, what the fuck- Oh screw it, are you guys okay?"

"Hey keep your voice down Pyro, I'm trying to sleep here." Gray just rolled over, only to hit his head too.

"Dammit, you've gotta be kidding me." Lucy muttered "How could we possibly be this stupid? I mean we're in Fairy Tail, there's just no way that we could've fallen for a trap so easily." she lifted her head, only to hit it on a layer of rock.

"Yeah well, we're stupid enough to get buried alive apparently."

"Not quite the case, at least for ¾ of you." the rock was promptly cut open from the outside, courtesy of Luke "Lucky me I got a new defensive Dragon Slayer spell, not to mention that we had Jura here to protect us too, or we'd be in serious trouble."

"Where is Jura anyway?" asked Bolt.

"Take a look and see for yourself." Luke let them see Jura's current condition, much to the horror of most of them.

"Holy crap."

"He force me behind him to hold up my defense spell while he took the majority of the blast himself, from what I can tell he'll live but he's not in any shape to fight now."

Jura slowly turned to face them, the strength he had left quickly fading "The strength and the courage all of you possess… your guild is a most fortunate one."

"More like we're all lucky to have it.

"To know that all of you will live on and continue fighting… it leaves me at peace… I leave the rest to you… my friends…" and on that note, Jura fell back and lost consciousness.

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By this point, due to Carla running low on magic power, she and Wendy had decided to continue their search for Jellal on foot, with Wendy reminiscing over how she had always kept Jellal in her thoughts.

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The battle against Midnight, the last standing member of the Oracion Seis, had at last begun in earnest.

Jellal made the first move by firing a quick blast of magic energy, only for it to miss Midnight by a considerable amount, much to his shock '_That shouldn't be possible, how could I miss him at such close range?' _but then he winced in pain.

"Please Jellal, you need to stop this right now." Erza told him "We both know you're in no condition to fight him, so let me do it in your place." she was silenced by Jellal holding out a hand to her.

Midnight was quick to grow impatient "Well, I'm waiting."

"You don't need to wait any longer." Jellal attacked Midnight with a barrage of golden colored energy blasts, engulfing him in an explosion, but then he suddenly winced in pain.

"**Spiral Pain!" **the smoke cleared to reveal that Midnight was completely unharmed, and then he promptly sent Jellal flying with a spiral of red colored magic energy, leaving him to hit the ground with a thud "Well this got boring way too fast, so you're the fearsome Jellal I've been hearing so much about? Talk about a waste of my time, this is five minutes that I'm never getting back."

Erza was left frozen and speechless by what she saw '_Jellal…'_

"So tell me, did you lose your memory and forget how to use magic too? How pathetic."

'_Regardless of his memories, Jellal shouldn't have gone down so quickly.' _they both looked over to see Jellal struggling to stand.

"Well at least you're determined if nothing else."

'_The circle of self destruction he placed on himself must have drained more of his magic energy than he thought.'_

"What a nice surprise, I'm looking forward to seeing how much pain you can endure." but that was when Midnight had to dodge a slash from one of Erza's swords "Erza Scarlet, aka the Queen of the Fairies, Titania. Well so be it, if you're that eager to have your turn, then who am I to keep you waiting?"

Erza quickly retreated a short distance away, her mind racing '_My sword wasn't even able to hit him!'_

"No Erza don't, he's too dangerous!" Jellal protested "You must not take any chances against this one!"

Erza promptly summoned a second sword and started slashing at Midnight repeatedly, but she still couldn't hit him '_It doesn't make sense, how is he doing that?'_

"Don't tell me that's all." Midnight unleashed a pulls of energy that sent Erza skidding backwards a short distance, and also caused her own armor to suddenly twist around her body and trap her.

'_What is this, what's he doing? Wait a minute, is he… I'll only have one shot at this, so I'll have to make it count… _**Requip!" **with a roar, Erza escaped Midnight's hold with her armor by requipping into her Heaven's Wheel Armor "So that's it… Now I understand, what you're using is Reflector magic."

"That is correct, and whatever kind of magic you throw at me, with my magic I'll be able to twist and manipulate all of it. Besides giving me a flawless defense, my magic allows me to dominate my opponents, and even light itself is bending to my will."

'_Could such a power truly exist? _It doesn't matter, every opponent has their flaws and you are no exception to that rule. I promise you, I will be your end!" and so Erza charged at him.

"Yes that's right, rush towards your inevitable demise. I can't wait to see the look on your face as I twist your body apart."

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Meanwhile, with the others…

Luke caught Jura and gently set him on the ground, then turned to face the others "Come on you guys, let's go finish what he started."

"But what about Jura?" asked Lucy.

"His injuries are pretty minor, but he won't be in fighting condition anytime soon."

"That son of a…" Natsu gritted his teeth furiously "He's gonna pay for this."

"Natsu get a grip, in case you hadn't noticed you losing your cool like this gets into way more trouble than its worth."

"**Ridiculous." **a voice echoed from within the various debris and rubble "**Brain is such an arrogant fool. He used the last of his magic power to lay his trap, and yet only one of you fell in its snare."**

"Enough with the preaching, come out and show yourself to us." Luke glanced over to see a figure within the rubble.

"**He was a pitiful leader, and an absolute disgrace to the six demons." **the figure floated forward and revealed itself to be Brain's staff "**But our goal has not fallen out of reach, for as long as Midnight continues to stand, we shall remain victorious! Since he's busy at the moment, there's nothing keeping me from disposing of you myself."**

"...Hey just for the sake of being clear, everyone else sees the talking staff right?" he was met with various nods "Okay good, just checking. But for the record creepy staff, there is actually one thing that's stopping you from taking us out."

"**And what would that be?"**

"We have a Natsu."

"**Wait what?"**

"See for yourself."

"Shut the hell up!" Natsu grabbed the staff and started slamming it into the ground in the same way Hulk did to Loki "Would you knock off the creepy laughing, I've already got a migraine the size of this thing thanks to being on this thing in the first place!"

"...You know to be completely honest, if he wasn't doing it then I probably would."

"Stop this city right now you goddamn piece of rotting driftwood!"

"**Silence! How dare you insult the legacy of my family?! I happen to come from a long line of proud cedar, so show some respect! Before you stands the venerated seventh member of the Oracion Seis, emerged from his slumber to destroy all of you-" **and then he was promptly slammed into the ground over and over again by Natsu. Again.

"For the love of fuck I've heard just enough out of you."

"**Be silent you wretch, let me go this instant!"**

"Wait hold on a second, we were led to believe that there were only six members in the Oracion Seis." Luke pointed out "And for the record, if any of you make a joke about how they should be called the Oracion Siete, keep in mind that I'm fresh off of being poisoned twice in the span of a few hours, so I'm not particularly in the mood for any bullshit. Natsu, Gray, that mainly refers to the two of you."

"Does it matter?" Gray let out a snort "It doesn't matter how many members we're talking about here, a cane is talking about kicking our butts."

"Should I be the one to mention that he doesn't have feet so it can't kick out asses?"

"You can try, but that's pretty lame for you."

"**All of you be silent!" **the staff freed itself from Natsu's grip "**Uncivilized neanderthal! It will not be long before that wretched guild is within our sights, and then we can finally begin to cleanse this world of refuse!"**

"You mean we're already that close to the Cait Shelter guild?"

"**Indeed we are! All we have to do is stamp them out, and then we can truly begin our crusade of darkness!" **and cue the evil laughing.

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Meanwhile, with Erza vs Midnight…

"Now dance my swords!" now requipped into her Heaven's Wheel Armor, Erza promptly attacked Midnight by hurling a massive barrage of swords at him.

Midnight just stood completely still, the swords not even reaching him "You could try and hurl thousands of those swords at me, but they still won't hit me." and so he promptly deflected them back at her, forcing her to deflect them "So tell me something, how does it feel to fend off one of your own attacks."

Erza quickly finished fending off her own barrage of swords, only to suddenly be trapped in her own armor like she was before.

"Yes that's better, now why don't you try and soothe me with a lullaby filled with torment and agony!" Midnight let out a chuckle as he listened to Erza's screams "Yes that's it, there's nothing that wets me appetite more than screams of torture." he simply cranked his neck to the side to dodge the sword Erza threw at him, leading it to embed itself into a rock behind him "Rather impressive, but still futile. **Spiral Pain!" **he promptly unleashed a vortex of distorted air that engulfed Erza, causing her to scream in pain as her Heaven's Wheel armor was ripped apart, leaving her to fall to the ground with a loud thud.

Jellal could only look on in horror at the sight of Erza having fallen "Erza… no…"

"Come now, don't tell me you're finished already."

"Damn you…"

"You can't die on me yet, I still want to play for a bit. I need some entertainment, at least until we reach the Cait Shelter guild."

"What…" Jellal struggled to get to Midnight "What is this Cait Shelter?"

"What else? It's our first target of course."

"What earned them that honor?"

"Quite an excellent question actually. Long ago, a peaceful tribe known as the Nirvits, created Nirvana in hopes of ending a cataclysmic war, but the tool they had created turned out to be far more dangerous than even the war they sought to end, so they decided to seal it away in hopes that it would never be used again. They were so afraid of it that they swore to keep watch over the burial site, their descendents have taken up that task throughout the ages, and they make up a guild that still remains today. That guild is Cait Shelter."

"Are you serious?"

"Indeed I am. They are the only ones who have the power necessary to seal Nirvana once more. Therefore, the nirvit bloodline must come to an end. You would have to be insane to allow an incredible power like this one go to waste. We intend to utilize it, we intend to use it to send the world screaming down the path to sweet chaos, and we're going to start by making an example out of Cait Shelter. The Nirvits wanted to stay neutral? We'll force them into bloody war! The power of Nirvana will turn their hearts into the blackest pits imaginable, and then it will force them to slaughter each other! Oh what a beautiful lullaby it's going to be!"

"You, you're a heartless monster."

"How about you do me a solid and drop the pathetic goody goody act already, truth be told it's kind of a drag. After all, your own heart is so black that mine shines next to yours. One could even say that you're the very embodiment of darkness."

"No you're wrong, that's a filthy lie!"

"You should be proud of yourself. You forced children into labor, you murdered one of your closest friends, and you even tried to kill sweet Erza in your mad rise for the greatest power in existence. Do you have even the slightest clue how many innocent people have had sorrow brought upon them by you? All of them have feared you, they've trembled at the mention of your name, an entire ocean's worth of tears has been shed because of the suffering you caused. I have to admit though, I consider you to be an inspiration."

"I… I what?"

"It's like I said, you inspire me." Midnight held out a hand to Jellal "So why don't you go ahead and join us. It is your destiny to become the newest member of the Oracion Seis."

"No…" this was when Erza finally pulled herself back to her feet "Don't listen… Don't you dare listen to him… **Requip!" **she promptly requipped into her Robe of Yuen, a sleeveless purple kimono with a bisento that came with it "The light that burns inside of you is brighter than it ever was before."

Jellal looked on in awe '_Erza…'_

"Well now, this is quite interesting." Midnight shot her a smirk "I have to admit, I'm surprised you can still stand."

'_Erza… the words you say… they are the light that give me my hope and courage…'_

"Well this works for me, at least I finally get my real fight after all. Being able to destroy you will be a real treat."

"You'll see about that soon enough." Erza promptly pointed her bisento at Midnight "I swear on the sacred blade that I wield, I will end this chaos, and if I must, then I will end you along with it without hesitation."

And now, the real battle is about to begin…

**A/N:**

**With this chapter, we dive into act IV of the Oracion Seis arc. Since I decided that I would have Luke be poisoned instead of Erza, I knew that I was also going to have him take on Cobra, though it's not quite the same as it was in canon, but it does show that even against someone as powerful as Luke, Cobra's poison is pretty deadly, and raw magic power and physical capabilities aren't enough to win against your opponent.**

**I know I've sort of been giving Luke the short end of the stick in terms of spotlight ever since the Tower of Heaven arc ended, especially since he's been out of action for a good chunk of the time in this arc, but that's mainly because I wanted to give some other characters a chance to shine. But I promise, the next arc after this one is going to have a huge turning point. For those who know what comes after the Oracion Seis arc (No, I'm not doing Daphne, you're welcome for that), you know exactly what I'm talking about.**


	24. Oracion Seis V

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it, and for finally getting this story up to 20,000 views! A huge milestone, and it wouldn't be possible without all of you!**

**Altajir95: **As usual, doing all of your reviews at once. Thanks, I'm glad to see that you like what I'm doing with the Oracion Seis arc. I tried to take a few liberties with the story, but not to take too many risks. Things like me having Luke be poisoned, Luke fighting Cobra, the Star Wars references, they're fun but they don't take away from the overall arc too much.

**Ragnas Bredvolts: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked the chapter. I did spend some time trying to think of a decent way to conclude Luke's fight with Cobra, but in the end I decided to use it as a way to showcase one of his new Lightning Dragon Slayer spells. As for his use of Thunder Drive, considering how much of Cobra's poison he was dealing with, I doubt he would've had enough left in him to be able to use it. In regards to the Star Wars references with Nirvana, I've been making jokes about that this entire arc. Also, yeah my family has been worrying over the corona virus too, and it's part of why I've been taking so long to get this chapter out, along with other stuff going on in my life. As for that crossover you mentioned, it sounds pretty interesting, so I think I'll check it out sometime. I hope I continue to please you, and you have a nice day as well my friend.

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"You'll see about that soon enough." Erza promptly pointed her bisento at Midnight "I swear on the sacred blade that I wield, I will end this chaos, and if I must, then I will end you along with it without hesitation."

"Is that so?" Midnight shot her a smirk "Erza Scarlet, or should I call you Titania? I want to see your strength with my own two eyes, but I'm not going to feel it, because if you think you can land a single blow on me, then you would have to be dreaming. You don't stand a chance against my Reflector magic. You've seen what it's capable of. I can turn your own attack against you in an instant."

"You'll have to rely on more than that if you wish to defeat me." Erza promptly charged forward, her bisento and ended up slicing through several of the surrounding buildings, but she failed to land a blow on Midnight.

"Your speed is pretty impressive, but you could be the fast person who ever lived and you would still never be able to break through my reflector." he promptly phased through another series of strikes from Erza "It's useless."

"We'll see about that!" Erza blitzed forward and dealt Midnight a palm strike to the chest, which actually connected, sending him crashing into a wall and leaving him speechless.

"No, no no no! How could you have hit me?!"

"Remember this, there are two crucial weaknesses in your defense magic."

"What? _It doesn't make sense, how could she have figured it out in such a short amount of time like that?'_

"I know it's true that you possess the power to bend weapons, armor and even attacks that include magic power, the ability to manipulate the human body is beyond the capabilities of your power. If you could, then you would've attacked my body rather than simply twisted my armor on me. Isn't that right?"

"Maybe it is." Midnight pulled himself to his feet "But why would it matter?" he promptly used his magic to twist Erza's Robe of Yuen and trap her in it "I can use all of those lovely clothes you wear to squeeze you until you pop, and I can do it as fast or slow as I want."

Despite this, Erza remained surprisingly calm "So that's one weakness I've covered, but you do have one more." she summoned a barrage of swords above Midnight and directed them down towards him.

Midnight leapt over the attempted attack "It doesn't matter how many swords you throw, you'll never be able to hit me!" but then he was hit by the second wave of swords and sent crashing to the ground.

"You chose to dodge my swords, but why didn't you choose to bend its trajectory instead? The reason for that is because you only have the ability to control one space at a time, either the space surrounding your enemy or the space surrounding yourself, but not both at once. So while your bending spell is activated, you practically leave yourself defenseless, completely unable to deploy your reflector magic to repel an attack that's coming right at you."

'_She was able to figure all of that out? But how?'_

"What's more is that this is my Robe of Yuen armor, by far the most elastic in my collection, and it's immune to your spell!" she promptly freed herself of the trappings and summoned her bisento in her hand "At the risk of sounding vain, I suppose you could consider this armor to be a third weakness in your magic."

"Dammit, dammit, no!" Midnight started slamming his fists into the ground "Dammit, it's too late now!"

"Yes you're right about that, this battle has reached its end." she was met with only laughter in response.

"No, that's not what I meant, I mean it's too late for you. It would've been smart for you to leave before midnight, before you saw the true face of terror. You missed the only chance you had to rest in peace." this was followed by the sound of a bell chiming throughout Nirvana.

'_What in the- It sounds like a bell.'_

"Tolling the hour of midnight." with a magic circle hovering above him, Midnight pulled himself back to his feet, his body radiating with crimson energy "When the clock strikes midnight, the powers inside me reach their terrifying peak!" and on that note, he supposedly mutated into a monstrous hulking form "**At last!"**

'_What the hell is he?'_

"**You could've prevented this from happening, but now it's too late for you!" **and so the hulking form of Midnight hurled a massive blast of magic energy at Erza and Jellal, blowing them away with the explosion that followed.

Jellal was left immobile on the ground by the explosion '_What kind of magic is this? It's not any type of Take-Over, it's something else, something I've never seen before.'_

"**Jellal, you will die first." **Midnight reached out to Jellal and grabbed him in one of his new giant hands "**Your reign was based entirely on a lie. There was no freedom in the Tower of Heaven." **and then he supposedly swallowed him "**Even after the uprising, I was still too afraid to sleep at night."**

"What?" Erza pulled herself out of the rubble when she heard this "You mean that you were at the Tower of Heaven? All of you were in the tower like we were? Of course, that must have been what Cobra meant before."

"**Come now Titania, you shouldn't be acting so smug! As far as I'm concerned, you're just as guilty as he is!" **Midnight pounced at her and let a fist fly forward, leaving her to try and push it back "**While everyone in the tower suffered, you turned your back on us for all those years! And now you've reunited with Jellal, the one who caused your friends so much pain and suffering! You're just like him! In fact, you're even more at fault because you could've stopped him and you didn't! Just ask them!"**

Erza looked back, and her expression shifted to one of horror as she saw the images of her deceased loved ones appear behind her "Grandpa Rob… Simon…"

"**When you look at things through the eyes of people like them, who do you think is the real monster here?"**

"SHUT UP!" Erza charged at Midnight and slashed at him with her bisento, only to end up cutting through the images of Rob and Simon because of Midnight's illusions.

"**Oh no, you've done it again. Your dearest friends have died because of you."**

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Erza whipped around and tried to slash him again, only to find herself cutting down Jellal, much to her horror "No…"

"**Yes that's right, he deserves to suffer for all that he's done. At last you have the chance to redeem yourself."**

"Oh believe me, I WILL!" Erza tried to attack Midnight's monstrous form, only to be met with a fist to the back, causing her to scream in pain.

"**This is only the beginning! The hour of Midnight is still young!"**

That was when Erza's eyes suddenly snapped open "The midnight hour may be beginning, but this battle is over!" she promptly charged forward, and in one swift move with her bisento, she had successfully cut through Midnight's spell, revealing that it had all been an illusion, and she had defeated him at the same time.

Midnight could only look on in disbelief as he fell to his knees, blood pouring from a fresh wound in his shoulder "How…"

"You wish to know how I saw through your technique when only a moment ago I saw you as a towering monster?"

"My illusion failed me… You saw right through it… How…?"

"To put it in simple terms, one other weakness of your spells would be not knowing that I'm immune to visual magic, thanks to my artificial right eye."

"No… I've lost… but I'm the strongest…"

"No, you're not the strongest there is and you're far from being the best at what you do. To put it simply, you're no Hulk and you're no Wolverine."

Midnight looked up at the skies above with tears streaming down his face "But… I'm supposed to be the ultimate member of the Oracion Seis… even stronger than my father… no one can touch me… I'm supposed to be the greatest wizard that ever lived…"

"Someone who can mock the suffering of others so callously, and do so with a smile on his face no less, has a very long way to go to achieve true greatness."

'_But all I ever wanted… my one prayer… my prayer was to one day find a quiet place and finally be able to sleep in peace… Father…' _and with that, Midnight finally fell backwards and lost consciousness.

"It's over."

Jellal could only look on in awe of Erza's strength '_So this is who Erza truly is…'_

"If you truly desire greatness, then you must first come to understand what it is that makes you weak. And even more important than that, you must live with an open heart."

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Unfortunately, with Midnight's defeat, a new evil was awakened, one that none of our heroes would've been able to anticipate.

As the last marking disappeared from his face, Brain's eyes suddenly snapped open, his skin turned pale and his eyes turning crimson, his tone incredibly bloodthirsty "Fine… I'll do it myself."

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Meanwhile, beneath King's Summit…

Luke looked on at the scene before him and just let out a sigh '_See, it's stuff like this that makes me question the decisons I've made in life. One minute I go head to head with a Dragon Slayer that's part of a dark guild and actually does want to kill me, and the next minute I'm just watching Natsu and Gray get their asses handed to them by a talking staff.'_

"I've got you now you son of a bitch!" Natsu suddenly grabbed Klodoa from behind, taking him by surprise.

"Hell to the yeah, now that we've got this clown where we want him, I say it's time for us to see if we can-" Gray was cut off by Klodoa headbutting him square in the face "OW! What the fuck dude, keep that thing away from me!"

"Then get out of the way dumbass!"

"Try and hold it still you freak!"

"Try and dodge it you stripper!" and so they started beating the crap out of each other like they usually did, only with Klodoa in the mix.

"Yep, this is going on the list of why I should reevaluate how I make life decisions in life." that was when Luke suddenly started having a creepy staring contest with Klodoa "Hey man you can try and stare me to death as much as you like, it's not gonna be enough to take me out."

"And here comes the ego train." Bolt noted dryly "So rare that it only comes in once every few months, but it's enough to make you wanna knock his teeth in."

"This coming from the cat that hides pot brownies under my bed."

"**Silence you insignificant fool! I was staring at the blonde next to you."**

"Oh dammit." Lucy started posing "I guess the burden that is my cuteness has finally caught up to me."

"**I thought there was a real woman here, but it turns out it was just a little girl."**

"Say what?!"

"**You heard me brat."**

"And now you're going down pokey!" Natsu and Gray promptly charged at Klodoa, only to get smacked across their faces and sent skidding backwards.

"**You guys are just a bunch of annoying kids." **and then Klodoa blasted the both of them with lightning "**Hate to break it to you runts, but you're gonna have a long way to go if you want to beat me. Who cares if you're young, if you want to go flaunting around your toned upper bodies like that then fine, but this is what happens."**

Luke let out a low whistle as he stepped forward "Okay I'm just gonna say it, this one has some serious age issues around here."

"**What?! Listen you you little son of a-" **Klodoa promptly tried to bombard Luke with a blast of lightning, which was simply swallowed by Luke in one gulp.

"Thanks for the food, so are we doing this?"

"**You arrogant little-" **Klodoa cut himself short, his skull turning pale, which one would think was impossible "**Oh no… No, this is bad… this cannot be… all of them have fallen… I can't believe this… all of the Six Demons have been defeated…" **he dropped the lacrima in his mouth from sheer shock "**Oh no no no, the horror is just imminent! I can feel it, the great one is coming!"**

"Stop freaking out and start talking." Luke pulled out his sword Raiden and promptly pointed it at Klodoa "Who's this great one you're talking about?"

"**No… it's Brain…"**

"What are you talking about? We saw Jura take him down already, unless…" Luke's gaze hardened "You mean that he was just faking to try and take us out with a surprise attack of some kind?"

"**No, nothing of the sort. We all know for a fact that Brain was defeated, but what none of you know is that there's another personality lurking inside of him."**

"You mean like a split personality?"

"**Exactly! You've seen the outer one, Brain, the calm persona at the surface known for seeking knowledge. However, there is a hidden face that has a craving for only endless destruction. They call him Zero."**

"And judging by how you're acting, I'm guessing Zero is the more dangerous and terrifying of the two?"

"**He is. Zero possesses incredible power that is coupled with an unquenchable thirst for destruction, but Brain was able to seal him away using six magical keys."**

"One key for each member of the Oracion Seis, Brain himself included."

"**Correct, all of them were bound together using Body Link magic, and once those six demons fall Zero will once again be free to roam the land, annihilating everything within the misfortune of standing in his path."**

"Sounds like this guy is no joke." Luke's body started flaring with electricity "And judging by the scent I'm detecting, he's not far away." this was followed by the sound of a wall being shattered in front of them.

Klodoa instantly whipped around at the sight of Brain, or Zero as he's now going to be referred to, and instantly started sucking up "**Welcome back Master Zero, as your faithful servant I humbly welcome your return!"**

"Master Zero… I always did like how that sounded." Zero gave a malicious grin "It would seem that things have taken quite the interesting turn, wouldn't you say Klodoa? Even Midnight has fallen in battle."

"**Yes, yes he did. Please my master, I beg for you to grant me your forgiveness!"**

"You misunderstand me Klodoa, I'm not displeased with the results. On the contrary, as far as I'm concerned it's been too long. This feeling I'm experiencing, this flesh, this power, I've longed for it for so long." Zero clenched his fists "The time has come for me to begin the task for which I had been summoned. Stand aside Klodoa."

"**Yes sir!"** Klodoa quickly got out of the way.

"Now then, time to show them why I'm the best there is at what I do…" Zero's body began surging with green colored magic power as he requipped into a new outfit as he levelled his bloodthrist gaze on Luke and the others "You worthless scum, I suppose I should commend you for doing such an admirable job of destroying my guild. Howevever, seeing as I am the master of this guild, I am bound by my obligation to take my revenge upon you."

"So that's it…" Luke slowly dropped into a stance with his sword ready '_I guess it makes sense why this guy is the true leader of the Oracion Seis, the amount of power he's putting out right now is incredible. _You guys better tell me you're fired up and ready to go, we've got one hell of a fight on our hands this time around."

"Yeah you bet I am." Natsu dropped into a stance, with Gray doing the same "I bet you can tell the crazy magic power this guy has going on, I can't wait to take him down."

"Appreciate the fire in your belly, figuratively speaking, but hang back for now. I'm gonna take him and try and gauge his level of power."

"Yes, that's it…" Zero on the other hand, he set his sights on the wounded form of Jura lying on the ground "I think I'll start with the bald one who harmed this body while Brain was still taking charge of it. **Dark Rondo!" **he unleashed a green version of the Dark Rondo from his bare hands.

"**Lightning Dragon Roar!" **Luke quickly countered the spell with a powerful blast of lightning from his mouth, both of them cancelling each other out "You've got a lot of nerve, what the hell do you think you're doing attacking someone who can't defend himself? Fighting dirty is one thing, but that's the mark of a coward."

"Pathetic, spare me your foolish ideas you wretch. I take great pleasure in destroying many things and people that do not move, so why should a pathetic peace of trash like that be an exception?"

"You're not the first bloodthirsty sociopath I've had to fight, you probably won't be the last either, but you'll go down just like the rest of them. I'm going to make sure of it."

"Not if I burn him to a crisp first! **Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" **Natsu suddenly charged forward and launched a fire enhanced fist.

"Dammit Natsu, I told you to let me fight him for now!" Luke turned back to Zero and his gaze hardened '_His magic power is incredible, that much is for certain. He's not anywhere near as powerful as Jose was, but his magic power definitely has a much darker feel to it. I'll have to tread carefully.'_

"Begone pathetic wretches." Zero held out a hand towards Luke, then suddenly directed it towards Lucy and Gray and sent them flying with a simple blast of magic energy.

Luke blitzed in front of them and tried to shield them from the follow up blast that came next, but he was sent skidding backwards a considerable distance with his shirt torn, and he promptly fell to one knee.

"Such destruction brings a smile to my face every time."

Klodoa didn't waste any time in kisssing Zero's ass as much as he could "**Excellent, well done as always Master Zero! One wave of your hand and such pathetic wretches were instantly sent six feet under."**

"Not quite the decisive blow that was needed, and one of them is still standing" Zero turned his gaze on Luke, and the sadistic grin on his face widened "Not only are the other vermin still breathing down there, which means that it wasn't enough, but this one is considerably different from the others. I won't be satisfied until they're ripped to shreds. But I won't finish them, not yet. I'll let them suffer in agony a bit more, and the one who's still standing will be the last to die, and when he does it won't be quick." and with that, Zero turned hot on his heels and left, with Klodoa right behind him.

Luke stared at Zero's retreating form for a moment, then let out a sigh and promptly turned towards Bolt "He can wait for at least a few minutes, for now the others need tending to."

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At the same time, Wendy and Carla were up above looking for Jellal, hoping that he would know of the way to stop Nirvana.

Unfortunately, that was when Carla ran out of magic power and was forced back into her terrestrial mode.

Given everything that was happening, Wendy promptly broke down, until she was quickly convined by Carla to find a way to stop Nirvana herself.

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Meanwhile, atop Nirvana…

Klodoa and Zero looked down on the form of the Cait Shelter guild in the distance "**Yes at last, there it is! Look at it Master, at last our number one target is in sight as if it were a giant sitting duck! They don't even know what's in store for them, those fools in Cait Shelter are in for one hell of a big surprise! They are the ones who first discoverd the awesome power of Nirvana, and they just sealed it away from everyone else, but we'll show them! All we have to do is wipe Cait Shelter off the map, and we'll be able to make sure no one ever makes that mistake again! Nirvana will be ours forever, this is going to be amazing without a doubt!"**

"What utter nonsense." Zero muttered just loud enough for Klodoa to hear.

"**What?"**

"You heard me Klodoa, it's absolute nonsense." Zero promptly reached out to Klodoa and crushed his staff using his bare hands.

"**But… But I don't understand, what do you mean by that oh wise Master Zero?" **and then his ass kissing came back to bite him in the form of him being crushed under Zero's foot.

"It's nothing more than simple destruction, I'm only after one thing and that's some good old fashioned destruction! All that is standing will fall my by hands! I don't need any other reason to destroy, for it is what I yearn for with every fiber of my being! Everything in this world must either be stained with blood or be incinerated in flames! And now Nirvana, FIRE!" he promptly had Nirvana start charging up a massive blast of magic energy, intent on destroying Cait Shelter on the spot.

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By this point, Wendy and Carla finally tracked down Erza and Jellal, not long after they had finished their battle against Midnight, the two of them having only recently finished their battle against Midnight, the final general of the Oracion Seis, only for Wendy to quickly discover the truth of how Jellal had lost his memories, which saddened her at first, only for her to be cheered up by Erza after a moment.

Knowing the details of Jellal's situation, Wendy promptly asked him if he knew of a way for them to stop Nirvana, only for Jellal to inform her that a Square of Self Destruction would no longer work, and that he didn't know of any other ways to stop it.

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Meanwhile, atop Nirvana…

Zero let out a maniacal laughter full of malice "Yes that's right, destroy justice and decency, all that stands shall fall and burn, the reason for my very existence is to destroy, and I will see it through without hesitation or failure!" his maniacal laughter grew as Nirvana fired a massive beam of pure magic power at the Cait Shelter guild, only for something to blast Nirvana on one of its legs and redirect the blast just enough for it to miss Cait Shelter "What?! How could this be, there's no way it could've missed!" but then he noticed the other blasts of magic energy bombarding Nirvana "Of course, there had to be some other fools that want to try and play the heroes. They'll die slowly. So here's the question, who was it that was so desperate to try and save the day that they'd gladly forfeit their own lives?"

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Meanwhile, down below…

Recovering from the shockwave, Erza and the others looked up in awe at the sight of Christina, the Magic Bomber of Blue Pegasus, floating above them, considerably damaged but still able to get the job done "No way…"

"Oh wow…" Wendy's expression was filled with just as much awe.

"It looks like Christina, the Magic Bomber herself, came through to save the day."

"_Attention, do you read me? If anyone can hear me, then please respond. I need for you to give me confirmation that you're okay." _a familiar voice rang through their minds.

"I know that voice, that's Hibiki of the Trimens!"

"_Erza of Fairy Tail and Wendy of Cait Shelter, good to know that both of you are still alive and well. Also I've received confirmation from Master Ichiya, and in his words he's alive but he's not quite well."_

"I can't believe it, I never actually expected to see the Magic Bomber fly again, especially after she was shot down by the Oracion Seis. I have to ask though, how did you get her flying again so soon?"

"_In simple terms, hard work and lots of it. I have to admit, for a group of wizards who can barely remember each other's names, it turns out we're pretty good at working together to get the job done. Christina lost one of her wings when she got shot down so Lyon volunteered to use his Ice Make magic to repair it, so he did what he could but he was still hurt pretty bad, and we had to treat that serious wound of his so he didn't bleed out. Take a look on the bow of Chrstina, and you'll see Xian combining his Chi magic with Ren's air magic to keep the hull intact despite the damage it received. As for the attack we were able to launch on Nirvana, that was pretty much thanks to Eve and his snow magic. He used it in order to fuse a couple of Christina's magic bombs together, but they didn't do much damage to Nirvana despite the amount of power they were packing. It took the last of his magic energy and he's not holding up very well, and the same could be said for Ren and Xian. I don't know how long they'll be able to keep it up for.'_

"I see, from the looks of it we really owe you one."

"Yes, I do…" Wendy wiped away a few tears "It's because of all of you that my guild is safe now. I can't thank all of you enough."

"_I'm sure you can tell that everyone here is running low on magic energy right now, and I'm no exception to that unfortunately, so I'm afraid we can't attack from the ship anymore. The power levels are too low, and just flying this far was hard enough as it is. We're all gonna be find though, even Lyon despite what he's dealing with right now, so don't worry about us. But in the meantime, there's one last thing I have to tell all of you, a little bit of good news. I was finally able to find what I was looking for in the archive, and I know how to stop Nirvana."_

"What?!" Erza's head promptly snapped up, along with everyone else "You mean you know how to stop it? Please, you have to tell us."

"_Alright, so you know those six appendages we thought were legs? Well they're not legs, they're actually pipes. Apparently they're supoosed to suck magic out of the Earth itself, and that's used in order to power Nirvana. At the base of each leg is a lacrima that controls the supply of magic energy. From what I understand, if all six of the lacrima are destroyed simultaneously, then it will wreak havoc on Nirvana's control system and force it to shut down as a result. All of them have to be destroyed at once, or the other five will simply repair the damaged one."_

"Destroy six lacrima all at once, but how can we manage that?"

"_If I could then I would maintain telepathy to time out the strike, so how about I try this. I'll give all of you a synched timer." _on that note, a timer was synched to them by Hibiki using his Archive magic "_I'm uploading it to all of you now, but listen to me when I say that this has to be precise."_

"I see, so then we have 20 minutes?"

"_Yes, that how long we have until Nirvana will be fully charged and ready to fire at the Cait Shelter guild again."_

"So we have to destroy all six of them at once."

"_If there's anyone that can do it, then I have faith that it's you guys. I have faith in all of you to get the job done."_

"_Care to make a wager on that?" _another familiar voice cut into their conversation, much to the shock of everyone present.

"_What the hell, who is that? Is that Brain? I don't get it, how the hell is he able to hijack my telepathy magic so easily?"_

"_How is of little importance at the moment. You may call me Zero, the Master of the Oracion Seis guild. Brain is no more."_

"_Seriously? I thought Brain was the master of your guild."_

"_Nothing of the sort. First of all, allow me to commend all of you. You fooled me. I had never actually suspected there might be other wizards capable of using Archive magic like Brain is able to do."_

"_You mean he used Archive? That must be how he was able to find out about Nirvana in the first place."_

"_That and an outside source from another guild, but that is of little importance. Now heed my words Wizards of Light. I am going to obliterate everything you hold dear! I've already begun by claiming the lives of four of your friends in the forms of two Dragon Slayers, an ice wizard and a celestial wizard. Oh yes, and a cat with wings."_

"You mean Luke and the others don't you?" Erza's gaze hardened "You expect me to believe that they would go down so easily?"

"_Believe what you will, it matters very little. Did I hear you say something about destroying the lacrima of Nirvana simultaneously? Well you're more than welcome to try, but I happen to be standing in front of one of them, and I have no intention of leaving. As long as I'm standing here, it will be impossible for you to destroy all six of them at once! In other words, in order to destroy all six larcima and stop Nirvana, you will have to defeat, and such a thing is far from likely to happen!" _and then his voice ceased.

"So that's his plan. Hibiki, are you still there?" Erza received no reply "Dammit, Zero must have cut off our telepathic connection."

"Though it may seem impossible right now, we can destroy all six of the lacrima of Nirvana at once." Jellal told her "We'll have to split up and attack each lacrima individually, and hope that all of us strike at the same time. Each wizard has a one in six chance that they'll end up running into Zero, but unfortunately Erza is probably the only one who stands any real chance against him right now."

"Excuse me, but I think you're forgetting something." Carla told him flatly "As in basic math skills. In case you hadn't noticed, we don't have six wizards with enough magic energy to go through with that plan."

"But that means…" Wendy let out a horrified gasp "Oh no… I can't fight… I'm sorry but I can't help you."

"This is bad." Erza shared a look with Jellal "We can't do it on our own. Is there anyone out there strong enough to help us?"

"_Yes my honey, indeed there is." _a familiar voice sent chills down her spine "_I'm able bodied at the moment and at your service, although I am tied up right now."_

"Ichiya. Oh joy. So that makes three for us then. Who else? Hibiki, are you still there?"

"_Y-Yeah. Sorry you guys but I'm almost out of magic power myself, so if we're gonna do this we've gotta hurry."_

"We need three more people, so there has to be someone else! Anyone there, can you help us do this?"

"_And I hate to break it to you but Christina is losing altitude, Lyon's ice wing ran finally gave out and he's still being treated, and Xian and Ren are gonna give out any second now."_

"It's getting worse, Christina is losing altitude."

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Meanwhile, with the others that were supposedly taken down…

Luke and Gray finished pulling Natsu and the others out of the rubble "Natsu listen to me, I need you to get up. Think about Igneel, don't let him down. You want to see him again someday don't you? You can't let something like this get the best of you, you've gotta get back up and keep fighting like you always do." he looked over to Lucy "And Lucy, you might not be a fighter in the same traditional sense as the rest of us, but you've got just as much heart as everyone else in the guild, if not more. You've got as much pride in being a member of Fairy Tail wizard as the rest of us." he received no reply "Okay I'm done being tactful, I know you can hear me, so both of you quit snoring and get the hell up."

"Will you… shut it…?" Natsu struggled to get to his feet, with Lucy and Bolt soon following his lead.

"I'll shut it once I know you can do what needs to be done."

"_Can any of you hear our voices? If you can, then please respond."_

"Don't worry Hibiki, we're all still alive and kicking and we read you loud and clear. Destroy all six of the lacrima at the same time within 18 minutes. The only question is who's gonna end up fighting Zero, because I think I speak for everyone here when I say we want to have a chance to take him down, and we owe it to Wendy and Carla to save their guild."

"_Glad to hear it. But listen guys, my telepathy is about to cut out. Awhile ago I uploaded a map into each of your minds using my Archive magic and I numbered the lacrima so you'd be able to find them, so everyone chose a number and then split up-" _and then the communication between them cut out.

"Looks like the communication cut out, he must have run out of magic power." Luke turned to face the rest of them "Who wants which one?"

"I've got one." Natsu told him.

"Gray?"

"Two."

"Lucy?"

"I guess I'll take three." Lucy then promptly shuddered "Please don't let Zero be there."

"I wouldn't worry about that, from what I can tell the main thing he wants aside from destruction is a worthy challenge that can take him head on. No offense Lucy, but you're pretty drained as it is. Anyway I'll take four."

"_Better you than Ichiya. Anyway I'll take the fifth one."_

"I take it you're the one who took down Midnight."

"_It wasn't easy, but I did it with some help."_

"_And that will leave me with-"_

"_You're left with number six."_

"What the fuck?" Natsu's head snapped up "Whose voice did I hear just now, is there somebody else with you?"

"_Oh yes, Natsu hasn't been made aware of your situation. He still thinks you're the enemy, so try to keep quiet."_

"You know we can all hear you." Luke pointed out, only to receive no reply "And just like that we lost the connection, but we've got the six wizards we need, and Ichiya, so we'd better get moving before it's too late."

"You heard the man." Bolt floated up and landed on Luke's shoulder "Six lacrima, six of us and if you run into Zero make him suffer in the best way we can, by subjecting him to the worst torture a man can experience?"

"Subjecting him to Teen Titans Go?"

"More like the Ren and Stimply Adult Party Cartoon?"

"Eeesh, now that's torture."

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At the same time, Ichiya struggled to make his way towards the location of the fourth lacrima, but due to him being tied up, he quickly found that this wasn't going to be easy, but his spirit was unwavering.

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Meanwhile, with the not so main character…

Natsu stumbled his way through the halls of Nirvana, groaning in pain '_Okay, maybe I should've gotten a little pickmeup before I came here… and that figures.' _his expression dulled at the sight of the figure standing before him '_The one time I hope I don't meet the main hancho.'_

Sure enough, Zero was standing before him, a malicious smirk plastered across his face "Well well, fancy meeting you here brat. If you came looking for a fight, you found one."

"Yeah I did, and I wonder which one of us is gonna make it out of here alive, is it gonna be me or you?"

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Erza looked between Wendy and Jellal "If I had to guess then I would say that Zero is located at the first lacrima, and that's where Natsu is headed. He has the nose of a Dragon Slayer, so he must have known where Zero was going to be."

"But what about Luke?" asked Wendy "He's a Dragon Slayer too, so wouldn't he have noticed that Zero would be there?"

"Luke has never been one for the spotlight, so if I had to guess, I'd say he deliberately chose a lacrima where he knew Zero wouldn't be so that Natsu could have a chance to push past his limits and defeat him."

"Then we have to get over there and help him, if we work together then maybe-"

"You shouldn't underestimate Natsu. Try not to worry, if Luke thinks he can handle Zero on his own, then I think we should respect his wishes. Come on then, let's split up for now and get to our posts. Remember, I have the fifth and Jellal has the sixth okay?"

"Luke… Natsu…" these names seemed to strike a chord within Jellal's mind '_Those names… why do they…?'_

"Is there something wrong?"

"...No it's nothing, I'm perfectly fine." Jellal started walking away, gripping his head as certain thoughts surfaced in his mind '_Luke Drako… Natsu Dragneel…'_

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Meanwhile, with Natsu vs Zero…

"**Fire Dragon Iron Fist! Fire Dragon Talon! Fire Dragon ROAR!" **Natsu wasted no time in attacking Zero and launching one Fire Dragon Slayer spell after another.

"Far from being enough brat." Zero easily dodged every attack being thrown at him "Rather impressive though, you're much more agile than the last time we met. Perhaps you've received what people refer to as a second wind? No matter, it makes very little difference to me. **Dark Capriccio!" **he unleashed a Dark Capriccio from his fingertip that Natsu was narrowly able to dodge "As you can see plain as day, Brain's power was nothing compared to mine." with a swift wave of his fingertips he summoned the Dark Capriccio up from underground, blowing a large hole into Natsu's shoulder and causing him to cough up blood, following with another hole through the shoulder, laughing maniacally all the while "You were saying before that you were wondering who would make it out alive, but I think it's quite obvious that the answer to your question is going to be me."

"**Fire… Dragon… IRON FIST!" **gritting his teeth to bare the pain, Natsu launched a fire enhanced fist to counter the Dark Capriccio, straining and being pushed back a great distance, but eventually he managed to cancel it out, but just barely "No… No way in hell… I'm going down… Not yet…"

"I have to admit, I'm surprised you were able to stop a piercing spell like that one. That must come with the potency of Dragon Slayer magic."

"Give me a minute… you'll see what… a Dragon Slayer… can really do…" Natsu stumbled his way forward and was about to launch another attack, only to suddenly be bombared with a blast of fire that sent him flying backwards.

"It seems we have a third party joining us."

Natsu looked up and let out an outright snarl "You… Jellal!"

Zero glanced back to see Jellal standing in the entryway to the lacrima chamber "Well hello, judging from your actions I take it that your memory has returned?"

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Meanwhile…

Gray quickly rushed into the chamber of the second lacrima and let out a sigh "Dammit, I was starting to worry I wasn't gonna make it. I guess is the second lacrima then. Looks like it's gonna be easy enough to destroy. There's no sign of Master Zero, so I guess that means he's waiting at one of the other lacrima. It's about time I get a chance to catch my breath, but then again that means one of the others is gonna be going head to head with that psychotic son of a bitch right now, either Luke or Natsu if I had to guess."

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Meanwhile, back at the first lacrima…

Zero looked down at the flame covered form of Natsu, then back at Jellal, and he shot the latter a smirk full of malice "Well hello, judging from your actions I take it that your memory has returned?"

Jellal gave a dark looking grin "In a manner of speaking, yes."

"You… you shouldn't have… come here… JELLAL!" once he finally managed to stagger back to his feet, Natsu charged towards Jellal as fast as he could.

"Stop." Jellal promptly bombarded Natsu with a quick blast of fire.

"Did you forget that flames don't work on me?"

"For a brief period yes, but it seems I remembered just in time. After all, you may be the only one who can stop Zero."

"What?!" Zero promptly rounded on Jellal in disbelief.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but as a Fire Dragon Slayer, doesn't the power of flames make your magic that much more powerful?"

"Well… yeah that's true." Natsu felt the flames increase his power "But why?"

"Well…"

"Liar!" Zero promptly spat out at him "Judging by your actions, it's clear to me your memory has not been restored."

"I never lied to you, the fact is that only a fraction of my memories have returned, mainly my memories of Natsu Dragneel and Luke Drako. Right now I'm determined to stop Nirvana, my goal will not be affected by whether or not I recover the rest of my memories."

"I don't get it." Natsu shot a glare up at him "What the hell happened to you, what are you talking about?"

"When I regained consciousness, it was as if my memory had been completely erased, without a single one remaining, and although I have no recollection of behaving like the vile cretin I've been told that I was, it seems that was the case. As a result, I've brought harm upon not only you and Erza, but all of Fairy Tail, and the time has come for me to make amends. I want to help you protect Wendy's guild. I want to stop Nirvana, and I know that we can do it as long as we work together." he was promptly met with a fist to the gut that caused him to cough up blood.

"I don't believe a fucking word you're saying! You really think I'm gonna believe that you forgot everything you did to us?! The things you did, the people you killed, the pain that you caused Erza?! Keep pretending that you're on my side just to stab me in the back and you're gonna suffer!"

"Natsu please, just accept the flames that I gave you and move on." Jellal was promptly picked up by the collar.

"Just because you've forgotten what happened in the past doesn't mean that the rest of us have forgotten, I sure as hell still remember everything that happened. None of us will ever forget that you made Erza cry."

"How pathetic." Zero let out a scoff "If you're really going to argue in such a fashion, then must you do it in front of me? Stop wasting my time! **Dark Capriccio!" **he promptly fired a Dark Capriccio.

'_Shit!'_

"Natsu get down!" Jellal suddenly blitzed in front of Natsu and took the full force of the Dark Capriccio, resulting in him getting a hole blasted through his gut.

Seeing this, Natsu instantly had flashbacks to when Simon sacrificed himself back in the Tower of Heaven '_No way… he's serious about this… _Why the hell did you do that?!"

"Natsu, please…" Jellal coughed up some blood and fell flat on his back "Just go ahead and kill me… if that's what you need to do… I'm already battered and torn to shreds… But first, let me give you the power you need to defeat him…" he summoned a golden flame in his hand, which left Natsu in awe.

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Meanwhile, with two of our other heroes…

Bolt looked over to see Lucy struggling to make her way towards the lacrima "Take a breather for a minute, you can't keep going like this."

"I can't…" Lucy continued to stagger her way forward "We won't make it in time… I have to keep going."

"Be realistic Hannah Montana, you can barely stand as it is."

"Don't worry about me… I'll be fine… I don't care how slow I'll be… I promise I'm gonna get there… Plus here's the thing… If I stop, then I don't know if can keep going… Let's not talk about that now… we have to stay focused…"

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Meanwhile, in the hallway to lacrima number four…

Luke bolted through the hallways as fast as he could, his mind racing '_How pathetic of me, to think that everything I went through was to protect my guild, and then I get sidelined by something as simple as poison, to the point where I couldn't even move without the need of healing magic? I guess even after all of that training wasn't enough, I still have to keep it up nonstop. When this is over, my training begins anew, and I'll live and breath my more powerful magic until it comes as natural to me as breathing itself. I'll make sure that something like this doesn't happen again.'_

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Meanwhile, at lacrima number five…

Erza stared up at the lacrima in front of her '_So Zero isn't here, which means that he must be at the first lacrima after all. Natsu, we're all counting on you.'_

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At the same time, Wendy and Carla made their way down the hallway to the sixth and final lacrima, having been tasked with destroying it by Jellal while he went to assist Natsu in his battle against Zero.

Praying to her adoptive mother Grandeeny for some of her power, Wendy readied herself to complete the task given to her.

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Meanwhile, in the hall of the first lacrima…

Natsu looked in awe at the sight of the flame in Jellal's hand '_Holy shit, I've never seen such a golden flame.'_

"This is the Flame of Rebuke…" Jellal spat out some blood.

"What the hell is a Flame of Rebuke?"

"I'm not asking for you… to give me your forgiveness… all I want… is to give you strength… because I believe in you… Erza trusts you and Luke… more than anyone… and so I choose to do so as well…" he held out his hand to Natsu "So please… let me…"

"...Alright fine." Natsu slowly accepted his hand, resulting in his body being bathed in what looked like golden flames, which he promptly consumed.

"We're counting on you…" and then Jellal promptly lost consciousness.

"Thanks for the chow. But don't think this means you're off the hook Jellal, not yet, not by a fucking long shot."

"You've made a grave mistake brat." Zero shot him a smirk filled with bloodlust "By eating the Flame of Rebuke, you now share the sins of your mortal enemy."

"A couple of sins isn't enough to scare me, everyone in Fairy Tail has their share. But the real sin in my eyes is turning your back on someone when they just want to help, especially when those people give you the power to beat the crap out of people who deserve it!" with his body radiating golden flames and dragon scales appearing across his face, Natsu charged forward with surprising levels of speed and dealt Zero a brutal headbutt to the gut, followed by throwing him into a wall.

"**Dark Capriccio!" **Zero rebounded within seconds and fired a Dark Capriccio.

"**Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" **Natsu used a fire enhanced fist to bat the Dark Capriccio away with ease, then charged forward and dealt Zero a brutal barrage of punches and kicks, receiving a kick to the head and a smack across at the same time, but he countered with a kick to Zero's face "I'm not done yet! **Fire Dragon ROAR!" **he promptly dealt Zero a golden colored Fire Dragon Roar at point blank range, sending him flying into the ceiling of the lacrima chamber.

'_So much power… no, it couldn't be…' _as he fell back to the ground, Zero took a good long look at Natsu, the realization slowly dawning on him '_This boy has harnessed the power of Dragon Force!'_

Seeing Zero lying on the ground, Natsu took a moment to get a grip on the newfound power he was experiencing '_Holy crap this feels incredible, it's like what I felt from Luke when he took on the master of Phantom Lord. This totally awesome, all of a sudden it feels like I can do anything with this kind of power!'_

"I never expected you to have such a thing." Zero pulled himself back to his feet and spat out a small amount of blood "Dragon Force is the final form that can be applied to any form of Dragon Slayer magic. From what I understand, it gives the Dragon Slayer in question destructive power that is comparable to even that of the most formidable of dragons." he gave a sadistic looking grin "I must say that I'm very intrigued. So come Dragon Slayer, come and show me the power of Dragon Force."

"Are you sure you want me to do that?"

"Yes I am, let me see the power of a dragon."

"Fine by me, but don't say I didn't warn you!" and so Natsu charged at Zero, his golden flames clashing against Zero's magic energy field in a blinding display.

Now the true battle was about to begin, and when it was over, only one of them would be left standing.

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By this point, Lucy had reached the chamber where the third lacrima was located, only to end up realizing something rather significant: she didn't have any magic power left. Fortunately for her, she ended up receiving some backup in the form of Angel's formal Celestial Spirits Gemini, the two of them having been inspired by her will to never give up.

Using their abilities, Gemini was quick to mimick Lucy's form and abilities and promptly summoned her Celestial Spirit Taurus in order to destroy the lacrima.

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The battle against Zero began its second round.

Natsu broke away from his clash with Zero and gritted his teeth as he got into a stance '_Looks like he's getting serious now, but with the power of Dragon Force I should be able to take him down.'_

"You're no match for this! **Dark Gravity!" **Zero slammed his hands into the ground, causing the ground beneath Natsu to shatter, leaving him to fall who knows how many stories, though the screams quickly went silent "Oh come now, don't tell me a spell like that was enough to defeat the mighty Dragon Slayer. Well?!" he dove in after him.

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As it turns out, Natsu had just narrowly managed to stop himself from falling off Nirvana and into the Worth Woodsea below "Dammit, that was way too close."

"**Dark Rondo!" **that was when Zero dove in after Natsu and promptly unleashed a Dark Rondo blast from his bare hands.

Natsu quickly leapt away to avoid the oncoming barrage.

"**Zero Slash!" **Zero summoned another Dark Capriccio, but instead he used this one as a sort of makeshift whip.

"**Fire Dragon ROAR!" **Natsu leapt over the whip attacks and hit Zero with a roar at nearly point blank range, engulfing him in the flames that ensued as a result.

"**Dark Delete!" **Zero burst out from within the flames and attacked Natsu by firing a barrage of dark magic spheres, a few of them managing to hit Natsu, and then Zero followed up with a quick Dark Capriccio that left a sizeable wound in Natsu's gut.

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Meanwhile, in the fourth lacrima chamber…

Luke bolted into the chamber containing the fourth lacrima, his body surging with potent levels of electricity '_I've made it this far, now it's time for my to do my part in protecting them. I made a vow to protect them, and I have no intention of going back on my word. I'm not wasting any more time on this._ **Thunder Drive!" **he promptly activated his Thunder Drive.

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Natsu vs Zero…

"**Dark Delete!" **Zero sent Natsu flying into a wall and then unleashed a second barrage of dark energy spheres.

"**Fire Dragon IRON FIST!" **Natsu burst forth from within the wall and let a fire enhanced fist fly forward, resulting in a collission that unleashed a shockwave powerful enough to start tearing the room apart.

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Meanwhile…

Luke glanced up at the lacrima, his mind racing with his power '_There's only three minutes left before it's ready to fire. Natsu, it's all up to you now.'_

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The battle with Zero had apparently taken a turn for the worst.

By this point, Zero was kicking Natsu's downed form on the ground into submission "Come now brat, you can't seriously be telling me that's the best your Dragon Force can do! The majestic dragons once ruled over this world, and the thought that this is the extent of their power is an absolute travesty!" he finished his rant by kicking Natsu into a wall "You don't have a chance in hell of defeating the Master of the Oracion Seis, I have more power than a lowly guild wizard like you could ever even dream of being."

"You… You wanna bet…?" Natsu tried to stand, but only spat out some blood.

"It's quite a shame that your friends aren't here to help you, seeing how you haven't a ghost of a chance of defeating me on your own."

"No… you're wrong… I'm not… on my own…" Natsu spat out some blood "I can feel it… all of them are reaching out to me… I can hear them loud and clear… I can hear the voices of everyone in the coalition… and they're all telling me the same thing… that no matter what happens… I can't give up the fight…" he eventually staggerd his way back to his feet, his body covered in golden flames once more "Besides… I made a vow… I would make sure… that she was always smiling… the people counting on me… and her smile… they're what are keeping me going… Knowing they're out there… It's the only thing keeping me going right now… I wouldn't even have the strength to stand… if it wasn't for them… I can feel it even now…" his body started surging with golden flames "I can feel their strength and determination, I can feel it pulsing through me!"

"If only there were some way, if I were able to harness the power of your Dragon Force for my own, but unfortunately such a possibility does not exist. It's clear to me that I have no use for you, so I shall unleash my ultimate spell and return you to the abyss of nothingness from whence you came!"

"We'll see about that! **Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Flame Lotus: EXPLODING FLAME BLADE!" **Natsu promptly unleashed a full power Exploding Flame Blade.

"Now to the depths of nothingness with you! **GENESIS ZERO!" **Zero prepared to unleash his own ultimate spell, their attacks colliding with each other in a blinding explosion…

**A/N:**

**With this, we see the penultimate chapter of the Oracion Seis, are in which we see all of those still standing work to stop Nirvana, while Natsu works to bring down Zero once and for all, with some unexpected help from Jellal. Before anything else, let me apologize for taking as long as I did to get this chapter out. It would've been a lot sooner, but with everything that's happening with the corona virus, not to mention my own school work to go with it, I've had a lot on my plate lately. Also, this story has finally reached a huge milestone in the form of 20,000 views! And as an extra bonus, this story has also reached 300,000 words!**

**I knew going into this arc that I was going to have Natsu be the one to take Zero down in the end, mainly for two reasons. First of all, I wanted to give him a little bit of spotlight, since he won't be the main focus on the Edolas arc. Second of all, him awakening Dragon Force in that fight was too big of a milestone to pass over, so that was kind of an obvious choice. And for the record, yes he's talking about Lisanna when he makes that speech to Zero.**


	25. Oracion Seis VI

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**Ragnas Bredvolts: **Yeah, nakama power isn't really a bad thing per say, but too much of anything is bad, and it really depends on how it's used, and how much. I get why you're not fond of Jellal, but you can't deny that he is important to the plot. As for the Edolas arc, you'll see about that soon enough in the next few chapters. Yes, Bolt is essentially going to give essentially be giving a certain gesture in regards to the Exceed mission. I wouldn't necessarily say that there will be WIDE differences in that arc, but I do have at least a few ideas in that regard. Also, I don't keep up with the 100 Year Quest manga, so I wouldn't know what you're talking about in that regard. Also, I have no idea who Esdeath is, so I can't say for certain whether or not she would beat Gray. That's really all I have to say. I hope I continue to please you with this story, and you have a nice day as well my friend.

**Guest: **Replying to all of yours at once. Thanks, I'm glad to see you like it. I tried to take a few liberties here and there, but nothing that would mess with the plot too much.

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"_The much sought after power source of Nirvana is a powerful spell that is capable of switching light and darkness. Its creator the Nirvits, fearful of this incredible power, sealed Nirvana away a long time ago, and their descendents have banded together to form what is now known as the Cait Shelter guild. But now Zero, the master of the dark guild Oracion Seis, is using the creation of the Nirvits against them, as he currently has Nirvana aimed directly at the Cait Shelter guild hall. Natsu, Luke and the others must do everything in their power to stop Master Zero before time runs out."_

"We'll see about that! **Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Flame Lotus: EXPLODING FLAME BLADE!" **Natsu promptly unleashed a full power Exploding Flame Blade.

"Now to the depths of nothingness with you" Zero prepared to unleash his own ultimate spell in the form of a green wave of darkness energy "History shall come to an end before my very eyes, a new era of nothingness shall be ushered in! Now the time has come to open the portal of the demon's wail **GENESIS ZERO!" **his wave of green darkness energy morphed into a gateway that summoned numerous black phantom creatures "Go travellers of the void, I want you to consume the soul of that man and his memory, I want you to consume every ounce of his entire existence! Devour every trace of him, do it for the sake of your master!"

Natsu was left crying out in agony as he was engulfed by the numerous black phantoms, and he then disappeared along with them, leaving Zero alone where he was standing.

"And now you too have become a traveller of the infinite void of nothingness, and as such I bid you farewell Dragon Slayer."

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Meanwhile, inside the void in question…

Natsu found himself floating through the void in question, his thoughts drifting at about the speed he was '_What the… this sucks… I can't see anything… I can't hear anything… I'm all out of power… What the hell am I supposed to do…?'_

"_**Natsu." **_a crimson silhouette appeared before him, its eyes burning into his very soul "_**Tell me, what happened to you Natsu? How could you allow him to defeat you so easily? Such a great disappointment, and you call yourself the Son of Igneel? Never forget the fact that you are a true Dragon Slayer, and that is an accomplishment you should take great pride in. Know that no matter what may happen, I, Igneel the Fire Dragon King, will always hold such great pride in you."**_

Without uttering so much as a single word, Natsu's body promptly erupted in golden flames as he surged forward at full speed…

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Meanwhile…

"**Ice Make: Ice Cannon!"**

"**Open: Gate of the Golden Bull: Taurus!"**

"**Lightning Dragon Roar!"**

"**Requip! Fairy Burst!"**

"**Sky Dragon Roar!"**

Using every ounce of power they could, Gray, Lucy, Luke, Erza and Wendy promptly struck the other five lacrima with full intent on destroying them.

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Meanwhile, with the main battle…

Zero looked on in a mix of awe and disbelief as a certain golden light ate its way out of the void of nothingness "No it can't be, how can this be possible?! How could he have possibly escaped from the void?! Such brilliant golden flames, my magic is being burnt away!"

"And now, IT'S OVER!" with a roar, Natsu burnt away the last of Zero's phantom spirits from his Genesis Zero, his flames taking on the silhouette of a dragon.

'_His lost magic gives him the power of a dragon, and in turn the power capable of actually defeating one. This boy… he is a true Dragon Slayer…'_

"I hope you're ready you bastard, because I'm done screwing around with you! **Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Hidden Fire Form: Flame Lotus: PHOENIX SWORD!" **using all of the power left at his disposal by Dragon Force, Natsu soared towards Zero at such speed that he left a river of flames in his wake, the force of his final attack sending Zero flying upwards through several stories and into the final lacrima, destroying it upon impact, the force of which began causing Nirvana's legs to give out.

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Luke looked around at the chaos of Nirvana crumbling around him '_Looks like we pulled it off, we were able to hit all of them at the exact same time, and by extension that means that a certain someone was able to take down Zero. Nice work Natsu, I knew you had it in you. You're gonna keep getting stronger like the rest of us.'_

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Meanwhile, in the first chamber…

Natsu spat out some blood to the side as he stood over the defeated form of Zero '_Not gonna like, that turned out to be pretty rough. Who would've thought one lacrima would turn out to be so hard to break? I thought breaking stuff was my specialty, but that doesn't matter now. From here on out there's no more doubting myself, no more losing my nerve, so thank you Igneel. Now I know how to play these things out. Plus on the bright side Nirvana is down, now to get the hell out of here.'_

Jellal, having regained consciousness, looked down on the scene in awe and gave a small smile at the sight '_Natsu Dragneel, he really does exceed all expectations doesn't he?' _but that was when Nirvana started crumbling around the two of them.

"Aw crap I'm all out of magic power, holy shit I'm going down!" Natsu started panicking like an idiot until he fell through a hole in the floor, only to be caught by Jellal at the last second "Oh crap, that was pretty close."

"Don't worry, I've got you."

"For now anyway, I'm smart enough to know that this spells trouble for you too."

"I'm well aware, now that its power source was destroyed there's nothing stopping it from caving in on the both of us."

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Meanwhile, elsewhere in Nirvana…

Luke bolted back through the hallways of Nirvana at full speed, his mind racing '_Looking back it does make sense for this place to be falling apart, seeing how the power source has literally been blown to hell. For now all I can do is have faith that the others will get out okay, but in the meantime I have to focus on getting the hell out of here myself.'_

"Wait for me my noble companions and my sweet honey!" that was when Ichiya showed up on the scene, looking ridiculously buff, only to be hit by falling rubble "Man…"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about you to be honest." Luke picked up Ichiya by the pole he was tied to and promptly hoisted him over his shoulder "Anyway let's get going, Nirvana probably has a few minutes at the most before it gives out. My guess is Erza and the others are on their way out as we speak, if they haven't made it out already."

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Meanwhile, outside…

By this point, Gray had managed to make his way out of Nirvana without being hit by any falling rubble "Dammit, that was way too close of a call. It's going down fast by the looks of it, I hope the others made it out."

"Speak of the devils in question." that was when Luke dropped down near him with Ichiya still hoisted over his shoulder.

"Shouldn't be surprised that you got out okay. What's the the troll doll on your shoulder?"

"That's Ichiya."

"...Oh my god."

"Yeah I know."

"Luke! Gray!" that was when Erza showed up on the scene "And…"

"My Honey!" Ichiya suddenly bulked up like the hulk and started running towards Erza "I'm so glad you made it out safely my blazon haired beauty!"

"**REQUIP!" **a horrified Erza summoned a spear and pointed it at him "Stay back, don't come any closer or I'll drive this into your heart!"

"I am your beloved and you are my honey, how could you not recognize me? Just look at me sparkle in the moonlight."

"Silence behemot!"

"You know that's Ichiya right?"

"I know, that's why I have a spear!"

"I figured, just had to be sure."

"Looks like her little admirer has become a full on stalker." Gray muttered.

"I think if anyone would know about that then it would be you. You know it's kind of weird when you think about it."

"What is?"

"The similarities between Ichiya and Juvia. I mean with Ichiya it's creepy as hell, but with someone like Juvia it's excused."

"What, you think it's because she's a chick?"

"I would say that's a factor worth considering."

"But don't you guys find it funny?"

"The same could be said about him." their conversation was cut short by the sound of yawning in the distance.

That was when Horologium dropped down onto the scene, with Lucy and Bolt both stuffed inside of him ""_So dizzy,"_ she says in a warbled tone of voice."

"Well that figures, it's good to know Lucy and Bolt made it out okay too."

"This is that clock spirit of hers right?" asked Gray.

"That would be the one yeah."

Lucy grabbed onto Bolt and pulled him out into the open "Not that I don't appreciate you saving us back there Horologium, but I don't even remember summoning you, and now that I think about it I don't even have enough magic power to summon you."

"You didn't summon me." Horologium told her "I passed through the gate on my own accord, I hope you don't mind."

"Of couse I don't mind, I really do appreciate the save."

"Your magic is getting stronger by the day Miss Lucy, so it's very likely you'll be seeing more Celestial Spirits doing the same. But with that being said, I'm more useful than others, as I am able to prevent oxygen deprivation, insect bites, inflammation and blemmishes."

"Wait a second, you mean you can prevent acne?"

"Didn't know you had a problem with that." Bolt noted dryly.

"Hey you guys!" that was when Happy dropped down onto the scene "Where the heck did everyone go? The last thing I remember is Gray attacking me and then when I came too everyone was gone."

"...Oh yeah, we all pretty much forgot about you."

"Hey!"

"Thank goodness." that was when Jura showed up with Wendy and Carla "It would seem that everyone is alright and all of you have made it out safely."

"What about Natsu and Jellal, are they here?" asked Wendy.

"I don't see them with the others. Could they still be inside?"

"I hope not."

"I wouldn't worry about them too much." Luke assured them "Knowing what Natsu is like, he's either already out and lost in the woods, or he's gonna show up at the last second. It's kind of a thing he has going for him."

It turned out to be more the latter, seeing how that was when Hoteye burst up from beneath the ground with Natsu and Jellal in his possession "Love is strong enough to drive us to save our friends, oh yeah!"

"Looks like it was more the second one, didn't expect for Richard to show up though. And for the record Jura, we are gonna want an explanation about that later."

"You're okay… you're really okay… Natsu!" that was when Wendy rushed up to Natsu and pulled him into a tight hug "You kept your promise… you're the greatest… I can't thank you enough… you saved my guild… If it weren't for you, then Cait Shelter would've been wiped out for sure.

Natsu blinked, then gave a small smile "Don't worry about it. Besides, it's not like I could've done it on my own, so you really should be thanking all of them."

"I know. All of you saved my guild."

"Well it was mostly a team effort."

"I didn't do too much myself."

"Don't be so modest, you did destroy one of the lacrima by yourself."

"Yeah… Yeah I did."

"Besides, you're a Dragon Slayer so of course you're awesome." this caused Wendy to turn a deep shade of red.

"Hey Natsu." that was when Luke came up to him and patted him on the shoulder with a small smile "Good job, you did well in that fight."

"Yeah, I'm awesome." and then he fell flat on his face "I had that coming."

"Yes you did. All things considered, I'm glad everyone made it out of that okay."

"It was a close call though." Jura noted "Everyone involved did an excellent job."

"As long as nobody tries to ask for a group hug or something, truth be told that would be creepy as hell."

"Speaking of creepy, who's that?" Lucy pointed over at where Jellal was standing a fair distance away from the group "Is he one of the pretty boys from Blue Pegasus, because I think we would've met him earlier."

"Nope fraid not, that's Jellal."

"Wait what, are you kidding me?! Why the hell is he here?"

"Take it easy, he's changed and he's far from being the same guy that we dealt with back in the Tower of Heaven. Plus his memory was pretty much wiped clean, so…"

"Really?" Gray shot him a look "I still don't think we can trust the guy."

"You don't have to, just know that I trust him, at least for the time being."

"You would be wise to listen to him." on that note, Erza made her way over to Jellal "I wanted to thank you, in all honestly we would never have been able to succeed without your help."

"We both know such a claim isn't true." Jellal told her flatly "In all honesty, I didn't do anything worthy of any real praise, far from it."

"Agree to disagree. So tell me, what are you going to do now?"

"Good question. I wish I knew."

"It's alright, I'm sure you're not the only one in that position. Who knows what tomorrow might have in store?"

"...I'm honestly afraid."

"Of what?"

"Of my memories, of them returning to me."

"You shouldn't be. It wouldn't change anything. Even if we were to become enemies again, it would never change the fact that I care about you."

"You do?"

"Yes I do, far more than you know."

"Hey guys?" Luke got their attention "I hate to break up the conversation, but Ichiya apparently got trapped in an invisible box with his face pressing against the wall."

"Meaning?"

"Considering the writing on the ground, I'd say that all of us are trapped in some kind of enchantment."

"Wait what?"

"If I had to guess then I would say that we're stuck in some kind of last resort trap the enemy laid for us." Luke glanced around "I'm not detecting the scent of anyone in relation to the Oracion Seis. Alright, whoever's out there go ahead and show yourself." this was followed by the group being surrounded by a massive group of Rune Knights "Yeah that figures, it was only a matter of time before the Magic Council decided to screw us over and take us out in some kind of unfortunate accident."

"There's no need for any of you to panic, I can assure you that we have no intention of harming any of you." that was when their leader stepped forward, a young man with tied up black hair and a pair of glasses "I must apologize for this, but we were ordered to take measures to restrain you."

"You probably made the right call considering what most of these people are like, but in all seriousness who are you?"

"I am Lahar, the captain of the new Magic Council's 4th Custody Enforcement Unit, and this is my army of Rune Knights."

"They finished reforming the Magic Council already? That was fast."

"Indeed, they made it official earlier today. As for myself, it is my duty to uphold the law and preserve peace and justice throughout the land, so all evildoers must be arrested."

"And I'm guessing in the eyes of the council, that includes pretty much everyone in Fairy Tail right? It's no secret how they feel about us."

"While I do acknowledge that there are a considerable number of members on the council who are not particularly fond of Fairy Tail, I have not been ordered to arrest you, and thus I have no intention of doing so. I have come with orders of taking the Oracion Seis into custody. I must ask that you please cooperate and hand over the member with the codename Hoteye."

"Oh boy. Sorry Jura, but we'll have to do it."

"It's alright, I surrender peacefully." Hoteye stepped forward with a sad smile "The fact is that I cannot fully embrace a life of virtue when my past transgressions continue to haunt me. I have been given a chance to atone for my sins, after all it is for the best that I have a clean slate when I find my brother, so that way I will have nothing to hide. Do you not agree?"

"Indeed I do." Jura gave him a smile "I must ask though, may I continue to search for your brother in your stead while you atone for your sins?"

"You would do that for me?"

"I would be honored to do so, and all I need is for you to tell me his name."

"Of course my friend, his name is Wally, Wally Buchanan."

"...Wait a second!" Natsu suddenly popped up in front of him "You mean that blockheaded jackass who tried to shoot me in the mouth?!"

"I miss him dearly. He was always a good kid, in fact he was the best little brother a man could ever ask for. My brother and I struggled to survive after the loss of our parents, and it was a trying time. We worked with diligence in hopes of growing vegetables in our meager garden, but unfortunately, when it came time for us to harvest, we were left with great disappointment, but despite that we continued to persevere, and I have my brother to thank for that."

"Richard… I know him…" Erza slowly stepped forward "I know your brother Wally."

"You do?"

"Yes I do, he was an old friend of mine. I know for a fact that he's happily travelling the continent right now with a few others."

"So… you mean he's…" tears began streaming down Richard's face "All these years, I just kept telling myself that if I stayed positive, a miracle would fall upon me, and lo and behold it has at last…" he promptly fell to his knees "Thank you… thank you… thank you…" he took a moment to compose himself, and then he allowed the Rune Knights to take him away.

Jura watched him go with a sad smile '_There are such things in life that one cannot help, but at the very least, I can keep my promise to find him and reunite them.'_

"I think he made the right call given the circumstances." Luke glanced over at Lahar "Not that I intend to rush you, but I'm sure you've noticed that Ichiya over there is having some problems, or rather he will be if he's stuck in here for too much longer."

"I'm aware of his circumstances, as revolting as they may be." Lahar noted, his tone carrying a small hint of disgust "However, I'm afraid that is simply not an option at the moment, at least not until we capture our true objective."

"I thought you said you came here to take in the Oracion Seis."

"Correct, however that was not our only objective. We have another target, a fiend who was able to infiltrate the Magic Council and destroyed them, as well as fired the Etherion cannon, as well as well as caused torment to all of those present in the Tower of Heaven and manipulating the lives of innocent people for his own personal gain. A villain far more heinous and vile than even the Oracion Seis, truly black of heart."

"...You're talking about Jellal." this wasn't a question.

"Indeed I am." Lahar turned his attention to the man in question "Jellal Fernandez, for your crimes you are hereby under arrest. Let's be on our way, and know that if you resist, we have been given explicit orders to kill you."

Natsu and Wendy were quick to protest this "Leave him alone man, you're making one hell of a mistake."

"The fact is that Jellal Fernandez is a criminal, and the society of Fiore is in danger for as long as he roams free, and as such he must be brought to justice." he then promptly had his Rune Knights cuff Jellal "Now then Jellal Fernandez, you are hereby under arrest for crimes against the kingdom of Fiore.

"No you can't, please don't take him away!" Wendy protested "It's not fair, he doesn't even know what he's done! All of his memories have been completely erased!"

"While such a fact is understandable, ignorance of one's crimes does not erase the fact that such crimes have been committed. This is stated explicitly by Penal Code section 13." Lahar motioned to one of his men "You may remove the barrier now."

"Hold on!"

"It's alright." Jellal was quick to assure her "I have no intention of resisting my arrest. Please forgive me Wendy, I wish that I could remember you, and I'm truly sorry that I can't."

That was when Carla stepped forward "When she was lost and alone, you found her wandering and saved her very life."

"Did I? I may never know the harm that I've inflicted upon you and countless others, but at least I can know that at some point, I did something to help someone." he looked past them towards a certain someone "Erza, I promise you I won't forget your kindness."

Erza gritted her teeth and clenched her fists as she tried to force herself not to run '_I can't allow this to happen… I can't let them take him away like this… it's not right… All these years, he was sleepwalking through the darkness… He's finally been let into the light again… They can't just shut him away…'_

Jellal allowed himself to be taken back into the crowd of Rune Knights, but stopped when he was next to Lahar "I'm ready."

"Do you have any more parting words for any of them?" asked Lahar "If so, I suggest you speak them now."

"No, I've already said everything that I have to say."

"Good. At the very least you'll be serving a life sentence, and that's if you're lucky."

"And if I'm not?"

"Then you'll be executed. Whatever the case may be, the fact is that you'll very likely never see these people again."

By this point, Wendy had tears streaming down her face "He's gone… I just got him back… and now he's gone again…"

"HOLD IT ONE FUCKING SECOND!" that was when Natsu suddenly started tearing through the Rune Knights "Get the fuck out of my way!"

Lahar was taken aback by this, but he wasn't deterred "Stop this at once!"

"I said get the fuck out of my way! Jellal is one of us and that means he comes with us, I don't give a fuck what any of you say!"

"I said stop this!"

Luke tried to suppress a scream of frustration '_Dammit that idiot, of all the times for him to start acting out, why did he have to do it now?'_

"Enough of this, subdue that man at once!" Lahar sent more of the Rune Knights in, but he wasn't the only one to get reinforcements.

That was when Gray, Happy and Carla joined in the fray "Forget it assclowns, there's no way any of you have a chance in hell of bringing down Natsu! This is all kinds of fucked up on so many levels, Jellal is the reason we took down Nirvana! He just saved a hell of a lot of people, and this is how you repay him, by trying to let him rot in a cell?!"

Wendy was more in tears than interested in fighting "No you can't, please just don't take him away forever!"

"Get the fuck off of me!" Natsu shook a number of Rune Knights off of him and tried to push himself forward towards Jellal "Listen to me, you owe Erza big time! She needs you to stay by her side! She did it for you man, so pull your head out of your ass and stay! It doesn't matter what you think or what they think, you're one of us now!"

"Enough of this!" Lahar finally had enough and pointed at Natsu and Gray "Arrest these two for aiding in the escape of a criminal and obstructing the law!" he sent his men forward, but just as they closed in…

"That's ENOUGH!" this was when Luke blitzed onto the scene, his Dragon Force activated in full effect, using the sheer pressure to blow away the Runs Knights, as well as simumtaneously subdue both Natsu and Gray on the ground "What the actual fuck do you two idiots think you're doing?!"

"What do you think, he's one of us and-" Natsu was silenced by Luke slamming his face into the dirt.

"Don't talk, just listen. I don't like the thought of Jellal rotting away either, but can you two look me in the eye and tell me that you can deny the things that he did back in the Tower of Heaven, the pain he caused, the people he hurt, the people that he killed?" this caused Gray to stop struggling and fall silent "At least one of you has sense."

"Man, he speaks the truth." Ichiya finally debuffed back to his normal form "It pains me, but as much as it will hurt Erza, his crimes cannot be forgiven on a whim."

"The creepy troll doll is right, the fact is that Jellal has a lot of sins under his belt and a lot of blood on his hands."

"But-" Natsu was silenced by a glare that made him shrink into the ground.

"You guys keep going and you would've been if you were only charged for treason, you'd be lucky if you didn't end up rotting in a cell. How would Lisanna and Happy feel about something like that?" this caused Natsu to fall silent.

"Your guildmate speaks the truth." Jura stepped forward "While it pains me that he will not be rewarded for the good deeds he's done this day, the fact is that his sins still far outweigh them, and they cannot be atoned for with a single deed.

"Look I get it, the justice system is extremely heartless at times, but you know that I'm right about this." Luke released his grip on Natsu and Gray, deactivated his Dragon Force, and then turned to face Lahar "I apologize for the disturbance on their behalf. All I can really say is they're young, they're stupid, they have a lot too learn, but regardless I take full responsibility for their actions. I highly suggest that you take him away before any of the others get any stupid ideas."

"...Very well." Lahar let out a sigh and called off his men "Since you happen to have a history of cooperation with the council in the past, I'll let it slide this once, but the next time your guild breaks any significant laws like this, they will be arrested without exception."

"I understand."

"Good. Now men, take him away."

As he was led away, Jellal suddenly looked up and looked back at Erza, and he gave her a small smile "I remember now… it was the color of your hair…" and with that, Jellal was finally taken away as the Magic Council took their leave, his parting words leaving Erza shaken to her core.

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Morning came, and the sun was just rising over the skies above.

Happy looked around at the others "Hey guys… does anyone know where Erza went?"

"Don't bother going after her or anything." Bolt told him without even bothering to look in his direction "Given everything that's happened, it's for the best if we just leave her alone for the time being."

"One of those moments where we actually agree." Luke pointed over at where Erza was sitting in isolation on a nearby hilltop, clearly crying despite her attemptes to hide it "I can't even imagine what she must be feeling right now."

"Never thought I would see someone as strong as her break down like that."

"No Bolt, you've got it all wrong. Kaminari once told me that when someone cries, it's not because they're weak, but because they've been strong for too long." Luke looked up at the sun rising beyond the mountains '_The sun, it's strange but I can see this beautiful crimson color like nothing I've ever seen before. I know it may sound strange, but in a way, that sunrise makes me think of Erza, it reminds me of the hope that she carries and the warmth and passion that she keeps in her heart. I want to think that right now, she's looking into that crimson colored sky, and what she sees is the dawn of a new day. If anyone needs to see that right now, I think it would be her.'_

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Hours passed, and the group relocated themselves to the Cait Shelter guild.

Lucy and the girls, mainly Wendy and Erza, were trying on some of the outfits gifted to them by the natives "Oh man, this is just adorable! I have to admit, I love the fashion that you guys go for here."

"Everyone in the village is a member of the guild." Wendy told her "Cait Shelter is actually famous for its pretty textiles and clothes."

"So then are these clothes traditionl Nirvit styles?"

"I never actually thought about that before, but yeah I guess that would make the mose sense wouldn't it?"

"Though I can't believe you didn't know that everyone in the guild is a descendent of the Nirvits except for you."

"Well yeah, I'm the only one who joined after it was formed."

"I guess that makes sense." Lucy held up a costume to where Erza was brooding in a corner by herself "Hey Erza check this out, I know how much you love a costume change."

"Hm?" Erza looked up, but the look on her face left a lot to be desired "Yes, I suppose."

'_...Oh joy.' _Lucy glanced back over at Wendy "So out of curiosity, do you know when Cait Shelter joined the league of guilds with the rest of the guilds? I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but to be completely honest, I had never even heard of your guild before the alliance was formed in the first place."

"Oh, well I don't know about that." Wendy let out a nervous chuckle "But wow, I didn't realize that the Cait Shelter guild had been so obscure."

"Yes yes, this is all very interesting, but in case all of you had forgotten, everyone is waiting on us right now." Carla pointed out flatly.

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About 20 minutes passed, and everyone gathered outside.

Roubaul, the master of the Cait Shelter guild, addressed the members of the coalition, with all of the other members of Cait Shelter gathered by his side "Fairy Tail, Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale, and of course not to mention Wendy and Carla. I must commend all of your efforts in not only defeating the Oracion Seis, but saving our village from the wrath of Nirvana. Speaking as the representative our regional guild league, I offer all of you my deepest gratitude, so thank you all for that. Nabura, we are in your debt."

"Don't worry, we were happy to help." Luke stepped forward "The battle was fierce and the opponents were anything but easy wins, but we managed to pull out a win against all odds, and that's actually kind of a specialty for us. And for the record, it was either I say something like that or Ichiya would." that quickly shut up the others.

"Indeed, the battle is at last over." Jura put his hands on Lyon and Xian's shouders "The two of you should know that you've both made me very proud. You truly did right by the name of the Lamia Scale guild."

"Hell to the yeah!" Natsu pumped a fist in triumph "I say we deserve a victory party!"

"For once the flame brain and I agree." of course Gray had already lost his clothes.

"Just put on some clothes on for crying out loud!" Lucy looked over to see Lyon (with bandages covering the stump where his arm used to be) having the same problem "And that one goes for you too!"

Luke glanced over to see pretty much everyone dancing in a way that copied Ichiya and his Trimens, and he just let out a sigh "I know what you're thinking and yes, they're like this pretty much all the time."

Ignoring that, Roubaul just let out a sigh "I truly must apologize, the fact is that I've neglected to tell you about the people of the Nirvits, so please accept my sincerest apology."

"I doubt it will stop them from trying to party or dance like a bunch of idiots, but they're still willing to hear you out."

"Very well."

"It's alright master, you don't have to tell us if you don't want to." Wendy told him.

"Perhaps, but it is important. I ask that everyone please listen closely to the tale I am about to share with all of you. First, I must clear the air about something. The truth is that we are not the descendents of the Nirvit people, indeed we are the Nirvit people themselves, and many years ago, 400 years ago to be exact, Nirvana was created and fashioned by my hands."

"You mean… you were the one who…"

"Indeed. I thought that if my dream of Nirvana was made into a reality, then I could end the ghastly wars tearing the world apart, and I would do so by reversing the morality of those whos minds were set on the destruction of others. We made our home there, and we took great joy in what we had accomplished through peace. We were a shining beacon of light in a world that was once overtaken by darkness and shadows. However, despite the best intentions that we had held, we could not change the fact that every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Nirvana had brought light to what was once terrible darkness, not by chasing it away, but by absorbing it so to speak. The world yearns for balance and order, and as such the light serves no purpose without the darkness, and vice versa. Light is born from darkness, and darkness is born from light as well, and as such the two of them are forever intertwined."

"Yeah that makes sense." Gray muttered "That's exactly how it played out for us."

"All of the evil in this world, taken from those whose hearts had once been consumed within it, was transferred to the peace loving Nirvit. Such a thing proved to be an absolute nightmare. The people were engulfed by rage and hatred beyond their control, and as such they ended up brutally slaughtering each other until no one was left standing. No actually, that's not quite true, for I am the only survivor. Then again, given this particular situation, calling myself a survivor comes off as somewhat misleading. The truth is that my body ceased to function many years ago. What all of you are seeing before you now is merely a projection of the man that I once was. As a form of punishment for the sins I had committed, and being a powerless spirit, I have stood as sentinel over my creation for the last 400 years, keeping my weary eyes open for the one who would at last be able to destroy Nirvana and consign it to the pages of history." he gave them a smile "And now that such as task has been completed, my post can at last be vacated, for those people have at last been found."

"Why… Why didn't you tell me?" Wendy finally found her voice, only for her expression to shift to one of shock and horror as she saw many of the other members of the Cait Shelter guild beginning to glow and disappear "Wh-What's happening?! No don't go, you can't just leave us like this!"

Luke looked around at those disappearing and shared a subtle glance with Natsu '_I thought something seemed off about this, I couldn't detect a scent from any of the members of this guild except for Wendy and Carla. They must have all been some kind of illusions.'_

"Why are you doing this?! Please don't leave me!"

"I've deceived you for so long Wendy, and for that I'm truly sorry." Roubault bowed his head to her "All of your fellow guild members were nothing more than specters. They were nothing more than illusions."

"Wh-What?!"

"Yes, I am afraid that is the case. Following the chaos the creation of Nirvana had brought upon the Nirvits, I spent many years living alone in this deserted village, always being sure to keep a watchful eye over Nirvana. That is, until one day when a boy came to me with a companion in need of aid. His eyes burned with such intensity and sincerity that I simply had no choice but to take the little girl in. I had resigned myself to a solitary existence, but there she was. I didn't have the heart to tell her the truth, so I told her that this was indeed a guild. I filled the village with apparitions so that she would not be alone."

Luke was quick to catch on to what he meant, as were the others, but he was the only one who voiced it "So you used your magic to create an entire guild just for Wendy?"

"Yes, I did."

Wendy was more horrified by this than anything else "So no one I care for is a real person?! How could you do something so cruel to me master?!"

"Please calm yourself my dear, there's no need to fret." Roubault gave a small smile as the last of his illusions faded away, as did his form "Neither you nor Carla need those imaginary friends anymore, because no you're surrounded by real friends who care for you. I promise, there's a bright future that awaits you, so embrace it with open arms." he gave a sad smile.

"Master no!" Wendy tried to rush out to him, only for his image to disappear completely.

"To each and every one of you, I owe you my deepest gratitude. Now I can rest content knowing that Wendy and Carla are in your hands." and then his essence vanished from that plane of existence entirely, taking Wendy and Carla's guild marks with him.

"Master… no.." Wendy could only let out a scream of grief as she fell to her knees with tears streaming down her face, with everyone in the guild.

A hand rested on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, courtesy of none other than Natsu as he pulled Wendy into a gentle hug "Losing a part of your family hurts, I get that better than you think. But it gets better, as long as you let your friends help you. How about this, why don't you come back to Fairy Tail with us.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, in a dark and gloomy rocky terrain…

Gajeel looked around and sniffed throughout the area, and he let out an annoyed grunt "Alright it's clear, no one followed me."

That was when a Shikigami doll appeared before him, a deep and malicious sounding voice echoing from within the doll "_Tell me, do any of they suspect that I was the one who had supplied the Oracion Seis with information about Nirvana?"_

"No, as far as they're concerned they figured it out on their own."

"_Excellent my boy, I don't desire to show my hand just yet. Listen carefully Gajeel, I want you to go back and learn all that you can about the Lumen Histoire, as well as any other useful information about that pathetic excuse for a guild. Befriend them and gain their trust to the best of your ability, do whatever you can to get them to let their guard down with you."_

"Understood."

"_Remember my boy, do as I say and when the time comes for us to claim the power of the Lumen Histoire, you shall receive your fair share, as long as you don't disappoint me." _and with that, the shikigami doll disappeared in a ball of flames.

Gajeel let out a scoff "Whatever lets you sleep at night, you annoying psychotic bastard." he promptly turned around and found Makarov standing a short distance away "As much as I like screwing with Ivan, you sure that it's a good idea to keep the others in the dark?"

"While I'm not fond of keeping secrets from the rest of the guild, the fact is that right now it's necessary." Makarov told him "Besides, right now Ivan doesn't know it, but his underhanded tactics and attempts to use you are going to lead us right to him and put a stop to his schemes once and for all."

"Makes sense I guess, keep your friends close and your enemies closer, even if those enemies are your own blood."

"Flesh and blood or not, I cannot allow any of those who threaten the lives and safety of my guild to do as they please. The fact is that Ivan must be stopped at any cost."

"Fair enough I guess. So what exactly is this Lumen Histoire thing he keeps going on about anyway?"

"Unfortunately that is a secret that I cannot divulge to you my boy, it's a secret passed down only to masters of the Fairy Tail guild. Perhaps I can tell you when the time is right, but sadly that time is by no means now."

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A few days went by, and the members of the coalition was returning home now that the operation was complete, and they were doing so by ship.

Natsu was looking out at the ocean with a smile on his face "Finally, so this is what it's like to sail the seas without having to puke your brains out! Welcome to the good life!"

"The life of never ending adventure on the high seas?" Luke guessed.

"The life of a character from One Piece! Sailing the seas and punching the crap out of people who have it coming!"

"...That's so fitting it's disturbing."

"Hell yeah, look out vehicles because Natsu is about to ride you hard!"

"And that just sounds wrong, and keep in mind that Wendy said that her Troia spell only lasts for a few hours at a time."

"Look out world, nothing can stop me now-" and then he fell flat on his face "Help… me…"

"Gee, let me think about it. Nope. Goodbye One Piece, hello puking your guts out over the side of the boat like Guy from Naruto. Besides you heard what Wendy said, the more she uses it the less it works, so you want to spread them out as much as you can."

"But how come… you don't have… this problem…?"

"Because I don't stuff my face like someone out of Dragon Ball. Or Toriko. Or One Piece. Or that one guy from Death Note. Wow, now I'm realizing how pretty much ever anime in existence has a lunatic obsessed with food. Speaking of which." Luke picked up Natsu and held him over the side of the boat to upchuck as much as necessary, but his thoughts drifted elsewhere '_The hard fought battle against the Oracion Seis is finally over, so now we finally get to head back home and regain a sense of normalcy. We already said farewell to the wizards from the other guilds, and word is Lyon is going to see some kind of specialist to do something about him losing his arm in the battle against Racer. Lucy's made some progress too, word is that she's gotten three new Zodiac keys. Apparently now that Angel has been taken into custody, Gemini, Airies and Scorpio have decided to form contracts with Lucy instead. I have to admit, everything that happened was kind of an eye opener for all of us, including me. I let my guard down in my fight with Cobra, it didn't matter how much magic power or conviction I had, because his poison still got to me. God Serena was right about what he said before, I can't just settle with the current level of power I have right now, because it's only a matter of time before someone stronger shows up with a taste for blood, and if Makarov can't protect the guild then it's up to me. So once I get back home, it's time to start training again. Like he said, I can't settle when I know I have so much further to go.'_

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Another 2 days went by, and the group returned to the Fairy Tail guild.

Luke was quick to fill everyone up to speed on what was happening "So yeah that's it guys, and to make a long story short, Wendy and Carla are the newest members of the Fairy Tail guild, so b sure to treat them right or you'll be answering to us."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all." Wendy promptly bowed to them, which set off a majority of the perves in the guild.

"Oh joy, now the pervs are into lolies." Luke sat himself down at the bar and gave a nod in the direction of Makarov "Alright then, job done master."

Makarov gave a nod in return "And a job done well, now I believe that things will quiet down for the time being now that the Oracion Seis is out of the picture. I should thank you for bringing two interesting yet powerful additions to the guild back with you."

"Yeah well, Wendy and Carla didn't have any place to go after Cait Shelter just up and vanished, so it was only right."

This was when Juvia started to do her thing, crying at the sight of Gray to the point where she was literally flooding the guild hall "Gray my darling you're finally back, I'm so happy that you made it home! My tears are flowing like waterfalls!"

"Oh for the love of- hey Gray, you mind doing something about your waifu?"

"She's not my fucking waifu you ass!" Gray was promptly submerged

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About 20 minutes later…

After the guild hall was unflooded, Luke took the time to tell Cana about the battle he had against the likes of Cobra "And to add onto the ridiculousness of having a flying snake, apparently he was a second generation Dragon Slayer like Laxus is."

"You realize how insane that sounds." Cana pointed out dryly from where she was downing a mug of beer "A flying snake?"

"Yeah I don't get it either, truth be told I wouldn't believe it myself if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes."

"Well at least you powered through it." Cana glanced over to see their two newcomers making their way over to them "So you're the new girl in the guild huh? Call me Cana."

"Oh wow, it's really you!" Wendy looked on in awe "I can't believe that this is actually happening, first I met Luke and Erza and now I'm actually meeting Cana Alberona!"

"I'd be flattered if I wasn't kind of drunk already.

"...Oh."

"Forget it, it's kind of my thing. Anyway I'm guessing your cat over there uses the same kind of magic as Bolt and Happy, so what kind of magic do you use?"

"Well…"

"Now wait a minute!" Carla promptly rounded on her "Don't you dare think about comparing me to that furry little horn dog and that snarky little-"

"Don't mind Carla, she means well most of the time. I use healing and support magic, and I'm actually a Sky Dragon Slayer." Wendy was met with various looks of shock and stunned silence, which left her worried "Did I do something wrong already?"

"Just give it a second." Luke told her.

"What do you-"

"Holy shit that's awesome!" Macao and Wakaba and the others started losing it "We've finally got another Dragon Slayer!"

"As you can see Dragon Slayers are pretty well liked around here. Anyway I think I speak for everyone when I say this Wendy, welcome to have you aboard." this was met with her blushing and giving a shy smile "Okay guys you know the drill, now that we have two new members we need to welcome them in the way that only Fairy Tail can: By celebrating and getting drunk to the point where only anime characters should be able to survive it!"

What no one noticed was that Gajeel was looking over the antics of the guild from the second floor, though he had a particularly aggravating pet peeve '_It's not fair! I mean seriously, I'm a Dragon Slayer too aren't I? Why the fuck do I not have a flying kitty cat to call my own?!'_

Another thing no one noticed was that Mystogan was looking over the typical antics of the guild from his own place on the second floor, though he seemed particularly interested when his eye was caught by the sight of Wendy '_Of all the guilds for her to join… I suppose it was only a matter of time before she and I would see each other again… I was just hoping that she wouldn't end up being caught in the crossfire of what's to come. I can only pray that she and the rest are ready.' _and then he disappeared from the guild hall entirely, something that didn't go unnoticed by either Natsu or Gray.

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Meanwhile, in the airship of a certain dark guild…

"Hey Hades." a certain Dragon Slayer, mainly Noah in this case, made his way into the throne room of the airship "I have the reports that you were asking for."

"Is everything as I expected?" Hades inquired.

"For the most part, the coalition of official guilds took down the Oracion Seis and destroyed Nirvana without suffering any casualties."

"The coalition was as capable has I had anticipated, our objective remains unhindered. The inevitable destruction of Nirvana is but a ripple in the vast sea of the scheme we have in play at the moment."

"Yeah, as fucked up and delusional as it might be. You just keep telling yourself that if it helps you to sleep at night."

"You continue to try my patience Noah."

"It's part of my charm, but in all seriousness the destruction of Nirvana might serve as the cause for an effect of something even bigger. With ⅓ of the big three out of the way chances are some of the smaller dark guilds are gonna make a move of their own. Raven Tail is the one that's caught my eye for the most part."

"Such a thing is worth little notice, but it may prove entertaining. You aren't afraid are you my boy?"

"Be realistic Hades, if I'm not afraid of you then why would I be afraid of them? Frankly I'm looking forward to it, but not as much as going at it with a certain other of my kind." and on that note, Noah turned and made his way out of the throne room '_I hope you're ready Thunderclap, looks like things are about to get pretty interesting.'_

**A/N:**

**And with this chapter, not only do we reach the end of the Oracion Seis arc, but we also reach the end of the second season of my Fairy Tail fic, and what a season it's been hasn't it? Looking back, while the Oracion Seis arc still isn't my favorite arc in Fairy Tail, it's a lot better than I remember, though it does drag on in a few areas here and there.**

**A few things to note in this chapter include the change to the scene where they take on the Magic Council, since Jura, Luke and Ichiya stand down along with Erza, since they're more professional, so really it's only Natsu, Gray, and the cats that take part, but that doesn't last for very long.**

**So yes, I'm making it so that in this fic, Ivan and Raven Tail were the ones that supplied Brain and the Oracion Seis with information regarding Nirvana. The main reason for this is because I'm trying to give Raven Tail more build up, at least before the time skip.**

**Just throwing this out there, I'm skipping the Daphne arc because, well to put it simply, in my opinion, it sucked, as is the case with a large majority of filler in most anime. I'm replacing that with what I think is some good filler, some backstory into Luke's 18 months of training before the story began, showing one of his struggles against a certain quartet in leage with a certain dark guild.**

**Also, just so you guys know, it's been confirmed for me that because of the corona virus, all of my college courses for the rest of the semester are going to be online, so while I still have a lot of work to do for each class, I'll be at home for the time being, so that also means I have more time for writing.**


	26. Omake III

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**Guest: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you like it. Next chapter is going to be another Omake chapter before we head to the Edolas arc.

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The night was calm over the skies of the base of a certain dark guild.

Ivan, the master of the dark guild Raven Tail, looked over 4 figures kneeling before him, "You have served me without fail, you have followed me without hesitation, and you hold firm belief in the greater goal of our guild."

The four nodded in unision "We have."

"You belong to me just as always, do you not?"

"We do."

"Will you obey my every command?"

"We will."

"Will you fight by my side for as long as the four of you live?"

"We will."

"Will you carry out this task, and retrieve what I had once given away?"

"We will without hesitation."

"Now go forth, and remember the price of failure." black electricity surged in Ivan's hand as he fired a blast at a nearby mountain, blowing it apart.

"We will not fail you master." and so they all disappeared in a flash.

"So what do you think my boy, impressive no?"

Gajeel shot a look at Ivan of clear distaste "Am I supposed to be impressed? From what I can tell all they have going for them is the basic elements, I had that with the Element 4."

"Perhaps, but what they had is nothing in comparison to the sheer potency and raw magic power of my Elementors. Tempest for Air, Wave for Water, Quake for Earth, and Blaze for Fire. These four elites have been implanted with lacrima not dissimilar to that of a Dragon Slayer lacrima, with power capable of subduing _him _and ripping the Dragon Slayer lacrima from his body."

"For the sake of clarity, why did you give that jackass a lacrima like that in the first place?"

"Sheer pity, nothing more than that, seeing how he was so weak and frail as a boy."

"Are you serious? Those things are rare as fuck."

"Indeed my boy. Now that he's been expelled from that pathetic excuse for a guild, he may very well come here, and such a thing is fine by me. That lacrima happens to be worth quite the amount these days."

"So… you're gonna take it from him? But won't that kill him?"

"Such a thing matters very little in the grand scheme of things. It was such a foolish decision looking back, as far as I'm concerned he's little more than an expense to me. Money and power are the only things that matter in this world, and they're what I need to spark a war against that wretched guild. As for you, well I'll need you to continue your infiltration a bit longer. You don't have any problems with that do you?" Ivan's body began surging with red electricity, the look on his face making him all the more intimidating.

"...No problems whatsoever." and with that, Gajeel took his leave, though he had different thoughts on his mind '_Just you wait you psychotic fucker, you'll get yours soon enough.'_

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Meanwhile, miles away from Fiore…

God Serena glanced up from where he was meditating and found Luke standing before him, his expression one of determination "It's only been a few months since you returned to your guild, I figured it was going to be longer before you came back to me."

"Fighting against the Oracion Seis was a real eye opener to me." Luke told him flatly "Some enemies have more than just a lot of magic power going for them, I need to be able to keep up with any gimmicks they have going for them."

"This is because of that fight you had with their Poison Dragon Slayer, you know you would've been fine if you just went all out."

"Maybe but you know how much magic power Dragon Force uses and how much it's able to drain me. I need to hone it until it's second nature to me, and the best way to do that is to train with you."

"This is something I've been anticipating for awhile, I guess the only thing to do for the time being is whip you into even better shape than before. You better be ready to come at me with everything you've got."

"That's exactly what I'm counting on."

"Good, now get ready." God Serena stood up, and with a sudden burst of power he activated his Dragon Slayer magic "This is going to be fun."

"...I may have made a terrible mistake."

"And remember, you can't use your Dragon Force for this one."

"Yep, definitely a terrible mistake."

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Meanwhile, with the Elementors…

The four elementors set foot in a certain field far away from the HQ of Raven Tail "And now you know what to do, so let the hunt begin. Split up and search for the one that is able to use Lightning Dragon Slayer magic, and bring him to the master alive." and so on that note, they promptly scattered, leaving their so called hunt to begin.

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Meanwhile…

Luke glanced around at the landscape surrounding him, his mind racing '_I can't just rely on my eyes or my nose, I need to use all of my senses, let my body take in my surroundings.'_

"**Purgatory Dragon Scatter Shot!" **a barrage of crimson flames shot towards him.

'_He's there!' _Luke quickly leapt out of the way.

"**Sea King Dragon Roar!" **a powerful stream of water forced Luke to dodge again, though it did leave a noteworthy gash in his shoulder.

'_Dammit!'_

"**Cavern Dragon Tectonic Uprising!" **a barrage of earth pillars burst up from the ground, one of them slamming Luke into a nearby wall, causing him to spit out some blood.

'_Fire, water, earth, if he's going where I think he's going with this-'_

"**Purgtory Dragon Blazing Inferno!" **a massive ball of fire shot towards him, leaving a scorched pattern in the ground in its wake.

"**Thunder Drive!" **thinking quick, Luke activated his Thunder Drive and shattered the rock pillar binding him to the wall, and with a few quick slashes of his sword he cut through the streams of water that were coming towards him '_If he's going where I think he is, then air should be next.'_

"**Tempest Dragon Cyclone Cannon!" **a massive tornado of air shot towards Luke from his blind spot and promptly engulfed him, trapping him in its rotation.

"**Lightning Dragon ROAR!" **unable to escape on his own, Luke used a lightning enhanced roar to elevate himself out of and above the tornado, then he promptly set his gaze on God Serena, the user of the elemental barrage "Oh that is it, now I'm ending this! **Lightning Dragon Demolition Fist!" **he promptly charged down towards God Serena and prepared to unleash a massive fist made of lightning magic.

"Nope." God Serena simply stepped to the side to avoid the attack, and then he promptly consumed the lightning properties within the spell, leaving Luke to crash to the ground with a loud thud "Not bad, you could do better but definitely a lot better than the first time."

"Yeah no kidding." Luke pulled himself to his feet and sheathed his sword "You know it's times like this you should be glad I'm a number of different elements rolled up into one, I mean imagine how bad it would've been if I had to deal with four different opponents at once. Truth be told I've never really made it a habit of fighting multiple opponents at once if I don't actually have to. That's something I'll have to change, if I want any chance of standing against some of these stronger enemies, then I'll have to be able to adapt to the situation."

"Either that or adapt your situation to fit yourself."

"...I have no idea whether or not that makes sense."

"Me neither, I got that from some Avengers cartoon. Moving on from that, I figured you would come to me sooner or later, so I called in a training partner for you while I leave and take care of some Wizard Saint business. Let me know how it goes, and I'll see ya later." and so he took off in a flash.

"And there he goes."

"Is he always like that?"

"Pretty much yeah." Luke glanced up to see a cloaked figure appear before him, and the expression on his face dulled slightly "Yeah that figures, why am I not surprised that you're the mystery training partner Laxus?"

Sure enough, the figure removed his cloak, revealing the face of Laxus Dreyar "Probably because you know you can't get rid of me."

"You didn't try to get rid of me before."

"You kind of grew on me, I liked your snark."

"I grew out of that. So you've been out of Fairy Tail for about a year now, you've been training hard I take it?"

"You could say that, you wanna come and find out?"

"Might as well, feel free to make the first move."

"As if you had to ask." Laxus blitzed out of view.

'_Looks like he's as fast as ever.' _Luke blocked the fist with his own, blowing away the ground beneath them and resulting in the two of them trading even blows that sent out some powerful shockwaves across the landscape '_He's got that smug look on his face, that means either he got laid or he's holding back.'_

'_This is the jackass who took down a Wizard Saint, I'm gonna push him as far as I can in this fight.' _a burst of electricity resulted in the two of them breaking away from the clash "That's some pretty impressive power, though considering you took down the master of Phantom Lord single handed, I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

"I didn't expect you to disappoint you either, whatever training you've been doing was definitely not a waste of time. But at the same time, it feels to me like you're holding back."

"I just wanted to see if you were gonna take this fight seriously, I guess I'll hae to push you for the time being." Laxus bulked up considerably as his body crackled with electricity.

"If that's what you want." Luke's body promptly started pulsing with electricity and he bulked up only slightly "Come at me bro."

"As if you had to ask." they both charged at each other and began trading even blows too fast for the untrained eye to see.

Luke dealt Laxus a palm strike to the chest, sending him skidding backwards "**Lightning Dragon… ROAR!" **he let out a lightning enhanced roar.

"**Lightning Dragon… ROAR!" **Laxus let out a lighting enhanced roar of his own, the roars colliding and sending a series of explosions across the shore.

Luke flared his magic power slightly to clear away the flames and smoke, his fist crackling with electricity "Alright I think I've seen enough, I wanted to keep this brief anyway so one more attack from each of us."

"Fine by me, but let it be a big one." Laxus started casting a spell as his hand was covered in lightning magic "Come at me bro, if you've got the kahones to."

"You asked for it. **Lightning Dragon… HEAENWARD HALBERD!"**

"**Lightning Dragon… DEMOLITION FIST!" **the two attacks collided, resulting in a powerful explosion, and when the smoke cleared both of them had burn marks on their arms "Not gonna lie, that's pretty impressive considering who I'm dealing with."

"An actual Dragon Slayer compared to an artificial one, but all things considered you've gottan a lot better too." that was when an explosion from the nearby town got their attention "What the hell was that?"

"Sounds like an explosion."

"I know that genius, I mean what caused it?"

"How the hell should I know? Sounds like it came from Freesia."

"It is in that direction. You wait here, I'm gonna go see what's going on." and so Luke blitzed away in a flash.

Now alone, Laxus glanced over in another direction '_I'm sensing something coming from over there, whatever it is it's powerful. I'd better check it out.'_

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Meanwhile, in Freesia…

Blaze was hard at wort burning down a newly restored church, but then his head snapped up when he sensed Luke making his way on the scene "Like a moth to a flame, you light wizard types are far too predictable for your own good, and that's exactly why you're about to get burned to a crisp."

That was when Luke appeared in front of him "Hey come on man, they just finished rebuilding this place after Natsu burnt it down. Just because he can blow stuff up in a matter of seconds doesn't mean they can rebuild it just as fast."

"Something so trivial matters little, now that you're here I have no need for this wretched building." Blaze blitzed behind Luke, revealing a stream of fire in his wake "You are the one I came for, and you will be delivered to the master! **Blazing Inferno!" **he struck Luke with a ball of fire faster than he could react.

Luke rebounded and stopped himself in the middle of the street, glancing around quickly at his surroundings '_Okay good, all of the civilians are already gone. _Start talking, who are you and what do you want?"

"**It's as I stated before, I came to deliver you to our master."**

"Well you have me now, but can you really handle me? **Lightning Dragon Talon!" **Luke blitzed in front of Blaze and dealt him a lightning enhanced kick that caused him to scatter into several smaller balls of fire and disappear "I guess that answers that."

"Far from it you wretch, if I go down then I'll be sure that I take you with me in the name of the great Master Ivan! **Scorching Smash!" **Blaze blitzed above Luke.

'_Master Ivan? So these guys are in league with Makarov's son?' _unfortunately, Luke had been distracted by this thought and promptly smashed into the ground, leaving him with some light burns across his left side '_Dammit, he made me let my guard down again!'_

"It's over Fairy Tail filth, and now you're mine!" Blaze prepared to deal Luke a finishing blow, when…

"**Hydro Bow!" **a bow made of water magic struck Blaze in the shoulder and promptly sent him tumbling backwards down the street, courtesy of Wave as he appeared before them "Get your hands off of him Fire Trash, the boy belongs to me."

"Forget it Pond Scum, Master Ivan promised that whoever brought the Dragon Lacrima to him would be his new second in command, and that someone will be me!" they started attacking each other, punching each other and rolling across the ground, only to stop when they noticed something crucial: that Luke was getting away.

"Dammit you fool, he's getting away because of your incompetence!"

"Hey, you're the one who attacked me!"

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Sure enough, Luke was bolting away from the city at full speed, his mind racing '_I can't go all out in a city like that, I have to lure them out of the city in case there are any other civilians who haven't gotten away. Plus they said something about Ivan, so that means that they're working for the son of Master Makarov, Laxus' dad. Whatever he wants with me, doubt it's gonna be for anything good. I'm dealing with fire and water, so maybe if I can lure them and have them attack each other somehow.'_

"**Blazing Inferno/ Hydro Bow!" **unfortunately, Blaze and Wave were both hot on his trail, chasing after him and unleashing elemental attacks at the same time.

'_Dammit, too many people are at risk here!' _Luke kept on running out of the city as fast as he could, dodging and weaving his way around various blasts of water and fire, though it did come close.

That was when Laxus suddenly blitzed onto the scene "Grab on!" he grabbed Luke's arm and the two of them vanished.

Blaze and Wave screeched to a halt when they saw that Luke was gone "Dammit!"

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Meanwhile, a fair distance away from the city…

Laxus set Luke down a fair distance away from the city "So you wanna try and explain what the actual fuck is going on?"

"I would if I could." Luke let out a sigh "To make a long story short, I met a fire monster, fought it, ran into a water monster and fought both of them at the same time, they tried chasing me so I tried to lead them out of the city, then you yanked me away from them. From what I can tell though, I think they're working for your father."

"Well that just fucking figures, so now he's going for elemental monsters. What's next, trying to find some limitless source of magic power."

"Well he is psychotic enough from what I know, and speaking of which we'd better get the hell out of the way!" Luke pulled Laxus out of the way of a powerful blast of wind that shredded a good chunk of the nearby forest, courtesy of Tempest from a short distance away "Yeah that figures, right when God Serena uses his elemental approach I end up getting attacked by what I assume is going to be a quartet of elemental monsters. Fire, Water and Air so far, so if I had to guess then I say Earth is next."

"Looks that way. You hang back, now I'm taking my turn." Laxus shoved Luke to the ground and blitzed towards Tempest himself "You've got some major balls coming after me you gigantic blowhard."

"Laxus Dreyar, grandson of Makarov and the son of our master." Tempest let out a snarl "First my incompetent companions lead me to you, even if they foolishly attacked that other Dragon Slayer by mistake, and now you decide to come to me personally. I should show some gratitude to you for making this so easy for me. **Cyclone cannon!" **he unleashed a quick tornado from his hand.

Laxus blitzed out of the way of the attack "There's only one thing that's gonna be easier for you, and it's gonna be an ass kicking. **Lightning Dragon Iron Fist!" **he charged at Tempest with a lightning enhanced fist armed and ready, only to pass right through him '_What the hell, some kind of transparency magic? It's like I passed right through him, like… air. Well that fucking figures.'_

"**Tempest Lasso!" **Tempest used his air magic to grab Laxus with a small tornado and slam him into the ground, only to notice that the cliffsides surrounding them were beginning to close in on them "What in the-"

'_Now's my chance! _**Lightning Dragon Heavenward Halberd!"** Laxus quickly unleashed a lightning enhanced halberd and hurled it at Tempest, causing his form to dissipate long enough for him to get out before the cliffsides completely closed in on Tempest, crusing him in them as a result "On one hand, that's one down. On the other hand, if I were to guess…"

"**Seismic Grappel!" **that was when Quake burst onto the scene and unleashed a long grappel made of rock, grabbing Laxus by the waist and yanking him to the ground "That's what you get for refusing to join the master, and that means I win, which means Master Ivan will make me his new second in command."

"Not on your life you wretched pebbel!" Blaze appeared on the scene "If anyone will be the new second in command, it's going to be me!"

"Forget it, that right belongs to me!" Wave materialized next to them.

"You're wrong, all of you!" Tempest materialized out of the cliffsides "If anyone deserves to serve at Master Ivan's side, it's me!"

"I've got a solution to your problem guys. It's pretty simple actually, how about none of you get to take me to my dead beat of an old man." with a quick surge of lightning magic, Laxus freed himself from Quake's bindings and sent all of them flying "So who wants to get their elemental ass kicked first?"

"Die you cocky little shit!" Quake promptly summoned a massive boulder over his head and hurled it at Laxus, sending him flying, followed by Blaze hitting him with a Blazing Inferno blast, sending him tumbling backwards.

'_Okay, I'm gonna call that punishment for the crappy pun.'_

"I call that punishment for the crappy pun." Luke blitzed onto the scene next to him "I decided to wait until you actually needed my help or until you get knocked on your ass, whichever one came first."

"Maybe you took after me too much, so what's our plan?"

"You see those gold lacrima in their chests? My guess is those are some kind of weak spots for them, so we hit those hard enough then we take them down for good."

"Wouldn't it be fine for us to just overpower them?"

"Maybe but knowing how you are there's a pretty good chance you'd kill them, and we'll need them to find out any info we can about your dad. Let's just do it."

"...Fine, whatever. Also, DODGE!" they both blitzed out of the way of a barrage of boulders hurled at them by Quake "Two for each, sounds fair right?"

"Works for me. **Lightning Dragon TALON!" **Luke dealt Quake a lightning enhanced kick to the lacrima in his chest, causing it to cough up what looked like white blood and sending it tumbling backwards into a nearby cliffside "Not too bad."

"Hold that thought!" Laxus had been engulfed in a cyclone by Tempest and was promptly sent slamming into Luke, and then a powerful stream of water by Wave sent both of them crashing to the ground, and both of them were force to dodge a barrage of fireballs from Blaze "Okay that's one down, fall back and get some open space?"

"Might as well, I do better in a fight when I can spread out." and so the two of them blitzed away, with the remaining three Elementors in hot pursuit.

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Meanwhile, back at Fairy Tail…

Makarov stood alone on the roof of the Fairy Tail guild hall, his thoughts drifting as he stared out at the horizong '_I'm sorry Ivan… but flesh and blood or not, I cannot allow you to harm the guild under any circumstances.'_

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Meanwhile, back at the fight…

Luke and Laxus set down on the ground on the scene of a large rocky wasteland, with wide open spaces, far away from any cities or large populated areas "You think we lost them?"

"I think you know the answer to that." Laxus pointed out dryly "Why the hell do you even bother asking?"

"I'm an optimist."

"You're an idiot."

"You're both wrong. You're dead." TFS references aside, that was when Quake appeared in front of them and tried to hurl a massive boulder at them to crush them.

"**Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Indra's Wrath: Roaring Thunder!" **Laxus charged foward and unleashed a power blast of lightning from his hand, carving through the boulder and piercing the lacrima in Quake's chest "That's one down."

"For now." Luke whipped out his sword Raiden as he gestured to where they were being surrounded by Blaze, Wave and Tempest.

"Shit."

"Yep."

"Now both of you will die by my hand!" Tempest summoned a massive tornado and used it to rip apart a nearby plateau and hurl it at them piece by piece.

"**Dragon Sword Style: Lightning Hammer!" **Luke thrusted his sword into the ground and unleashed a powerful surge of lightning that blew apart most of the boulders being sent towards them, though the last one sent them flying backwards into a nearby cliffside "Okay, I think it's safe to say this isn't working."

"You got a new idea?"

"I have two actually, but I think I know which one to start with. Just hang back while I go up there and take care of business."

"Suit yourself." Laxus leapt back a fair distance.

"You guys are in for a real treat, I don't use this one too often, so be sure to take notes. **Change mode: Lightning Sea King Dragon!" **with a flash, Luke's magic aura surged back into life, now a mix of golden and blue energy "Not as powerful as Dragon Force, but it still backs one hell of a shock to the system!" this was met with a groan from Laxus "Hey, if Static Shock can make it work then why can't I?"

"Enough of your prattling, just kill him!" Tempest and the other Elementors all fired a combined elemental assault at him.

"**Lightning Sea King Dragon ROAR!" **Luke let out a roar, and with came a powerful blast of lightning infused with water, powerful enough to blow the four Elementors clean off their feet and knocking Quake and Wave out cold as a result "Yeah, using this mode does defintely have its advantages but it uses a lot of magic power, which means I can't waste any time. **Lightning Sea King Dragon Heavenward Trident!" **he hurled forward a large trident made of lightning and water properties mixed together, shattering the lacrima that Blaze had in his chest, leaving him in what appeared to be a comatose state, leaving only Tempest remaining, to which Luke spread out his arms in front of him, pulsating with blue and gold energy "And then there was one, but one too many. _My dual element mode won't last for too much longer, I'm gonna have to make this one count. _**Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Indra's Wrath: STORM CANNON!" **using every ounce of magic power he could, he unleashed a massive blast of lightning and water infused magc energy, blowing clear through Tempest and sending him flying across the horizong as a result. With the battle supposedly over, Luke reverted back to his normal form and promptly fell to one knee "Yay…"

"Double element mode huh?" Laxus blitzed back onto the scene and promptly yanked Luke back onto his feet "Didn't expect that one, but not too bad all things considered."

"Yeah, the trouble is it definitely uses a lot more magic power than Dragon Force does, and it lasts about as long, which depends on my reserves at the time."

"Good to know But enough small talk, from the looks of things I doubt this little scrap is over just yet." Laxus jerked a thumb over towards the enemy.

"...Yeah I was afraid of that."

Sure enough, Tempest pulled himself back to his feet, spat out a white substance that seemed similar to blood, and used his wind powers to pull Quake, Blaze and Wave over towards him "I have to admit, the two of you proved to be more formidable than the rest of us had originally anticipated. To think we would have to resort to this."

"What are you talking about?"

"Now you will witness the true power of the four elements!" Tempest's body glowing, and in response, so did that of Wave, Quake and Blaze "**Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Since the beginning of time, the four elements exist together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the people of this world discovered ways to harness their limitless potential."**

"Oh my god, is paraphrasing Avatar the Last Airbender?"

"I've never seen that show." Laxus commented.

"You've gotta be kidding me, how in the fuck have you not seen it? It's probably the greatest cartoon of all time, and it's a goddamn masterpiece of a series. Ask anyone who's ever watched it before, they'll agree with me 100%. They'll also agree that the movie adaptation they made was atrocious."

"All I've heard about it is that Legend of Korra sucks."

"I wouldn't necessarily say that, the Last Airbender is a really hard act to follow, if not pretty much impossible."

"**Now you both shall see the power that comes from complete mastery over the four almighty elements!" **Tempest and the other elements were engulfed in a golden light as a storm of chaos rained across the skies above.

"Oh crap, I forgot about them."

"Relax, how bad could it be?" Laxus gave a shrug.

"You ever see that Max Steel cartoon that aired on Disney XD a few years back?"

When the light dissipated, it revealed that the four Elementors were gone, and in their place was one figure with traits of all four of them "From here on out, the four of us shall be fighting as one being. Water, Earth, Fire and Air. Behold, for we are Elementor!"

"Huh. Not gonna lie, didn't see that coming."

"Nor will you see this coming! **Supreme Cyclone Cannon!" **Elementor unleashed a powerful tornado that sent both Luke and Laxus flying backwards a great distance "Yes, this level of power is absolute! Nothing can stop the elements!"

"You wanna bet?" Luke blitzed back onto the scene with his magic power surging "Alright start talking, what sort of connection do you have with Ivan Dreyar?"

"What use would a rotting corpse have for that kind of information? Now you're going to pay for that little beating you gave us! **Scorching Earth!" **Elementor promptly attacked Luke by firing a barrage of flaming balls of rock at him.

Luke blitzed out of the way of the flaming rocks, only to be hit with a rising rock plateau that hit him in the jaw and sent him flying into a waiting cyclone, and then he was promptly engulfed by a powerful blast of water and sent tumbling backwards.

"As you can see, and as all can see, four elements are certainly better than one."

"On that we can agree, that means I don't have to waste the magic power and I can just hit all of you at once! **Lightning Dragon Demolition Fist!" **Luke leapt into the air and hit them with a massive fist made of pure lightning magic, sending Elementor tumbling backwards '_Looks like in terms of a power increase he could've done a lot better, I've just gotta by enough time for my magic power to recharge so I can enter Dragon Force. I guess Thunder Drive is going to have to do until then. _**Thunder Drive!" **on that note, he prompty activated his Thunder Drive '_So until then, I'm just gonna have to stand tall.' _on that note, he promptly dodged a barrage of boulders being hurled at him, only to be swept away by a large wave of water, and then trapped in another cyclone, and then hit in the face with a large boulder, but as a second one started closing in on him…

"**Lightning Dragon Jaw!" **that was when Laxus suddenly burst onto the scene and dealt the boulder a lightning enhanced smash attack, shattering it on contact "You let your guard down again didn't you?"

"Bite me, anyway I can handle this one on my own so just hang back on this one okay?"

"Suit yourself, but you owe me." and so Laxus blitzed off of the scene.

"And then there were two."

"Soon to be one after I'm done with you, and then we'll be returning your comrade back to our master!" Elementor promptly hurled a massive boulder at Luke,

"**Dragon Sword Style: Thunderclap Strike!" **Luke pulled Raiden from its sheath and unleashed a blast of lightning from the blade, carving through the boulder within a matter of seconds.

Elementor rolled out of the way of the blast, his body radiating crimson flames as he charged forward and unleashed a barrage of flaming boulders.

Luke carved through each boulder and then dealt Elementor a quick slash through the chest, causing the white substance to spew out from the wound and force Elementor to fall to one knee from the pain.

Elementor gritted his teeth and unleashed another elemental barrage in the form of a few blasts of fire and wind, some quick streams of water and a few boulders.

Luke blitzed foward and carved through the barrage before once again swiftly carving clear through Elementor, the force of the blow sending him tumbling backwards, though by this point in the fight, Luke was left panting considerably '_Looks like using Lightning Sea King Dragon mode drained me more than I thought.'_

"I would refrain from being so arrogant about this fight, seeing how the tide of battle can change as quick as the whether itself!" Elementor promptly summoned a series of storm clouds above the battlefield "Don't you see boy? I even have the forces of nature itself at my command! Just watch and see!" he promptly summoned a massive cyclone, and then to spice things up, he added in a barrage of fireballs, turning it into a fire cyclone, and he sent it towards Luke at maximum speed.

'_Let's see here, storm clouds and a fire cyclone… if I don't have enough magic power on hand and I need some lightning to rejuvinate myself, then… Yeah that's it!' _alright you Avatar reject, if you want me then come and get me!" he started retreating up a nearby cliffside '_That's right, take the bait.'_

Elementor let out a primal roar and started climbing up after him, willing the fire cyclone to do the same as he hurled it forward.

'_A little bit higher… a little more… there we go!' _once he was at the right height, Luke blitzed out of the way of the fire cyclone, leaving it to fly into the upper atmosphere "Yes!"

"Don't get cocky, dodging it won't be enough to save you from me."

"Simple physics, you send enough heat into the atmosphere, in this case a literal cyclone made out of fire, and you can generate basic man made lightning." Luke raised up a fist and a lightning bolt guided down towards him, allowing him to absorb it and rejuvinate himself "And now it's time for me to display my trump card: Dragon Force!" Luke's body started pulsating with energy, and with a furious roar he engulfed himself in a golden light. When the light dissipated, his body was covered in golden colored dragon scales "Oh yeah, I always forget how good it feels to use this."

"Die!" Elementor sent a barrage of flaming boulders as well as a flaming cyclone in his direction simultaneously.

"**Lightning Dragon Demolition Fist!" **Luke unleashed a massive fist made of lightning magic that easily tore through the combined assault and engulfed Elementor in the explosion that followed.

Elementor quickly charged through the smoke, having sustained noticeable burns, and quickly started shooting another barrage of elemental attacks at him.

Luke wasted no time in blitzing through the barrage with ease '_Part of using lightning based Dragon Slayer magic means being faster than lightning.'_

"If you have no intention of standing still, then I'll simply have to make you!" Elementor then combined his water and air powers to create multiple blasts of ice.

'_Well that figures, if he can go to one end of the elemental spectrum then why shouldn't he be able to go to the other?' _Luke quickly blitzed his way around the blasts of ice '_All the same I can't waste so much time in Dragon Force, it uses a ton of magic power as it is. I'd better finish this one fast.'_

"This time I'm going to deliver the final blow, you're on a one way trip to hell! **Elemental Burst!" **Elementor held up a sphere of wind, then added a ring of water to it, followed by a ring of earth and rock, and lastly a ring of fire, making it bigger than Elementor itself, and he promptly hurled it forward.

"**Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Indra's Wrath: ROARING THUNDER!" **and so as his Dragon Force started flickering, Luke struck the Elemental Burst with a full power blast of thunder from one hand, blowing apart the attack and striking Elementor squre in the chest, blowing it back a great distance as a result of the impact. With the battle supposedly over, Luke's Dragon Force faded as he fell to one knee '_Yep, definitely have to work on that for when I take on one of the heavy hitters.'_

That was when Elementor suddenly pulled himself back to his feet, white blood pouring from his wounds, and he shot a glare at Luke "Don't think… that this is over… even if you've… defeated us… you still have no hope… of standing up to the master…" and then he suddenly fell back and passed out, defusing back into the four Elementors.

"And if he does show up, then I'll be ready."

"Looks like somebody in town already contacted the council." that was when Laxus appeared next to him "They're sending a group to bring these guys in for questioning. Not too bad of a job on your own, but still kind of sloppy by your standards."

"Cut me some slack, I'm not used to fighting a bunch of opponents at once." but then his expression turned deadly serious "These guys might not be much individually, but together they definitely put up one hell of a fight. I can't help but wonder how many more your father has just lying in wait to use against Fairy Tail, and that thought scares me. It's part of why I want to start training again, and it's why I need to know for certain. What exactly are your intentions in regard to what Ivan is planning?"

Laxus let out a scoff "Give me a break, I might not be a member of Fairy Tail anymore but that doesn't mean I'm gonna let my old man use me as some pawn in some pathetic scheme to get revenge for whatever the hell happened." he was met with a small sigh of relief.

"Well that's somewhat comforting at least. By the way, what exactly did Ivan do to get kicked out of Fairy Tail in the first place?"

"Don't know, and frankly don't care. So what's your plan for training then?"

"God Serena may be a disappointment of a man but he's one hell of a sparring partner, at least when he's here. But I can't just work on physical strength and spells, I need to work on regulating my more powerful magic properly."

"Makes sense. So I was gonna get going, but you wanna finish our match before I do?"

"Might as well, it would help a lot to see how I stack up against you."

"You got enough power to do this seriously?"

"I think I have enough to get by for the time being, besides it's not like either of us are at full strength so I doubt this fight is gonna be one sided."

"Makes sense." Laxus's body began surging with lightning magic "Alright then what the hell are you waiting for, if we're gonna do this then just power up already."

"I'm not so cocky as when we used to spar back before I left on my little training excursion for a year and a half, if you want to see first hand what I'm like when I get serious then you're gonna have to earn it."

'_He's a lot more calm and focused than he used to be that's for sure, he might actually force me to bulk up all the way against him. Not that I would bother holding back against him anyway. _So this is it then, this is what you're like in a real fight now?"

"More or less yeah, I learned a lot when I was gone all that time. You might not know what path you're going down right now, but I know all to well what mine is. It's more than just a path though, it's my goal, and at the risk of sounding cheesy as hell, my destiny."

"You spent a year and a half training to protect the guild, and since I was expelled I've been travelling the continent training myself to become as strong as possible, and looking for any good challenges. And yet when I finally get bored out of my skull here you are, the one lying in wait for the day we'd settle that score of ours!" and so he charged forward, meeting Luke in an explosive collision and elbowing him in the face.

Luke dodged the next attack and began firing off a furious barrage of punches and kicks at full speed, resulting in the two of them trading even blows until their fists collided with a blinding flash "**Lightning Dragon ROAR!" **and once they broke off Luke let out a roar that came with a powerful blast of lightning.

"**Lightning Dragon Heavenward Halber!" **Laxus quickly dodged the roar and fired off halberd made of pure lightning.

Luke weaved his way around the halberd, albeit he took a gash to the shoulder as a result "Not too bad, but I know damn well that's not all you've got."

"Why don't you come at me and see for yourself." Laxus blitzed behind Luke and dealt him a sharp kick to the face, sending him crashing into a nearby plateau on the ground "**Lightning Dragon… DEMOLITION FIST!" **and then he quickly followed up with a Lightning Dragon Demolition Fist.

"**Lightning Dragon DEMOLITION FIST!" **Luke rebounded just in time to fire off his own Lightning Dragon Demolition Fist, the force of his spell overpowering Laxus's attack as a result.

Laxus blitzed out of the path of the spell, blitzed down towards Luke and dealt him a kick to the chest while he was still preoccupied with the spell, and then he began forcing Luke on the defensive with a furious barrage of punches and kicks.

Growing tired of taking the onslaught, Luke dealt Laxus a heavy fist to the chest and followed up with a Lightning Dragon Iron Fist, sending him tumbling backwards a great distance.

Laxus rebounded almost instantly as the two of them took to higher ground, their different magic auras blending together almost in the form of a double helix.

Luke took the chance to deal Laxus a furious barrage of attacks, repeatedly striking him square in the spine "I may be working my way up, but what the hell happened to you not holding back on me?" they started repeatedly punching each other in the face and torso, ending with the two of them grapping in a power struggle "Don't you dare hold out on me, I thought you were going to take this seriously!" he gripped Laxus by the arm and threw him high into the air, and then he charged in, subconsiciously activating his Thunder Drive "I know that you're still holding out on me Laxus, I told you to come at me with everything you've got!"

"You wanna see everything?! Well fine, but I'm not gonna be taking the blame for this at your funeral!" with a mighty roar, Laxus activated his berserker form, his features becoming more primal as his muscle mass increased considerably (Basically what happened when he hulked out against Natsu and Gajeel in episode 47).

"I said for you to give me everything you've got, because right now I'm giving you everything I have left!"

"And everything I've got is exactly what you're gonna get!" Laxus charged at Luke at full speed, far too fast for the untrained eye, resulting in a blinding clash as he buried his fist in Luke's gut full force.

Luke slugged Laxus in the gut and dealt him a fist to the face "Come on Laxus, give me all of your strength right here and right now!"

"FINE!" Laxus bulked up even further, his body surging with electricity as a result "Alright then, bring it on, let's end this… Luke."

'_That's the first time he's actually used my name to my face.' _with a strained roar, Luke forced himself into Dragon Force "Like you said."

"We're ending this."

"Right here and right now." pushing themselves to the absolute limit, Luke and Laxus charged at each other as fast as they could, resuling in a blinding golden light that lit up the skies across the entire battlefield, as well as shaking the surface for what seemed like miles.

When everything subsided, both Luke and Laxus had powered down, not a single surge of electricity to be found from either of them. They both whipped around and aimed one last fist at each other, but they stopped just before they made contact, and instead they both finally gave out and lost consciousness, leaving them to fall to the ground with two simultaneous thuds.

What neither of them had noticed before passing out was that God Serena was watching them from a fair distance away, and then he glanced over at the Elementors '_They put up a better fight than I expected, so I should probably do something about them. Looks like whoever these fools represent is more dangerous than given credit for, so I suppose I'll need to keep an eye on this Raven Tail, at least for the time being.'_ he looked down at Luke and Laxus lying on the ground while deep in thought '_When two wizards do battle using the same type of magic, a number of different factors have to be taken into consideration in regards to who claims the victory. Their levels of magic power, their technique, their experience, and their conviction. From the looks of things, I'd say that while they're even in most of those, Luke is slightly ahead in conviction.' _he turned to Luke and gave him a small smile '_He's gonna keep getting stronger though, I know this for a fact. He's going to need it though, because the day will come when we'll have to face __**him, **__and if I can't end his reign of destruction, then you're going to have to do it in my place. Keep growing stronger Luke, because you'll need to be ready when that day comes… the day when you meet the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse.'_

**A/N:**

**With the chaos of the battle with the Oracion Seis having at last come to an end, I decided that it was time for things to wind down a little bit, at least as much as it can for the likes of Fairy Tail. This chapter shows Luke once again training until his bones crack, and facing a new enemy in the form of the Elementors, who happen to be in league with a certain other dark guild. Plus we even get a surprise appearance by both Laxus and God Serena too, and we get to see both of them in action again, if only a little bit.**

**Like I said before, I'm trying to give some more screen time to Ivan and Raven Tail, at least before the time-skip. In this case, I'm creating for new OC's of my own design, the Elementors of Raven Tail with control over the elements: Air, Water, Earth and Fire. In general, I'm trying to Raven Tail, well in short, less of an underwhelming disappointment.**

**Oh, and in regards to what I said about Avatar the Last Airbender being a masterpiece of a series: Come on, anyone who watched it will agree with that statement. Anyone who says they don't agree, clearly they haven't seen it.**


	27. Edolas I

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**Guest: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. I wanted to give Laxus some screen time before his return in the Tenrous Island arc, and I feel that God Serena had way too much potential to not make use of him before the final arc. As for Raven Tail, I wanted to try and give them some more screen time too before the Grand Magic Games arc.

**Ragnas Bredvolts: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you enjoyed this one. I always do enjoy doing these Omake chapters as some light relief from time to time in between some of the major arcs. I tried to take the opportunity to flesh out Raven Tail more than they did in canon, and to show off a bit of what Laxus was doing before his return in the Tenrous Island arc. However, just to clarify, I never said that he was training with God Serena. But yes, using his more flamboyant personality traits just to screw with Luke would be a good amount of fun. But yes, I'm hyping the final battle with Acnologia even before he appears on Tenrous Island, and when the time comes for his encounter with God Serena, I can assure you the mightiest Wizard Saint won't go down without a fight. I'm glad to see you love Avatar: the Last Airbender as much as I do, and making the references were way too much fun. Luke using Elementor's flames to create lightning was actually something inspired by watching Naruto, if you understand my meaning. Overall I'm glad you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you continue to enjoy this story, and I hope you have a nice day as well my friend.

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A thick fog covered the forest surrounding him.

'_Come on… I know you're out here somewhere…' _Luke slowly made his way through the forest with Raiden drawn and ready, his head snapping from one direction to another, only to freeze at the sight that awaited him, in the form of a massive hulking beast standing over the blood covered corpse of a young girl with white hair.

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And now back to reality…

Luke's eyes suddenly snapped open as he fell forward practically gasping for air '_So it was… it was just some kind of illusion my mind created? Dammit, this again…'_

"I was wondering what you were doing out here."

Luke glanced back to see Bolt float down near him "Oh hey, I thought you were still asleep back at the apartment."

"I was, then I noticed the freak electrical bursts in the East Forest and figured it was either gonna be you or Thor having a stroke. You trying to meditate instead of sleep again?"

"I meditate when I can't sleep, and frankly I haven't had much luck in either of those since I got back into town."

"Hard to imagine why, you've been going with hardcore training nonstop over the past few weeks."

"Being poisoned by Cobra made me realize that I have a lot of work to do if I want to keep up with other wizards from dark guilds, even if they lack raw power they've got gimmicks that can push them ahead in a fight. Plus…"

"The anniversary is coming up isn't it?"

"It's gonna be 2 years tomorrow since that day."

"Yeah. You're dealing with it better than least year though, at least this time you're not gonna disappear for a week again."

"I haven't ruled that out yet."

"Figures, just stay out of my stash of brownies okay?"

"I have no intention of touching them with a 50 foot pole after what happened the last time I tried one of them."

"That works out for the best for both of us. Speaking of munchies, you wanna head over to the guild hall and get something to eat?"

"Might as well, I haven't had a decent meal since before Wendy joined the guild, and that was like a month ago."

"You're pushing yourself too hard, take a day off or something and get a hobby."

"We're in between seasons of My Hero Academia, as long as that's on hiatus so is any hobby I may have."

"...Are you sure that's healthy?"

"How could it not be? Some people just don't get that anime is the core of the world."

"And for those who disagree?"

"They're in the dark guilds."

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A few hours later, in the guild hall…

Luke downed half of a sandwich and glanced over to see Wendy and Carla just relaxing at a nearby table "I've gotta say, the two of you look like you're really at home here in Fairy Tail now."

"Yes, well we actually live in the girls only dorm." Carla pointed out.

"You and pretty much all the other girls in the guild from what I hear, well with the obvious exception of Lucy."

"Why is that exactly?" asked Wendy "I mean it's really nice and cozy."

"From what I hear she didn't find out about that until after she got her apartment, besides I think she got the better end of that deal. Rent at the dorm is about 100,000 Jewel, Lucy's place is only about 70,000. Plus, for the lack of a better term, she's broke." he was met with a nervous chuckle from Wendy "Yeah." this was followed by the sound of bells chiming loudly all throughout the city "Oh you've gotta be kidding me."

"What's that, why all the bells?"

"Bells chiming like that can only mean one thing. It's been almost half a decade since the last time he showed up, but now Gildarts is finally making his way back home."

"GILDARTS IS BACK!" and on that ridiculously loud note, everyone started celebrating in the best way they knew how: by getting so drunk that no one outside of anime would be able to withstand it.

"Yep, that's Fairy Tail's way of celebrating when one of their own comes home."

"So who's Gildarts?" asked Wendy "I don't think I've ever heard of him before."

"Not surprising, he doesn't come around that often but he's ridiculously strong. As a matter of fact, he's the strongest wizard in the entire guild."

"Wait are you serious?" that was enough to get Lucy's attention "I thought you and Erza were the top dogs around here!"

"Erza's the strongest female wizard we have sure, but all modesty aside, I am stronger than her by a decent amount, though I don't even come close to matching Gildarts' power."

"...So this guy is the king of breaking stuff then?"

"It's part of the job requirement that comes with being a member of Fairy Tail. It's good that he's coming back, but I don't get why everyone's gone totally nuts, and when I say that I mean even more nuts than usual."

"You shouldn't be surprised, you saw how everyone reacted when I came back to the guild after being away for a year and a half. Gildarts was gone way longer, by now it would have to be around three years or so."

"You've gotta be kidding me, that's insane! So what has he been doing all this time?"

"He's been off doing something so batshit crazy nobody outside of this guild would even think of trying to do. You see there are regular jobs and S-class quests, and above those are SS-class quests, and above those are jobs called Decade quests."

"Decade quests?"

"Those are jobs that no one has been able to complete in less than 10 years, which is why they're called Decade quests. Gildarts was crazy enough to take on an even higher level job, he took on what's known as a Century quest."

"You've gotta be kidding me, who the hell in their right mind would take on a job that lasts for 100 years?!"

"Nobody, and that's why he took it. But just wait, you haven't seen any major reactions yet until you see the Magnolia Gildarts Shift."

"Magnolia Gildarts Shift, what the heck does that mean?" she was met with the sound of a large rumbling noise "I'm guessing it has to do with what I just heard?"

"Go ahead and take a look outside, you'll see it for yourself plain as day." Luke gestured out the front door, where it was clearly visible that the city of Magnolia had shifted so that there was one clear straight line leading through the city to Fairy Tail, every singe building having been shifted to one of two sides "You see it for yourself?"

"Holy crap you've gotta be kidding me, Magnolia just split in two!"

"That's a precaution they had put in place for Gildarts and his Crash magic, it's a lot easier for everyone to just give him a clear path to go down since he can and usually does destroy pretty much everyone he touches and he's pretty absent minded it's a lot easier if he doesn't have to go around, or in this case through, pretty much every building in the city."

"You mean he just walks right through them?!"

"That's about the sum of it."

"You mean you modified the town just because he's clumsy?!"

"And because he's got the awareness of Natsu dumbed down a few notches."

"He sounds amazing." Carla let out a scoff "Amazingly stupid."

"Sad thing is you're not far off. Anyway cool it with the snark and mocking him behind he's back, I can smell him coming."

Sure enough, at that moment the man of the hour cam in the form of Gildarts Clive as he entered the guild hall and looked around '_Okay, is it just me or do I have no idea where I am.'_

On that note, Luke promptly made his way up to Gildarts and gave him a grin "I was wondering when you would finally make your way back here?"

"Uh yeah… Listen sorry to bother you like this, but I'm looking for a guild that used to be around these parts called Fairy Tail."

"Pull your head out of your porn man, you're standing in the guild hall. Take a good long look if you don't recognize me yet."

"...Holy crap, Luke is that you?!"

"Took you long enough to recognize me."

"You sure have grown up a hell of a lot, and is it just me or did you change some stuff around the hall too?"

"You didn't notice anything from outside? Yep you're back alright."

"Gildarts you son of a bitch good to have you back, now come at me like it's-" Natsu promptly charged at him, only to get throwin into a roof almost instantly.

"So yeah, Natsu hasn't changed much since you've been gone, or at all actually. Looks like the same can be said for you, typical old fashioned tough guy act."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Gildarts looked around "I see we've got a couple new faces around here, a lot happened while I was gone hasn't it?"

"That's one way of saying it. We do have some new recruits though. There's Lucy, a Celestial Spirit, a water mage in the form of Juvia, an Iron Dragon Slayer in the form of Gajeel wherever he's brooding right now, and our newest edition as of a few weeks ago is Wendy over there, she's a Sky Dragon Slayer."

"Sounds like I have a lot to catch up on."

"Gildarts, over here." Makarov quickly called him over to the bar.

"Hey master, looks like you're looking well."

"About the same, so how did the job go?"

"Oh that?" Gildarts barked out a laugh "It was no good, I figured it wasn't going to be a problem, but it was way too much for me." this left everyone in stunned silence "Yeah I know, it sounds insane doesn't it? But what I saw out there, I doubt there's a man alive right now who would be able to finish that quest."

Luke's gaze hardened at what Gildarts was saying to everyone '_To think that there's a job out there that not even Gildarts could do. But what's out there tough enough to take him down? As far as I know, nobody, and a thought like that is terrifying.'_

"I know what you're thinking over there." Erza got his attention "And I hope you're not thinking of taking on that job yourself."

"Erza do you really think I would be so reckless?" he was met with silence "I'm not so stupid as to try that myself, not at my current level. I can't help but wonder though, what's out there that's strong enough to take down someone as strong as Gildarts?"

"Absolutely nothing to our knowledge, which is a scary thought I have to admit. But we don't know for certain what happened, so don't assume that the worst has happened until we can either prove it or receive confirmation. It's not much to go on, but it's better than just blindly assuming that he was defeated."

"No that's exactly what happened." that was when Gildarts made his way up to him "But let's not dwell on that right now, it would be kind of a downer. Anyway Luke, you and Natsu feel free to stop by my place later. I brought something back for the two of you that I think is gonna catch your interest. In the meantime you guys, I'm out of here." and so on that note, he promptly walked towards a wall and used his Crash magic to blow a giant hole in it, and then he walked through it and left.

"...Yeah I was afraid of that. Tell me something Erza, is he actually absent minded like that or does he do it on purpose?"

"To this day I have absolutely no idea." Erza told him flatly.

"Just had to check. I wonder what he has that's so important to me and Natsu."

"I don't know about that, but what I do know is that it pumps me up so bad I'm fired up just thinking about that!" Natsu promptly blew a hole through a wall "Come on Happy, let's blow this joint!" and so he left.

"Yeah that figures, right when you think he's calmed down, the minute the king of breaking stuff shows up he just rests like nothing ever even happened."

"So tell me something Luke, are and Natsu really close to Gildarts or something?" asked Lucy.

"I'm not as close to him as Natsu, Happy and Lisanna are, but he and I are still pretty good friends despite everything."

"But isn't he gone out on quests most of the time?"

"Yeah he is, but he still keeps close to Natsu and the others, and he and I started to grow closer after he was the one that tested me when I became an S class wizard."

"You mean you had to fight him? And you won?!"

"Oh god now, he pounded me into the ground like a metaphorical paste, and actually somewhat literal. He beat me pretty bad back then, but I wouldn't back down no matter how many attacks he hit me with. So then he powered up to his maximum, and instead of attacking me he basically scared me into submission, and then he said something to me I've never forgotten. There isn't anything wrong with feeling fear. He said that it's essential for us to come to know of our own limits and weaknesses, and that we need to know them in order to become a stronger and gentler person."

"Woah… that's deep."

"His title of strongest wizard in the guild isn't just for show." Luke's head suddenly snapped up as he gazed at a cliffside overlooking the city, and his gaze hardened '_This sensation… this scent I'm picking up… don't tell me…'_

"Is something wrong?"

"...It's nothing. I just have something I want to check on a little bit later."

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A few hours went by.

By this point, Natsu and Luke were making their way to meet up with Gildarts "Holy crap I can't wait, maybe he brought me back some rare fire from another kingdom or something!"

"More than likely it's some kind of nude magazine, knowing what he's like." Luke pointed out dryly.

"Oh come on, don't be so negative!"

"I'm not being negative, you'll know when I am." they opened the door to Gidarts' house.

"Hey Gildarts, what's up man!"

"What's up guys, good to see you." Gildarts promptly waved at the both of them.

"It's been a good long while since I set foot in here." Natsu glanced around "At least you know how to keep your place clean. So you said you had something for us?"

"Nevermind that for the time being." Gildarts shot a grin in Natsu's direction "So how have things been between you and little Lisanna since I've been gone? Come on, you don't have to be smart with me."

"They're about the equivalent of a 90 year old married couple, they and they only ended up growing closer after Mira was killed." Luke noted grimly, something that filled Gildarts with shock and regret "She died taking a blow that was meant for me, as of tomorrow it's gonna be two years."

"You mean she's… that's why I didn't see her… I'm sorry…"

"I'm not in the mood for reminiscing, if that's all you wanted then I'm going. I have training to do, so if you need me for something important I'll be in the forest." he started walking away, only to be stopped by what Gildarts said next.

"Listen to me you guys, while I was out on the Century Quest I met a dragon." now _that _got the attention of both of them "Before you ask it's not the ones you guys are looking for, this one was as black as a night without a moon."

"Where was it?" asked Natsu.

"I met him at the sacred Mount Zonia. And for the record, this dragon that I met was the real reason why I failed on that quest at all."

"All that I need to know."

"And what are you going to do?"

"What the hell else, I'm gonna track down this guy and ask him where Igneel is."

"Not a good idea kid, that black one is long gone by now, probably flying somewhere out in the wild blue yonder."

"I don't care, I can track him down if I put my mind to it!"

"Natsu just stop it and look at me for a second." Gildarts removed his cloak, revealing the full extent of his injuries, much to the horror of both Luke and Natsu "That battle, if you could even call it that, was over before I even knew what hit me. Faster than I could blink it ripped off both my arm and my leg, and then it gutted me too. Kaminari and Igneel may be different kinds of dragons, but I'm telling you now that this black one isn't a friend to anybody. I don't think there's a man alive that could defeat it."

"...Gildarts look, we Dragon Slayers aren't just called that for nothing! I don't care what you say or what anybody says, this guy doesn't stand a chance against what I'm capable of!"

"If that's what you believe then I'm not going to try and stand in your way."

"Good!" his anger didn't even seem to die down as he tried to make a beeline out of the building in a rage.

"Too bad for you, I'm another matter." Luke grabbed Natsu by the scarf and stopped him from charging out of the house "If you wanna throw your life away on your own time that's one thing, but leave it alone for this week. It's hard enough for all of us, especially Lisanna, but you already know that don't you?" that caused his anger to fade away almost instantly "If you're dead set on tracking this dragon down then just wait, at least until the end of the week, if for no other reason but for her."

"...Fine, I'll back off, at least for a few days. For her." and so on that note, Natsu was let go and promptly left, albeit much slower this time.

"At least something can get through that thick skull of his."

"He's got more promise than you're giving him credit for." Gildarts shot him a smirk "But in the meantime, you'd better make sure you take care of both him and yourself okay? There may not be a man alive who can beat that thing, but a dragon is a different story entirely. As far as I can see, there's hope for the both of you."

"At the very least, I can stop him from throwing his life away because he's so impulsive and thoughtless."

"You weren't too different the last time I was here."

"I'm not the same kid I used to be."

"I can see that, you've grown a little bit and bulked up somewhat, and aside from the clear anger management problem you're got going on right now, I'd say you're a lot more calm and focused than you used to be."

"I've done a lot of growing up over the past two years." Luke glanced outside at the setting sun as a single tear rolled down his cheek '_I know you're still out there, aren't you? Where are you, and what have you been doing all this time Kaminari… Father?'_

"So how about it?" Gildarts pulled up a chair and motioned for him to sit "What do you say you tell me about what you've been up to?"

"...Fuck it, I might as well, but then I've got something else I want to check on."

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Another day came, and the sun was shining over the skies of Magnolia.

Gajeel was dealing with something that had been irking him for some time '_No that's not the one I want, not this one either, this one looks way too much like Garfield!' _he finally faceplanted into the ground and let out a groan of frustration '_Salamander and Thunderclap, hell even that little girl too, they have their own magic flying cats, so why the hell don't I?! I'm just as much a Dragon Slayer as they are, so I deserve to have a flying furry friend like they do!' _but then, as if his prayers were answered, a light shone down before him, accompanied by the silhouette of a small black cat '_YES!'_

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By this point, a certain brunette Dragon Slayer was looking down over the city and speaking into a communication lacrima "Looks like sitting on your ass in that throne room hasn't dulled your senses too much, you were definitely onto something with that spike in magic power you were picking up from Magnolia. The guy's name is Gildarts Clive, and apparently he's the strongest wizard Fairy Tail has got, though I don't know if that includes Makarov. I'm only going on what I'm sensing right now, but it feels like this guy could hold his own against Bluenote, maybe even come out on top against him."

"I didn't expect you to show up again so soon Aftershock, especially not on my home turf of all places."

Noah turned around and found Luke standing before him, sword already drawn and his eyes blazing with electricity "And I didn't expect you to come and seek me out Thunderclap, I always figured that if anyone was gonna kick start the fight between us."

"So you came looking for a fight?"

"I'd like to say yes, but the truth is that I was only sent here to do some recon. The master of my guild detected a huge spike in magic power in this region and he sent me over here to see what was causing it. I take it the big shot that strode into town was the cause of it?"

"That's the one."

"...Alright start talking, what's the matter?"

"What do you mean?"

"I can see it in your eyes and in your stance, you look a hell of a lot more emotionally frayed than you did the last time I saw you. Is it because of that guildmate who died for you that sent you on the protector path and basically turned you into Ichigo for Bleach?"

"...Two years ago today, that's how long it's been since died for me. I can't stop thinking about what happened that day, that Elfman had to try and absorb that monster because we, or really because I, couldn't defeat it, and that Mira had to sacrifice herself to save me. I wasn't able to protect either of them, and even now I feel like I'm such a worthless failure. It doesn't matter how I try to rationalize it, to justify it, it always comes down to the fact that I just wasn't good enough to get the job done!" his magic energy surged with his frustration, as if to illustrate his point.

"Eesh, you really are out of it. Forget it man, even if we were to fight now your heart and your mind wouldn't be in it. When we go at it, I'm gonna want you to be at your absolute best, and right now you're not. Forget about that for now, let's just take it easy while I'm in town."

"What, you wanna shoot a game of pool?"

"I was thinking about grabbing lunch around here, I heard about a place where I can grab a decent sandwich."

"You mean the place on 7th street, yeah and they've got the best fries on this side of the kingdom too."

"Good enough for me, one thing to know about Dragon Slayers is that they no matter how bad they might be feeling, a good meal always helps them to get their head together, at least a little bit. Anyway after that we'll go train, I'm gonna see if I can get through that outer shell of yours you've go going on."

"And do I have any say in this?"

"How about a deal: You agree to go along with this, and in exchange I'll pay for lunch. How does that sound?"

"...Fine why not, I don't get a free meal that often. Do I get seconds though?"

"Whatever, at least being in a dark guild means good money."

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Meanwhile, outside the guild hall…

Having essentially had enough of their bullshit, Carla had pretty much blown Happy off and stormed out of the guild hall, ignoring Wendy calling after her '_Happy… I despise that name, the irony of it makes me sick. They're all such ignorant fools, every single one of them.' _she looked up and her scowl deepened at the sight of Bolt waiting for her further ahead "Whatever you have to say, I'm not interested in hearing it."

"Too bad, because I've got a lot to say." Bolt told her flatly "I don't know what stick you have lodged underneath your tail, but you don't have the right to take it out on Happy, even if he is a pain in the ass."

"Says the one who strangles him on a daily basis."

"It's how people in Fairy Tail show their live, but you're just being an absolute (bleep) for no good reason. I know a lot more than you think I do, so don't bother trying to dodge the subject either."

"...So you know?"

"Bits and pieces of it, but yeah."

"Then you already know that you won't be able to protect Luke, and the Tomcat won't be able to protect Natsu. However, at the very least I am going to protect Wendy. I must protect her, for she is the only thing that matters to me."

"Keep thinking that Miss Prissy, I only understand bits and pieces of what's to come, but I'm still going to give everything I have to make sure that Luke comes out of this okay. He's got enough problems as it is."

"You may think that you can, but the fact is that unless you understand everything about yourself, you'll never be able to protect him." and with that, she walked away.

"I think we'll see about that soon enough." Bolt glanced over to see Gajeel stumble out of a nearby alleyway with scracthmarks all over his face "Eesh, what the hell happened to you?"

"None of your fucking business cat." Gajeel let out a snarl.

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About an hour passed, and the rain began pouring down.

Luke followed Noah deep into the East Forest "Alright, why did you have me followe you out here?"

"Because I paid for lunch. **Mountain Dragon Terra Golem!" **Noah slowly turned to face him, and with a surge of magic power he promtptly covered himself in rock and debris until he looked like a massive hulking figure "**I can smell it on you… your fear… your guilt… your failure… you are not worthy…"**

"Worthy of what?"

"**Does it matter?"**

"...No, I guess it doesn't. **Lightning Dragon Talon!" **Luke blitzed forward and aimed a lightning enhanced kick at Noah's skull.

Noah promptly backhanded him away without batting an eye, sending him crashing through several trees as a result "**Our difference in strength is very close. What will decide our eventual battle is the difference in conviction. Your fear, your guilt and all of your failures will keep you from victory."**

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about!" Luke charged at Noah and promptly started slashing at him with Raiden, only for the blade to get knocked out of his hand.

"**I know you better than you allow yourself to believe. You see it don't you? The images of those you love dying?"**

Luke tried to let out a roar, only to receive a fist to the stomach that caused him to cough up blood and sent him flying '_Natsu…'_

"_Come on Luke, don't let me down! Show us that fire in your belly!"_

Luke was dealt a brutal smash attack to the head _Elfman…'_

"_Come on Luke, don't let us down like this! Be a real man!'_

He was backhanded across the forest and sent tumbling backwards in a heap '_Bolt…'_

"_Dammit Luke they're coming for us! Don't just sit there, do something!"_

Luke tried to pull himself back to his feet, only to find Noah's hulking form stomping down on his back '_Cana…'_

"_Please Luke, you have to save us… We're all counting on you…'_

"I'm sorry everyone… I'm trying… I've been fighting, training and repeating… over and over again… for so long…" Luke pulled himself back to his feet and summoned Raide back into his hand, his magic power surging with his rage "I did the best that I could! I did… the best… that I could!" with a sudden surge from the blade of Raiden he shattered one of Noah's gigantic rock arms "STOP TORMENTING ME! I DID THE BEST THAT I COULD! THERE WASN'T ANYTHING ELSE THAT I COULD'VE DONE!" with one final surge of rage infused magic energy, Luke slashed Noah across the chest and face multiple times, shattering the rock armor covering his body and sending him tumbling backwards "Now what the fuck do you have to say to that?"

"Well for starters, I saw your angry side and I think it disturbs me about as much as a normal person would be disturbed by that guy in The Shining. And second of all…" Noah spat out some blood and cracked his neck "If there wasn't anymore that you could've done, then why do you keep punishing yourself? Why have you been punishing yourself like this for the past two years?"

Luke said nothing, he just helped Noah to his feet and gave him a small smile as they started walking back towards the city.

"So tell me something Thunderclap, what did you take from this?"

"Well…" Luke breathed a deep and heavy sigh "I guess I've been obsessed with the possibility of my own failure… I hardened my heart like it was made of metaphorical steel… I was wrapped up in my own guilt, but I guess it evolved to the point where it just became self pity… I became addicted to trying to make myself perfect… I kept thinking I wasn't good enough… I kept trying to force myself to be better… My guilt turned into self pity and rage and-" he was cut off by a smack upside the head "What the hell was that for?"

"Too many words, dial it the hell down and give me only the important stuff."

"I… I guess I've been my own worst enemy."

"Okay now you see? That's better, save the long winded speeches for Naruto. That's really the only place where the Talk no Jutsu works. Besides, you dwell too much on what happened you'll end up causing it to happen again, even if you try to repeat it. Fuck, I just became a character straight out of Naruto didn't I?"

"It happens to the best of us."

"Well since I'm on that train now, I might as well keep going. Tell me something, this guildmate of yours that sacrificed herself for you, did you believe in her?"

"Of course I did."

"Did you respect her?"

"Yeah."

"Then quit feeling sorry for yourself and blaming yourself over it. Let her keep the dignity of her choice, because if she went through with it then she must have thought you were damn well worth sacrificing her life for, and I doubt she would've done what she did if she didn't know you were going to be here after she was gone. Now you listen to me, your guild still needs people to stand up above the rest of them and protect them with everything they've got, so what are you going to do?"

"...Don't settle for where you are when you know how far you're able to go, and just how far you have to go.

Let me offer you a piece of advice while I can. You ever hear how your eyes flash before your eyes when your body and mind both think you're about to die? It doesn't, not in the same sense. You don't see everything. You only see the things that are actually important to you. It's how I realized that Meldy is the one thing that actually keeps me with my guild."

"She's the one for you huh?"

"Yeah she is. Okay things are getting too mushy, you wanna go fight for real?"

"Another day."

"Moral is still too low huh?"

"That and take a look over there." Luke turned and his gaze hardened "And with you comes an air of mystery, which I suppose gives you your name, doesn't it Mystogan?"

Sure enough, Mystogan appeared from the thick of the trees and stopped before them "You've grown stronger Luke, not in body or mind, but in spirit, and that is equally important."

"Yeah, believe it or not Aftershock has been helping me work through some issues. But let's talk about you for now. Your scent, your voice… I always thought they seemed familiar, yet not at the same time."

"So you noticed. I knew it was only a matter of time before you confronted me over this. Such a thing cannot be put off for any longer." Mystogan pulled his mask off, revealing his true face to both of them.

"You look exactly like Jellal, your face is identical down to a T." Noah commented "But your scent is different, so you can't be him."

"Correct, I am not the man that was arrested during the Nirvana incident."

"I go by the name of Mystogan, but the fact is that my true name is Jellal. Unfortunately I do not have as much time as I would've desired. Both of you must gather as many people as you can and leave this city."

"What are you talking about?" asked Luke.

"I failed in my own personal mission. The Anima has grown to be much too large, and now it's become impossible for me to contain on my own. It's only a matter of time before the entire city of Magnolia ceases to exist. I have to go, please just do as I say, both of you." and then he promptly vanished in a flash.

"...What do we do?"

"Why the hell are you asking me? He's in your guild." Noah pointed out.

"I barely even knew anything about the guy before today, frankly I'm as lost right now as you are."

"I highly doubt that. So what do you think we should do?"

"If he's serious about this, we need to head back to the city right away and go from there. It's not much of a game plan, but it's all I have to go on."

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Meanwhile, in Magnolia…

"Carla! Carla where are you?" by this point, Wendy was roaming the streets in the pouring rain searching for Carla, only to see her coming towards her in the distance "There you are, I've been looking all over for you!"

"Oh Wendy, honestly child…" Carla let out a sigh "You're going to catch a cold going out into this mess without even having an umbrella."

"The same could be said for you too. Tell me something Carla, why are you always being so mean to Happy, Bolt and the others after all they've done for us? Could you at least try to be a little bit nicer to everyone?"

"I don't see the need for such a thing, as long as I can stay with you the others are just a means to an end."

"Geez, you know I don't understand you sometimes." then they noticed someone coming towards them from within the storm.

"Who's this?"

"I'm… not sure."

As it turns out, that figure was Mystogan, and he stopped before the two of them "Hello Wendy, it's been a long time."

"That voice… I've heard it before."

"I never considered the chances of you joining this guild of all of them, but then again I always had a feeling that we would meet again someday." Mystogan removed his mask, revealing his face identical to Jellal's, much to their shock.

"Jellal it's you, it's really you!"

"It is, to you at least."

"But that's impossible!" Carla was quick to protest "You can't be the same person, I saw you get taken into custody myself!"

"You're right, the man arrested in the incident involving Nirvana was not me."

"Then how do you explain the uncanny resemblence to him? Who are you really?"

"My name is Mystogan of Fairy Tail, when we first met 7 years ago I didn't know anything about the ways of this world. Wendy, I told you that my name was Jellal."

"This world? But that means…?" tears started streaming down Wendy's face "So then… you really are my Jellal."

"I am."

"I was afraid that you had forgotten all about me… I can't believe that you're really here… after all this time… I missed you so much… I wish I didn't listen to you and just kept following you back then!"

"I'm sorry Wendy, I wish that I had been able to let you follow me. Leaving you behind that day was a painful decision, but a necessary one. Unfortunately, we don't have enough time for a tearful reunion. I need you to do what I say Wendy, you have to leave Magnolia and get as far away from here as you can, and quickly." Mystogan suddenly fell to one knee, his exhaustion beginning to catch up to him.

"Jellal!"

"I was unable to complete my mission… the Anima… it's grown much too large… it's amassed too much power… I cannot contain it on my own… it's only a matter of time… before Magnolia ceases to exist…"

"Wh-What? But the city can't just vanish, there has to be something we can do! There has to be a way we can help!"

"I'm sorry Wendy, but the destruction of the city is inevitable. You need to evacuate the city right now."

"What about everyone in the guild? Please tell me, what's going to happen to them?"

Mystogan could only stay silent.

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Meanwhile in the Fairy Tail guild hall…

Cana looked up from the mug of booze in her hand and glanced out the window at the storm raging outside "Damn, looks like we're gonna be stuck in here for awhile."

"Yes, so it would seem." Juvia looked rather worried "I hope you don't think I caused this to happen."

"We know the difference between a normal downpour and one of yours. Besides, you're not the one who's annoying everybody." Gray jerked a thumb over at where Gajeel was loudly snoring the day away "I think I just figured out a way to pass the time, so does anyone have a marker on them?"

"I've got one." Natsu handed him a marker "You think I haven't done the same thing to Erza in the past?"

"Is that why you have that scar on your-?"

"Yep."

"...Damn."

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Wendy looked down at the kneeling form of Mystogan, and her gaze hardened slightly "Please, I won't move until you tell me!"

"It's only a matter of time." Mystogan let out a sigh "We don't have long until all of them eventually perish."

"I… I have to go back to the guild hall, someone has to warn them!"

"We don't have enough time for that, you need to get to somewhere safe right away!"

"Absolutely not, I would never abandon my friends! Carla and I finally have a home again, and if it's going to vanish then I woud rather go with it!" and so she promptly ran off towards the guild hall, leaving Mystogan alone with Carla.

"And what about you, I don't suppose you would be able to convince her?"

"I honestly don't know." and so Carla promptly ran off after Wendy.

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Meanwhile, back at the guild hall…

Gray finished his doodling on Gajeel's face "Huh, looks like you were right, he could've used some eyebrows after all."

"Oh wait give me that, I've got a better idea." Natsu snatched the marker from him and promptly drew a moustache on Gajeel's face, along with some cat whiskers "How do you like that? Looks like I have a future in art, it's like I'm Pistachio and the Mona Lisa."

"...Okay first of all, pistachio is a type of ice cream. Second of all, it's Picasso, and third of all, the Mona Lisa was done by Leonadro Da Vinci."

"You mean the Ninja Turtle?"

"No you brain dead son of a- Okay quick question, did Igneel ever drop you on your head when you were a baby?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"Psychic powers."

"Shoo-bee-doo-ba!" that was when Gajeel suddenly bolted upright and promptyly used his Iron Dragon Club to slam both Natsu and Gray into the ground "Alright now start talking, which one of you dipshits had enough balls to draw on my face?! I have no problems with using my Iron Dragon Sword to cut a certain part of your body clean off!"

"HEY!" Elfman quicky interrupted Gajeels angry ranting as he rounded on Jet and Droy "You know what I see when I look at the two of you?! I see a couple of lapdogs just begging to get their paws on a bone, and you two call yourselves men?!" he was silenced by an iron club to the head, courtesy of Gajeel.

"On behalf of everyone from here to Bosco, you're welcome. Now seriously, which one of you two idiots had enough balls to draw on my face."

"It was him!" Natsu and Gray pointed at each other "And besides, neither of us would've done it if it wasn't for the fact that you were snoring like a pig on crack!"

"Give me a minute assclowns, you're gonna wish I stayed asleep!" and so the three of them started beating the crap out of each other in typical Fairy Tail fashion.

Juvia just looked on in awe with hearts in her eyes "What a view, my beloved Gray is like a knight of old fighting for his one true love!"

"You mean like Gilthunder from Seven Deadly Sins?" Cana asked as she downed yet another mug of booze "Well whatever, as far as I'm concerned rainy days are best spent cuddling with your boyfriend."

"Good to know mocha." that was when Bolt flew into the window "But I doubt anyone will disagree when I say that Luke isn't gonna be too happy to see you cheating on him with a giant barrel full of booze." this caused Cana's face to turn a deep shade of red.

"Luke and I are not dating!"

"So you claim."

"I have no reservations about frying with with lightning magic."

"I don't care, I've had like half a dozen of my brownies today."

"...Of course you have."

"In all seriousness Cana, can you just make sure that you leave enough to drink for the other customers?" Lisanna promptly strapped on a coat.

"Hold on, you mean you're actually going out into that typhoon?"

"Yeah, I'm just paying a visit to the church."

Elfman on the other hand, he was busy tearing into Jet and Droy HARD "You two think you have what it takes to protect Levy when the time comes?! You both need to man up in the worst possible way!"

"Hey come on big brother, we really should get going before the storm gets any worse."

"Yeah I know, just give me a minute to finish up with these sissies. They screwed up their most recent job and need to get taught a lesson, these morons got themselves knocked out cold in the middle of a fight and Levy had to finish the job by herself."

"I don't know big brother, I think you're being too hard on them. I think Jet and Droy have both gotten a lot stronger recently."

"You do?"

"Yeah, in their own way."

"...Okay yeah that makes sense."

"Yeah, just let me grab an umbrella. Hey Natsu, you coming?"

"Hold on a second." Natsu elbowed Gray in the crotch and threw him into Gajeel, and then he blitzed over to Lisanna's side "Okay I'm ready, let's go." and so they left.

Lucy watched them depart and blinked a few times "Well that's weird, I mean why would Natsu, Lisanna and Elfman go out to visit a church in this weather?"

"It's not too hard to figure out." Cana told her quietly "Today is the anniversary of Mira dying, it was two years ago today."

"Mira, yeah Lisanna told me about her before."

"She was Lisanna and Elfman's older sister, she and Elfman went with Luke on a job two years ago, and it didn't go well. She didn't make it back, and Luke has blamed himself for what happened ever since. It's why he left the guild for a year and half, and he didn't come back until you joined the guild."

"Wow… I had no idea."

"It's been eating away at him for awhile too." Bolt pointed out "Don't expect to see him around too much for the next few days, he'll probably train himself until he passes out."

"Wow… so was Natsu close to her?"

"Not really, but he and Lisanna are basically the equivalent of a married couple in their early 90's." Cana told her dryly "They're basically a real life Cory and Topanga, but in all seriousness he's been a lot more protective of her after what happened. It's kind of an unspoken rule that nobody screws with him when this time of year rolls around either, he made it a point he doesn't want to upset Lisanna."

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Meanwhile, with one of my three favorite ships…

Gray glanced over at Juvia and started a very misleading conversation in regards to a sticky roll in her hand "Alright I think it's time you and I had a talk, it's time for you to learn how to grip it right."

Juvia froze as her face went red "You mean-?"

"Quit screwing around and just eat the thing."

"That's what I've been trying to do my beloved, but I've never done this before."

"Come on, it's not that hard. This is how you eat one of these things, first you open your mouth as wide as you can and then bite down on the thing." he demonstrated this, and she promptly followed his lead.

"Am I doing it right my love?"

"See it's just like that, you can get the job done using your bare hands."

"Also darling, could you please keep your clothes on at the table?"

'_Do the two of them even hear themselves?' _Erza just watched with an amused smile, and then she turned to see Alzack and Bisca just being romantic tsunderes '_Now if only we can find a way for them to actually do something about their feelings for each other. _So it looks to me like the two of you are as close as ever."

Alzack and Bisca both jumped at the sound of Erza's voice "What are you talking about, that's totally crazy!"

"Sure it is, but let me offer you a word of advice. Treasure the moments you have with each other as if they won't return, do that and you'll never have any regrets."

"Hey Erza, would you come over hear for a moment?" Makarov called her over.

"You summoned me master?"

"I did, I wanted to talk to you about that Century quest that Gildarts had taken on. It's all I've been thinking about for days. I'm considering giving that quest to someone else, do you have any objections to that?"

"I have none master, it needs to be done."

"Good, I talked to Luke yesterday and he agreed as well."

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By this point, Lucy was slumping against the bar out of sheer boredom "I swear, it's so boring around here."

"I know how you feel." Levy barely glanced up from her book "It's hard to feel motivated when the weather has you stuck inside."

"I just wish something interesting would happen today."

"Be careful what you wish for blondie." Bolt downed another brownie, earning a few odd looks as a result "What?"

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'_I have to hurry, I have to warn eveyone!' _by this point, Wendy was running through the streets as fast as she could, only to trip and fall flat on her face, and she looked up to see a massive vortex forming in the skies above '_Is that the Anima that Jellal was talking about? I have to tell the others!' _she continued running towards the guild hall, only for white lightning to flash within the vortex as buildings began disappearing "Everybody get out! Something bad is happening, you have to leave right now before it's too late!" she was only a few feet away from the guild hall when it too suddenly vanished in a white light, and within only a matter of moments the entire city of Magnolia, leaving only a barren wasteland where the city one stood. Wendy opened her eyes and looked around in horror "No… the guild hall… it's gone… and the city… all of the people… What happened… Where did it go…? I don't understand, how could a city vanish like that out of nowhere? Is anybody out there?! Answer me!" she received no reply, and she promptly fell to her knees as tears started streaming down her face "No, it can't be… they're all gone… I'm all alone… Why am I the only one who gets left behind? Is there some law in the world that says I can't have a home or a family? Why does it always have to be like this?"

"Eesh, and I thought Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender sounded emo as fuck."

Wendy whipped around and found Noah making his way through what used to be the city, and she quickly rose to her feet "Who… Who are you?"

"Take it easy kid, I'm on your side, at least for now. And before you ask, no I'm not the one who did this. Right now I'm just trying to pick up the scent of anyone else."

"So… you're here to help?"

"For the time being at least." Noah reached down into the dirt and grabbed hold of something, and when he pulled it back up it was revealed he was holding Natsu by the hair "Welcome back to the land of the living Salamander."

"Why do I feel like I just swallowed a trout?" Natsu spat out some sand and looked around "And am I dreaming right now?"

"If this were a dream then I'd be doing this I can't even mention around the kid, and you wouldn't even be here." he set Natsu down on the ground and faced him and Wendy "Okay's let's just sum up, none of us have even the slightest clue as to what the actual fuck is going on right now."

"All I know is that a giant hole opened in the sky, and the guild hall, the town and everyone in it got sucked into it!" Wendy tried to stop her tears, to no avail "I haven't seen anyone, I'm afraid we may be the only ones who made it out alive!" she was met with Noah handing her a rag to wipe away her tears "Thank you."

"Be realistic here kid, even if about 99% of the people in this city got sucked in, I can confirm that there are at least two others who made it out of this. Think for a second, what do the three of us have in common?"

"I don't… wait, you mean you're…?"

"I'm a Dragon Slayer like you guys, raised and trained by the Mountan dragon Jishin. The fact is that we're all Dragon Slayers, and we all made it out of that, so that means any other Dragon Slayers in the city at the time got out too, as in Thunderclap and Black Steel."

"You mean Luke and Gajeel?"

"Those would be the ones, so at least we know that whatever the hell an Anima is has no effect on Dragon Slayers."

"The snarky newcomer speaks the truth."

Wendy whipped around to see Carla floating towards them "Carla you're safe, I was so worried and I thought I'd lost you!"

"Yes, well as a matter of fact, we're lucky you're a Dragon Slayer or else you would've suffered the same fate as the others. Not that I care either way, the fact that you're alive is the only thing that actually matters to me."

"Alright you little son of a- That's it!" Natsu promptly rounded on her in a rage "I'm not putting up with any more of your crappy attitude, you're saying the fact that the others just got sucked into the Shadow Realm isn't even important to you?!" and then another gear started working in his head "Wait a second, you mean that batshit crazy story you guys told me was true?!" he received two simultaneous nods "Well in that case… HELLO!? Can anyone hear me?! Have you been sucked into the Shadow Realm!"

"...Wow." Noah looked down at Wendy "Putting up with him all the time, one can only wonder how Thunderclap hasn't gone Joker levels of insane."

"You shouldn't be wasting your breath, there's no one left who can hear any of you." Carla told them flatly "The others have all been taken by the Anima, and therefore none of them exist any longer."

"Anima huh?" Noah shared a glance with Wendy "Didn't Mystogan mention something about that?"

"That giant hole in the sky happens to be the gateway to Edolas, the world on the other side of that gateway."

"Edolas huh?"

"Dammit you stupid cat!" Natsu promptly rounded on Carla "Would you quit talking bullshit already, I can't understand a word you're spewing out, now tell me where the fuck they went before I send you to the Shadow Realm!"

"Bam." Noah dealt Natsu a smash attack to the head that sent him crashing to the ground with a loud thud and tuned back to Carla "So start talking, how the hell do you know so much about this Edolas place? And why didn't you get sucked in like the rest of them?"

"Alright who's the wise guy!" that was when Bolt flew onto the scene and threw Happy onto the ground "Did the rest of Magnolia get sucked into the shadow realm or did I have too many brownies again?"

"My guess is both, and do you have anymore?" Noah was promptly handed a brownie, which he promptly swallowed hole "Oh yeah, that's the good shit."

"...You and I are gonna get along just fine, also didn't you and Luke beat the crap out of each other on Galuna Island?"

"And in the Tower of Heaven."

"And to answer your question, the reason I am so informed about the world of Edolas is because I come from there." Carla told them flatly, earning shocked looks from Natsu, Wendy and Happy, as well as a raised eyebrown from both Bolt and Noah "As are the two that the rest of you refer to as Happy and Bolt."

Wendy was the first one to find her voice "Carla…"

"I'm sorry child but it's true, myself and the two Tomcats are to blame for this atrocity falling upon this city."

"...So does that mean that the cats with wings are basically aliens?" Noah received looks from everyone present "What? They're from another dimension, as far as I'm concerned that classifies them as aliens."

"I suppose that is one way of looking at it, seeing how Edolas is a parallel world that exists independently from the one that we know, and unfortunately a world that has begun to lose its magic power."

"What sounds more interesting to me is the fact that they actually have magic."

"They do, at least for the time being. Unlike the world we're in now, magic happens to be a finite resource in Edolas, which means that without any limites on its use, the day will eventually come in which magic disappears from Edolas forever. In an attempt to diminish their reserves of magic power, which were rapidly diminishing, the king of Edolas developed a spell that would enable him to absorb the magic power of another world, the world we currently reside in. It is a very powerful spell indeed, one that is known as Anima, and that is what opened the hole in the sky above us."

"And when did they start actually going through with it?"

"It was 6 years ago when they began setting up Anima portals all across the barrier between the two worlds, but the experiment did not go as they had planned. It would seem that someone had made it their goal to close them one by one throughout this world. _My suspicions had been raised when Wendy told me what had happened to Jellal, but if he's actually Mystogan then the story actually makes a great deal more sense. I'm sure that he must have been the one closing each Anima portal. _However this Anima portal was simply too large, there wasn't anybody strong enough to close it, and thus the guild and everything surrounding it was absorbed."

"But why would they go after Fairy Tail like that?" asked Natsu.

"It's as I told you, to provide more magic power to those in Edolas."

"You mean they pretty much stole it." Noah pointed out.

"For the lack of a better term, yes."

"So they chose Fairy Tail because they're the definition of OP in this world, because they had a metric fuckton of magic power."

"That's correct."

"That's the definition of a dick move if I've ever heard one, well except for pretty much every action taken by my own guild."

"No arguments here." Natsu looked up at the portal and started to do his thing "Hey listen up you Shadow Realm rejects, you'd better give us back all of our friends right now!" he was answered by lightning flashing overhead "Is that a yes or no?"

"It's their way of telling you to shut the fuck up."

"Vulgar language aside, for once I agree with this heathen." Carla noted dryly.

Bolt and Happy shared a look "So be real with us for a second, you mean that the fact that we're here is what's causing all of this?"

"It is, at least indirectly."

"What do you mean?" asked Happy.

"We were entrusted by the king to complete another mission entirely, something that was completely independent from the one involving using the Anima to absorb magic."

"But that doesn't make sense!" Wendy protested "How can that be true when you were born in this world and hatched out of an egg? I was the one that found you!"

"Indeed that is true, although to be perfectly honest I myself have never set foot in Edolas, seeing how I was born in this world and I've spent my entire life here. It's exactly as you said child, but we were imprinted with this knowledge, and the details of Edolas and our mission are part of what makes up our very being. The three of us were born to carry out this mission for the sake of our kingdom, which raises another question." she promptly rounded on Bolt and Happy "So why do neither of you know the first thing about it?"

Bolt slowly floated forward "I can't speak for Happy back there, but I only remember a few bits and pieces about it. I could see faint flashes in my dreams, things about Edolas and a mission and a few other things, but it's been a long time since I thought about it. Luke found me alone in the forest a few years ago, took me in to his home and to Fairy Tail, and that's why I made a choice when I became part of Fairy Tail. I didn't understand it anyway, so I just decided to forget about it and keep living life, and it worked, at least until you showed up."

"...I see. Anyway that's what I meant by indirectly, the Anima that is responsible for this had originated from our homeland, so we're partially to blame for that reason."

"So then what exactly is that mission you're on?" asked Noah.

"I'm sorry, but that's something I can't tell you."

"The hell you can't." Noah grabbed her by the tail "There's literally a gigantic fucking hole in the sky, you're giving us some answers. Tell me something, does it have to do with the rest of us by chance? We didn't get sucked in because we're Dragon Slayers, and you knew that we wouldn't get absorbed, so what's your little mission?"

"Get off me you ruffian, I said I can't tell you and that's final!"

"You're in no place to start acting like a (bleep), especially considering you hid all of this even from the kid over there." he let out growl and released his grip on her tail "Fine, you get a reprieve for now, but I've got both eyes on you for now."

"So what do we do now?" asked Wendy.

"Knowing what Thunderclap is like, he'll most likely do one of two things. The first being that he'll try to track down any survivors, which will lead to him finding Black Steel."

"What's the second thing?"

"He'll try and head to Edolas himself to rescue the rest of his guildmates, so that's what we're going to do."

"Have you lost your mind?!" Carla promptly rounded on him "Do you even have the slightest clue as to what's going on here?"

"No but that usually doesn't stop me, and besides now I feel like I'm living up something out of an anime, and that's fucking awesome."

"It's official, you're out of your mind."

"No arguments here." Natsu shot him a smrik "As far as I'm concerned, if all of our friends are up there in Edolas then we don't have a choice but to go there and help them out."

"And he's not the only one."

"So are our friends really up there?" asked Wendy.

"I would assume so, but even if we find them in Edolas I'm not entirely sure we'll be able to save them. And what's more, if we can in fact reach Edolas I can't guarantee we'll be able to return here."

"...Oh."

"Yes."

"Well that doesn't bother me too much." Noah gave a shrug "Most of the people in my guild are a bunch of sadistic fuckers, except for two, and other than that the only thing that would keep me here would be looking for Jishin."

"Yeah, I feel the same." Natsu gave a grin "Aside from looking for Igneel, I wouldn't have anything keeping me here if I didn't have my friends."

"Any objections?"

"No, I feel exactly the same." Wendy told them.

"No I get that, I mean from the little (bleep) down there."

"...Ignoring that." Carla let out a sigh "I may have only recently stumbled into being a member of Fairy Tail myself, but the fact is that I am indeed as much of a part of the guild as the rest of you are, and like I said I'm indirectly responsible for what happened today, so I'm not completely against taking you there. But if I am to do this, then I will need to lay down a few very firm ground rules. First of all, by returning to Edolas I will be abandoning the mission I was given, one handed down by the kingdom itself. I will be a traitor, and I cannot rsk being spotted by anyone who will know my identity, so we will all need to be in disguise."

"Are you sure that you want to do this Carla?" asked Wendy.

"I am sure, I've made up my mind." Carla promptly rounded on Bolt and Happy as well "And the two of you be sure to listen up as well, another rule is that you are absolutely not to pry into the details of our mission as well."

Bolt and Happy shared a look "Fine/ Aye."

"And Heathen that goes for you as well."

"Meh." Noah gave a shrug "I've been called worse."

"Thirdly, aside from the information I had been given at birth, I know nothing about the overall layout of Edolas, so I cannot be the navigator."

"Fair enough."

"And the most important detail, if I or the other tomcats should do anything that constitutes a betrayal towards you, then you must kill us without hesitation."

"You I'm fine with killing and hanging on my wall like a goddamn trophy, but the blue one is too stupid and naive to do something like that, and I actually like the yellow one that's got the brownies." Noah was met with a few odd looks.

"...Fine, I suppose that works for now." Carla promptly summoned her wings "Let's get moving then, tomcat hold onto Natsu and the heathen tomcat will be holding onto the heathen Dragon Slayer."

"You like using that word a lot don't you?"

"It's appropriate for people like you."

"Whatever, so we're gonna fly there?"

"We have wings for that exact reason, so that when the day comes we can return to our home world of Edolas."

"Huh. Sounds a lot like plot convenience to me."

"Whatever it is this sounds awesome." Natsu gave Happy a thumbs up "Alright little buddy, it sounds like you're gonna get to show me where you came from."

"...Aye sir!" Happy promptly saluted him and grabbed onto him.

"The bond between man and cat, sounds weird as fuck." Noah looked down at Bolt "So you gonna do this yourself?"

"Might as well." Bolt promptly latched onto Noah "Alright, let's do this."

"Works for me." Noah looked out into the distance and his gaze softened '_I promise I'll make it back to you as soon as I can, so just hang on until then Meldy.'_

"Both of you ready, and be sure not to hold back on your magic power." Carla told them as they started flying upwards at full speed "We're going be entering Edolas through what remains of the Anima portal, so when I give the signal I'm going need the two of you to give it everything you've got!"

"Got it."

"Okay. Ready… 1… 2… 3… NOW!" and so they all promptly punched it towards the Anima, a massive flash of light engulfing them and pretty much blinding all of them.

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A few minutes passed, and the light subsided, as did the chaotic storms that came from the Anima.

"Okay, bracing myself like that time I walked in on Meldy in the shower…" Noah's eyes then snapped open, and he looked around at the green colored skies and floating islands "Huh, so this is Edolas then?"

"Yep, this is where I'm from…" Bolt looked around, his expression unreadable "And now I know why I didn't care before now. Look at this place, I mean the sky is green, the islands are floating like they're something out of One Piece, and it's boring as fuck."

"What the hell are you talking about? This looks awesome, and besides we're in another fucking dimension. I'm living this up as much as I can.

"Yeah I know, but the floating island thing has been done for, along with the parallel world thing, in that Justice League cartoon."

"The DC universe is definitely ahead of Marvel in terms of animation, but in regards to live action they're pretty much a shit show."

"Forget the awesome cartoons for a second!" Natsu looked around in awe "So this is it huh little buddy, what do you think of your homeland?"

"I don't really know what to think…" Happy muttered.

"Tell me about it, just look at the purple trees down there." Noah pointed down at the purple forest lying beneath them "Now it feels like we're on Planet Namek."

"What about the river in the sky?" Bolt pointed to the river floating in front of them "If that isn't the kind of BS you'd see in One Piece then I don't know what is."

"A dude made of rubber."

"Enough with the anime references you imbeciles!" Carla shut them up "All of you get ahold of yourselves, keep in mind that we're not here for the sake of sight seeing, so be sure to keep your wits about it."

"...Well it sounds like it's somebodies time of the month."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." but that was when she, Happy and Bolt suddenly lost their wings.

"Well then… FUCK!" and so the six of them fell towards the ground, landing in what looked like a big ball shaped tree "Well that was a hell of a lot of fun, anyone gonna take a guess as to why that happened or do I have to fill in the blanks?"

"It's not that complicated, I told you before that magic is a limited resource in this world, which goes for all of us."

"And because this world lacks the infinite supply of Ethernano in the atmosphere, that means we can't recharge our own magic power, not to mention that means the three of us probably can't use our own Dragon Slayer magic either."

"Which means none of you can fight, and we'll be completely defenseless."

"Not necessarily, what Thunderclap and I have in common is that while we do dabble in magic, it's mainly used to enhance physical combat. We're not solely dependent on it. Think of it like this, even if Thunderclap can't use any of his lightning magic, he's still a highly skilled swordsman and hand to hand combatant. But we'll put that aside for now, for the time being we'll just have to keep going on foot." so Noah then proceeded to pull Natsu out of the ball tree by the leg and threw him to the ground "We came here with a mission in mind so we might as well keep going for it."

"But if we don't know our way around then how will we find the others?" asked Happy.

"We may not know our way around but we've still got the noses of three Dragon Slayers among us, it's not much to go on but it's better than nothing." Noah took a whiff around, but then his frown deepened "Well so much for that plan, I should've figured that all of the foreign scents here would make it hard to distinguished from the ones that I probably would recognize."

"Yeah you're right." Wendy promptly tried to taste some of the air "It's weird, but the air in here is nothing like anything I've ever tasted before."

"I wonder if the same is going to go for the Earth here. Well I guess there's only one way to find out." Noah promptly picked up a nearby rock and chomped down on it "Hm. Not bad, kind of tastes like chicken."

"...Your name is Noah right? Do you mind if I ask you something?"

"Depends on what it is."

"Well… why are you helping us? I mean you're not even a member of the same guild as us, and yet you willingly jumped into another world with us for them."

"...Look kid, I'm not gonna pretend that my reasons are totally altruistic. Truth be told the only reason I even came was to snap Thunderclap out of his self pitying funk for the point when we finally go at it all out. I want to fight him when he's at his best, I mean it's not like just anyone has the prowess to defeat a Wizard Saint. But with that being said, if people are suffering or in danger and I can do something about it, then I'm not just gonna stand by or sit around on my ass and do nothing."

"Oh. I see. Well thank for for that anyway."

"Forget it, anyway I don't suppose either you or Salamander over there know where the hell we're going?"

"I don't have a damn clue." Natsu gave a shrug "We've gotta walk somewhere right, so we might as well walk in that direction."

"Why am I not surprised you'd say something like that? Seriosuly, 10 minutes in and I'm already sick of listening to your crap?"

"You get used to it." Bolt told him flatly "And what's even more disturbing is that he's got a point."

"Tell me about it. Am I the only one sort of unnerved by the fact that we haven't run into a single person yet, or is this some kind of forest based planet?"

"I doubt that." Carla told him "But regardless of this fact, we're still going to need disguises for ourselves."

"How the hell are we supposed to do that? It's not like any of us can use Requip, and even if we could, we wouldn't be able to as long as we're in this world."

"...Hold it!" Natsu blurted out and gave them a smirk "I've got an idea."

"It's a miracle."

About 20 minutes later…

"Did I say miracle? I mean to say it's a fucking nightmare." Noah looked around at the so called idea that Natsu had, in the form of disguises made from the surrounding plants covering the six of them "And now I understand why Thunderclap always looks like he's questioning every decision ever made. What the hell are we supposed to be anyway?"

"Hey what's the big deal about it anyway?" Natsu gave a shrug "We look like a bunch of things that don't look like us. Chill out man, no one is going to recognize us."

"How the hell would they, we've never even been here before, so there's no way in hell they'd be able to recognize us." Noah would soon be proven wrong, but we'll get to that later.

"Fashion sense aside, I do feel a bit more at ease now." Carla noted.

"Well at least someone is enjoying this."

"I'm not." Happy muttered "I feel so hot and itchy in this getup, and I think I'm allergic to whatever it's made of."

"Grow a pair cat, you're partnered with a Dragon Slayer." the group kept walking for a short distance until they came to the edge of the island they were on "Huh, looks like the flying river you'd probably see in One Piece. Considering all of the crazy shit we deal with, I'm surprised I haven't seen anything like that before."

"It just reminds me of how hungry I am."

"Will you quit whining?"

"I bet there's all kinds of tasty fish swimming around in that flying river."

"Oh for the love of- Oh thank god, a distraction in the form of a local." Noah gestured to a guy sitting on the edge of the island fishing "If I had to guess then I would say that he's one of the locals in this world."

"He's got the right idea though, we should be fishing right now, right Natsu?" he received no reply, mainly because Natsu was gone "Hey where did he go?"

"...Oh shit."

"Yo." as it turns out, Natsu was in the process of scaring the local into crapping himself "Let me ask you a few questions." he was met with only screams of terror.

"Yeah that figures, why the hell am I not surprised?"

"I'm looking for a bunch of wizards from this guild called Fairy Tail, you have any idea where I can find them?"

"Please don't hurt me, get the hell away from me!" and so the local promptly ran away screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Wait hold on a second!" and yet Natsu was left alone "Eesh, what the hell was the problem with that guy? I just wanted a little help."

"The problem is that you've got the IQ of a retarded squirrel." Noah told him dryly "You walked up to someone dressed like something you'd probably see out of a horror movie and started talking about fairy tails, how in the fuck would they not be scared? I mean have you not seen how normal people react to the Z fighters in Dragon Ball?"

"...Oh yeah."

"So you see the problem?"

"Yeah I got it, but how the hell are we supposed to find anybody?"

"By using our brains, something you're clearly bad at."

"Will you two shut up!" Carla rounded on both of them "If that man reports us to the authorities then we're through!"

"Then I say we ditch the costumes, I hated these things anyway."

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About 10 minutes later…

It didn't take long for the group to ditch the costumes, and Carla continued leading them through the purple colored jungle of Edolas "And now we're in even more of a hurry than we were in the first place."

"At least not we're not dressed like a pack of stoners." Noah commented, and then he turned to face Bolt "Yes I know the irony of what I just said."

"I just wish the guy hadn't run off with his fishing rod." Happy muttered.

"Yeah well, you can thank the Salamander for that."

That was when Wendy noticed something "Hey, did anyone else hear a weird noise just a second ago?"

"That depends, was it another normal person who Salamander scared the shit out of?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Then no. Seriously though, does he not have a brain in there or something? How in the name of does Thunderclap deal with him?"

"My guess is he just learned to tune it out." Bolt told him dryly "It took years of practice for him to do it though."

"My guess is I'm gonna last a matter of hours before I turn into that guy from the Shining and go all "Here's NOAH!" on his ass." they looked down to see an ugly looking fish poking its head out of the river and staring up at them "Okay is it just me, or is that fish the sort of thing you would probably see out of-"

"One Piece?"

"I was going to say Toriko."

"Don't Toriko and One Piece take place in the same universe?"

"Who fucking cares, just hang back while I grab us some food." but then the fish fully emerged, revealing it to be a hulking fish beast towering over them like a mountain "Okay yeah, maybe you're right. Let's face it, this thing could appear in either one of those."

"Who fucking cares where it came from, at least we won't gro hungry!" Natsu gave a grin "I've got a major fire in my belly now!"

"In case you forgot Salamander, we're on a schedule here."

"Who gives a shit, all I need is about 5 seconds! **Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" **Natsu charged up at the fish beast and planted a fist in its head, only for no fire to come out "Uh…" and then he got slapped into the water "Why the hell is my fire put out?"

"Do you have something in your brain that makes you not listen to people? We can't use our Dragon Slayer magic in this world like we can back in ours."

"Then there's only one thing left to do."

"Run and scream like a pack of idiots?"

"Unless you've got a better idea."

"I do have one, it's called using my brain, something you clearly have no practice in. Just watch and learn." Noah pulled out what looked like a tanto blade, and in a matter of seconds he blitzed through the gigantic fish creature, slicing it to pieces "Magic or no magic, if you've got enough physical prowess then you can compensate for it."

"That's really great Noah, but I'm afraid that running around screaming and cutting down a giant fish monster is going to attract a lot of unwanted attention." Wendy pointed out.

"Blame Salamander for that, he's the one who wanted to pick a fight with what I assume is what the Hulk would look like if he was the son of Aquaman."

"That theory would ruin so many dimensions." Bolt pointed.

"Your point being?"

"Just stating a fact."

"Here's a fact, the lot of you and your foolishness are to blame for all of this!" Carla promptly rounded on the lot of them "I think it's safe to say that those of us who are sane have had more than our fill of foolishness for today. This would be much easier if you didn't cause so much of a ruckus everywhere you went!"

"Hey don't blame me, blame the Salamander."

"Hey!" Natsu rounded on him "Why the hell should you be blaming me?"

"Aside from the obvious fact that it's your fault, your history pretty much speaks for itself. You think you can do anything by yourself, even when reality slaps you in the face time and again it doesn't get through your thick skull. Whenever something hard shows up and you can't deal with it, you just try and hit it even harder. Most of the people in Fairy Tail have that problem, but at least they know how to use their heads, something that you clearly lack. Thunderclap is the one who usually has to clean up your messes or hit you hard enough so that you don't end up fucking everything up. Besides, you keep repeating the same mistakes time and time again, and at least with others in your guild they learn from their mistakes like Titania or the Stripper with Ice Make magic. You always charge in head first, brains never. No wonder Thunderclap was on the verge of snapping earlier today, I would say it's because his guilt and self pity were eating him alive, but I wouldn't be surprise if a good chunk of his stress comes from you." receiving no audible reply, Noah let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair "Fine, now that I've got that out of my system, let's focus on the situation at hand."

"The situation at hand is that we no longer have our disguises, so if people from the kingdom discover us roaming around then there's no telling what they'll do." Carla pointed out "And if we get taken into custody then you can forget about saving the others. We'll have our work cut out trying to save our own skin."

"Which means that we have to _think _this situation through." Noah shot a glare at Natsu, only to see him brooding near the river "Well at least that's some reaction, that's better than we've gotten up till now."

"Hey listen Noah, could you take it easy on him?" asked Wendy "I mean Natsu is a nice guy, he didn't mean to do anything wrong."

"I'm being realistic here, unless he learns to use his head, he's gonna get himself or someone else killed one of these days. Either that or I'm gonna snap from having to listen to the crap he says and does." Noah breathed a sigh "Let's keep going, god only knows how much ground we need to cover."

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About 20 minutes passed, and the group continued moving… wherever the hell it was they were going.

Bolt looked up from his place on Noah's shoulder "You know it's times like this I just stop to think, life can get pretty insane sometimes."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Noah pointed out "And for the record, considering we're travelling around like a bunch of hobos in another dimension, I'd say that we're way past insane right about now."

"Uh oh." that was when Wendy and Carla noticed another problem.

"What's the matter?"

"We've been spotted." Wendy pointed up at a few locals that spotted them "So what do you think we should do now?"

"Keep Salamander quiet for starters, and if anyone does speak make sure it's not him."

"Enough with the Natsu bashing, leave that to the fanfictions. I've got this." Bolt promptly leapt atop of Noah's head and spoke to the locals "Hey listen, we're not from around here and we have pretty much no idea where we're going, either of you mind-"

"Please don't hurt us!" the locals promptly bowed to him in terror "We're so sorry, we swear it's not our fault! We beg of you might Exceeds, please forgive us and allow us to leave with our lives!"

"...Am I that high right now?"

"Considering how many of those things you've had, I wouldn't be surprised." Noah then stepped forward towards the locals "Hey listen up, we've just got a few things to ask you so-"

"Please don't hurt us great Exceeds!" and so the locals promptly ran away in terror.

"Anybody know what the fuck an Exceed is?" he received no reply "I figured as much."

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After that unusual encounter, Noah and the others continued onwards "Okay, so am I the only ones who think they were afraid of the cats?"

"Yeah well at least you're not gonna blame me for that one." Natsu grumbled.

"Oh bite me Salamander, I only blame you for fuck ups when you're the one that actually fucks something up."

"So be real, do I really look that scary?" asked Bolt.

"Well to ignorant people the red eyes can be kind of disturbing if people seem them without the context, otherwise you'd probably look like something out of Yu Yu Hakusho." Noah then stepped on a piece of ground that seemed to squish underneath his foot "Oh crap, why do I feel like this is gonna be bad?"

"Because it most likely will be, knowing our luck."

"Yeah that figures." this was when they started bouncing all throughout the area on various trees that were made of the same substance until they landed through the roof of what looked like a building carved out of a pumpkin "Ow."

"I don't wanna fall anymore." Wendy whimpered slightly.

"Yeah well the rest of us aren't too fond of it either." Noah looked around the inside of the pumpkin building "What is this place, some kind of Edolas equivalent of a warehous?"

"Perhaps, and although we may very well be well beyond the point of us taking preventive measures by now, we might as well take a look and see if there are any clothes in here we can use to disguise ourselves."

"Might as well."

"Um…" Wendy started blushing heavily "Would you guys mind not looking this way for a minute or two?"

"Yeah yeah I gotcha, oh wait hold that though." Noah suddenly covered Wendy with a really big tarp "Go ahead."

"Thank you. I think."

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About 5 minutes later…

"Well you can't beat the classics." Noah had covered himself in a black cloak and wore it over his usual outfit "Like they say, you shouldn't fix what isn't broken."

"Perhaps." Carla looked at her own outfit in a mirror "I suppose that this will have to do for the time being."

"Any particular reason you dressed up like a harem girl?"

"I went with what I thought was suitable, nothing more."

"Whatever lets you sleep at night."

"Would you can it for a second." Natsu glanced out the window of the pumpkin building, and his eyes nearly bulged out of his head "Holy sweet mother of fuck!"

"What, you see something out there?"

"Not just any something, I'm looking at Fairy Tail!" Natsu bolted out of the building towards the one that had the Fairy Tail guild sign "It's in disguise like we are but I'd recognize the sign for that guild anywhere!"

"For fuck's sake you idiot, what the hell did I yell at you about earlier?" without wasting any time, Noah hoisted Wendy and the cats over his shoulders and promptly ran after Natsu until they came to the building sporting the Fairy Tail guild mark, and they entered the building in question, where they saw almost everyone from the guild supposedly alive and well.

"They're okay!"

"Okay that was way easier than we should've been, and why do I get this feeling that something is different about them? And more importantly why do I think that, I don't even know who 90% of these people are."

"Who gives a crap about that, they're all here!"

Wendy blinked, then just gave a shrug "Yeah, I guess he's right."

"No he's not child." Carla told her flatly "There is something very wrong here, just take a look around and see." she motioned for them to hide under a table.

"Well I see a request board in the corner." Noah pointed out "I don't see anything wrong with that, so what the hell is the problem here?"

"I wouldn't expect you to know since you yourself acknowledge that you've never actually seen most of the people from Fairy Tail before, but the others should know very well exactly what I'm talking about."

The first example of this was that Juvia was wearing a considerably revealing outfit "Well I'm off now, I just took on a pretty major job so I really should be going."

"Juvia my beloved, please wait!" that was when Gray reached out to her, wearing multiple layers of heavy clothing, something that freaked out Natsu to a great extent "If you're gonna go out then please take me with you, I mean if you would."

"Oh please, you can be such a wet blanket, and take some of those clothes off of you for a change would you? Give me a shout when you decide to try out your summer wardrobe and then we'll talk."

"Come on, I just get really cold."

Noah blinked "Okay, I don't know these people but I know enough from Lyon to know that that is so wrong on so many levels."

"You don't have a fucking clue." Bolt hissed at him "Gray isn't supposed to be wearing so many clothes he's stuffed up like a teddy bear, we're lucky he even wears pants!"

"And what about the water mage not being into him."

"The exact opposite in the funniest way possible."

Another example was Jet and Droy, the two of them actually looking tough, tearing into a scrawny looking Elfman with a bowl cut "I'm sick and tired of you giving us these crappy excuses Elfman, how the hell do you keep screwing up so many jobs?"

"Aw that's cute, they think they've people." Bolt was met with a few odd looks "What?"

Max and Warren observed this and let out a sigh "Seriously though, Jet and Droy may be our strongest members, but that doesn't mean they have to pick on the weaker ones. Elfman just isn't that capable. You'd think they'd learn to just lay off the guy."

"...Okay what?"

"I've got a job to do, I've gotta meet my quota by the end of the day!" Nab suddenly snatched a job off the request board and bolted out of the guild hall.

"...And again I say, what?"

"I'm guessing that's bad?" Noah guessed.

"He always dawdles around the request board and always looks around but never actually does anything."

"You mean like relatives?"

"Respect." they fist bumped.

Macao and Wakaba on the other hand, they seemed about the same, only somewhat more stylish and proper "Well miss Cana, would you care to join us in sharing an adult beverage? It could never hurt to tip one back and relax a little bit."

"Okay, nothing too bad there I guess."

Cana on the other hand, hers was probably the most unsettling, seeing how she was actually dressed ladylike, but what she said made it even more unnerving "Oh don't be so silly you two, I've never had a drop of alcohol in my life, so why start now?" this made a few jaws fall to the ground.

"...Okay, if Luke was here then he would probably have a heart attack."

Alzack on the other hand, he had Bisca sitting in his lap and believe it or not, he wasn't acting like a lovestruck idiot "Hey there my hot biscuit."

"Well…"

"Alley-cat, my little gun slinger." Bisca was grinding against him on his lap.

"...Okay those two actually make sense on a certain level."

Natsu was pretty much sweating buckets "Okay it's official, there is something very wrong here right now."

"Is this what the Shadow Realm is like?" asked Noah.

"How the hell should I know, I've never watched Yu Gi Oh."

"Wait what the hell are you talking about, you've been making Shadow Realm references all fucking day!"

"That's all I know about it, it's like you watch a little bit of Inuyasha or Yu Yu Hakusho, and you know enough about demons to get by."

"That's just wrong on so many levels you little-"

"Uh, hey guys?" Bolt pointed in front of them "I think we've got another problem to deal with right now, aside from Natsu's stupidity and lack of understanding of anime."

"And what's that?"

As it turns out, it was Lucy, dressed in a gothic biker outfit, looming over them and looking rather menacing "And just what the hell do you guys think you're doing, what's the big idea with you guys sneaking around our guild like this?"

"...Oh, so that's what you mean. Yeah it's official, I think we're pretty much fucked. You guys have any objections to that?" Noah was met with no reply "Had to make sure. _But what the hell is going on here?'_

**A/N:**

**And with this chapter, not only do we see the debut of Gildarts in all of his glory, not only do we get to see the beginning of the Edolas arc (for those that remember my top 10 Fairy Tail arcs list, this was #8), but we also get to see the return of one of my two favorite OC's to write, Noah the Mountain Dragon Slayer, who's aligned with a certain dark guild that will be fully introduced in the next arc. I know there are some people that aren't very fond of this arc, and while I agree that it doesn't have that much importance to the overall story, I still enjoyed it more than I did the Oracion Seis arc. But with that being said, I'm going to be making a few changes here and there to make it stand out from canon. Also, I do not apologize for the various anime references that I make throughout this chapter, or any previous or future ones.**

**I know Luke hasn't gotten the main spotlight in an overall arc since the Tower of Heaven, but he'll be getting a sizeable step in his chatarer arc, along with Bolt, for obvious reasons. Keep in mind that a major reason for Luke being so determined to get stronger and protect the guild was because of the guilt he felt for a certain member dying to protect him, and the reason for his attitude and his distance from the others is that it's approaching the anniversary of her death. As for where Luke is right now, you'll be seeing him again within the next chapter or two, along with someone else.**

**Also, I mentioned early on in this chapter that when Luke took the trial to become an S class wizard, Gildarts was the one who acted as his examiner. This is going to come into play in the Tenrous Island arc, so just hang tight until then. I promise you, when _that _fight comes, it will be well worth the wait.**

**One significant change from canon is that I'm including Noah, the Mountain Dragon Slayer from a certain dark guild, in this arc because I wanted to give him some more screen time, at least before he and Luke finally went at it. It always helps to give the bad guy some character development, not that Noah was ever really made out to be a bad guy. He's going to be doing what Natsu and Wendy are doing for the time being, only he's with Bolt in Luke's place. Plus I get to show off a lot more of Noah's personality now that he's taken charge of Natsu, Wendy and the three Exceeds, and how despite his snark, he does take it a lot more seriously than Natsu does, and he calls him out for that.**


	28. Edolas II

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it, and for getting this story up to 100 reviews! This story would be nothing without all of your support, so thank you all for that.**

**Guest: **Thanks, glad to see you liked the last chapter. Yes, Noah is rapidbly becoming one of my favorite characters to write out, OC or not, and I'm trying to make a few changes to each arc so it's not totally copy and paste from canon.

**Ragnas Bredvolts: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. In regards to the interactions between Luke, Natsu and Gildarts, let's face it, Gildarts is a perv. I would've shown more of that, but I didn't want it to drag out for too long. The point of that scene was to inform him of what had happened to Mira, and for Luke and Natsu to learn about the existence of Acnologia, and I didn't want it to drag out any more than it had to. You're right about Noah though, he's going to somewhat be the defacto leader of the group for the time being, and he's not a bad guy. He's just in with the wrong crowd, and he's aware of that. As for why he's with Grimoire Heart, I'll be going into his backstory during the Tenrou Island arc. And yes, doing all of the references are a lot of fun for me. Having all of the guilds do a Saturday night movie marathon, while probably shattering the fourth wall on an absolutely massive scale, would be hilarious. As for the Pokemon references, I actually initially had Bolt be called Pikachu, but I decided to scrap that at the last minute. Also, happy belated April Fool's day to you too, and yes you are my 100th review for this story, so thank you for that. I hope you have a nice day as well my friend.

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"Well, are you guys gonna give me some answers or what?" Lucy's gaze hardened further as she levelled a glare on Noah and the others "What the hell is the big idea with you guys sneaking around our guild like this?"

"...Yeah it's official, I think we're pretty much fucked. Any of you guys have any objections to that?" Noah was met with no reply "Had to make sure. _But what the hell is going on here? Did passing through the Anima somehow warp their minds?'_

"Noah…" then Lucy suddenly got WAY too close to him for comfort.

"Uh… you know who I am?"

"A stupid hoodie wouldn't be enough to mask who you are from me." Lucy pulled down his hood, then promptly yanked him to his feet and pulled him into a bone crushinig hug "Why the hell didn't you just say it was you under there you gigantic asshole?"

"Because I know how this feels, and I wasn't hoping to go through it again." Noah glanced back to see the looks Natsu and Wendy were giving him and he just shrugged '_Okay, so given the situation I'd say that she's used to stuff like this, and she's probably a dominatrix._

"But in all seriousness boss where the hell have you been? I was thinking the worst might have happened, I couldn't bare to lose any more comrades out there. Don't worry us like that again okay?"

'_Boss huh? _Uh yeah, sorry about that."

"Not yet, but you're about to be! **Torture Technique #37: Groin Crush!" **Lucy suddenly caught him in a chokehold with her legs, causing him to grimace in pain "Yeah that's right, I'm breaking out the good stuff for you. You don't have a hope in hell of escaping from even a single one of my 48 torture techniques!"

'_Yep, she's definitely a dominatrix.'_

"Oh dear Lucy, be gentle with him." Cana chided with a sweet smile on her face, something that seemed to be echoed by Lisanna "There's no need to be so hard on the poor thing, you know how he can be."

Bolt started sweating at the sight of Cana '_Okay, Cana not being half naked is one thing, but for her to claim that she's never touched alcohol in her life? Yeah it's official, this must be what hell is like. Not to mention Elfman is crying instead of preaching about the glory of being a man or some shit like that. Well for him it's more like he regressed to how he used to be before what happened to Mira than him acting totally different. But then again, Gray wearing clothes, not even mentioning the multiple layers, and being in love with Juvia, who's dressed up like a hooker and couldn't give less of a damn about Gray. At least Lisanna seems the same though. _I don't know about this, maybe the Anima warped their minds somehow when they got sent to this world?"

"Hi everyone!" then things got _really _disturbing when Erza got their attention, waving at them from behind the bar, wearing a blue shirt with white trimmings, a matching skirt, and a pair of black heels, but what really unnerved the lot of them was the sweet smile that she had plastered across her face "I'm so glad to see you made it back safely."

'_And that's supposed to be Erza. Yeah it's official, this has to be hell.'_

"Hey by the way you guys." that was when Macao and Wakaba got their attention "What are you guys doing with the little girl and a few house cats? Don't tell me you guys are babysitting now or something." but then they connected the dots "Wait a minute… What in the name of hell are these cats doing here?!" and then everyone else started panicking.

"How the hell did they get inside?!"

"Those aren't any ordinary housecats, those are Exceeds!"

"No way…"

"Shouldn't we do something?"

Happy glanced between Bolt and Carla "So be real, it's the outfits isn't it?"

Lucy shot a pissed off glare down at Noah "Alright boss, you'd better have a good explaination as to what the fuck is going on here."

"I'll give you an explanation as soon as you get the fuck off my shoulders." Noah then proceeded to throw her off, leaving her to hit the ground with a thud '_This is getting weirder by the second, but I think the weirdest thing would be people freaking out whenever they mention something called Exceeds, even though none of us have any idea what the hell an Exceed is.'_

"Okay you know what, screw this." Bolt removed his cloak and let out a sigh "I've already got a thick coat of fur, the last thing I need is to get heat stroke in another dimension."

"Well it is kind of peculiar." Erza knelt down in front of Bolt and gave him a gentle smile as she started scratching behind his ear, causing him to shake his leg like a dog "Now I understand why everyone is so on edge, but you don't look like anything dangerous or intimidating."

"As long as you don't take one of my brownies without asking, otherwise we're either cool or I consider you a mild annoyance- Oh wait move your hand a little bit further back."

"Okay." and so she did, causing him to literally purr.

"Oh yeah, that's the good stuff."

"You know I think Erza might be right." Lisanna gave her usual kind smile "These cute little things just look like Exceeds, I doubt any of them would even hurt a fly."

"Like most animals, we usually only attack when provoked. But keep in mind that I did say "usually", not always."

"Yeah enough with the snark, time and place for that sort of thing Thundercat, now put your hoodie back on already." Noah told him dryly as he sat down at a nearby table.

This was when Lucy levelled her gaze on Noah with a furious glare "Alright boss start talking, I want to know where you went and what the hell you were doing, and you had better hope that I like the answer."

'_As much as I'd like to get back to her on that one in a time span of never, we don't have any time to waste so I might as well just tell her everything. But then again my knowledge of what's going on is scarce at best, the only ones who would know for certain would by Mystogan or the white cat, but I doubt she'd be interested in talking.'_

"For fuck's sake could you be a bigger pain in the ass, spit it the fuck out already! **Torture Technique 23: Elbow Grind Crush!" **Lucy started grinding her elbow against his temple, much to his agony.

'_Okay this hurts like a fucker, not as bad as when someone pisses off and/or failes Hades, but I won't lie, this is a close second. And if that wasn't bad enough, I had the Cowboy Bebop power couple _(he means the Edolas versions of Alzack and Bisca) _sitting right in front of me basically grinding on each other half naked, and I can't even look away.'_

Wendy shuddered at the sight that she was watching "You know, I'm starting to get this feeling that I shouldn't be watching this."

"Yeah well you know the difference kid, you're physically capable of looking away!"

"Well it could be worse." Natsu gave a shrug "Watching them prance around their feelings for each other was a hell of a lot more painful, probably the fourth most painful thing I've ever had to deal with."

"What are the other three?"

"Third was the last time I accidentally pissed off Erza, at least I think since I blacked out about 20 seconds into it, the second would be the last time I had to deal with _that, _again I blacked out about 20 seconds into it. By far the first would have to be when Lisanna got mad at me during that whole ordeal when everybody in the guild was acting batshit crazy, and then she got mad at me for all of my cursing and…" Natsu went slightly pale at that.

"Let me guess, you blacked out 20 seconds into it?"

"I wish I blacked out during all of that. My life flashed before my eyes like 5 times as she tore into me."

"Ouch. Looks like you're not the only one." he jerked a thumb over.

As it turns out, Gray was trying to get somewhere with Juvia, and failing miserably "So my beloved Juvia I heard you're going out on a job soon, if you would like some company than I would love to join you."

"Oh please." Juvia let out a scoff "Why would I want any form of help from the walking coat rack? Don't make me laugh, I can handle any sort of job on my own, I don't need a partner for any reason, so find someone else to fulfill your fantasies with and quit wastin my time why don't you?"

"But… all of my fantasies are about you."

Macao and Wakaba took this opportunity to try and console him "You know sometimes the best course of action with a lady is to give it a rest, especially since you're making yourself look like even more of a lost cause than Lyon."

"I can't believe you would compare me to that overclothed pickup artist. So pretty please will you let me come my darling? I swear I'll be a good boy for you!"

"I told you to back the hell off!" Juvia promptly kicked Gray so hard he was sent flying and bouncing all over the place like a ping pong ball.

"HELP ME!"

"I could, but I'm not going to." Lucy told him dryly "Seriously, you'd think he'd learn after all this time that she's not interested."

"One would think, but in regards to this guild, learning really isn't a thing." Noah pointed out flatly.

"Tell me about it, but with them it's not so much concerning as it is annoying."

"Yeah, but what pisses me off is that with him crushing on her like that it's considered sexual harrassment, but the other way around it would be totally fine."

"Sexual harrassment be damned, I like to think of that as gender equality."

"About fucking time someone got that." Noah glanced over at Natsu and Wendy "I don't know about you two, but I like this one." he received two "WTF" sort of looks "What? I like what I like, if you don't then you can choke on it."

That was when Gray finally stopped bouncing and hit the ground next to Noah with a very loud thud "Why is the room still spinning…?"

"Okay seriously dude, are you gonna get up or are you gonna start acting as a makeshift beanbag chair or something? Because if it's the latter, then I'm tempted to try and sit on you."

"Lying on the floor is actually way more warm and cozy than you might think, so I'm just gonna stay down here for awhile okay?"

"Option 2 it is." Noah promptly sat down on him "Huh, not bad actually. I'm gonna give this maybe an 8/10."

"Oh hell no boss, don't think you're gonna get the hell away from me!" Lucy suddenly hoisted him over her shoulder and started trying to get him in another one of her 48 Torture Technique holds.

"Oh that's it, Dominatrix or not you're going down bitch!" and so the two of them started brawling in a very cartoony fashion.

"Oh you think you can fight it do you, you haven't got a chance in hell against me!"

As for Levy, well she was in the back working on some sort of large machine "Well that's just my fucking luck, of course the conducting wire had to short out."

"Time for me to rock the next job!" Nab suddenly bolted past her, irritating her even more than she already was.

"For the luck of fuck Nab, would it kill you to shut your hole already?"

"What the hell did you say Levy? You know someone has to say it, you need a major tuneup on your attitude."

"I don't have time for your lame jokes, did you forget how vital this machine is? I can't get it working with you screaming like an idiot on steroids every four seconds."

Lucy suddenly broke off from her cartoony brawl with Noah and shot him a smirk "Hey get over here boss, I wanna try out a new technique I've been working on lately."

"That goes double for you blondie, now shut your worthless trap already!"

"What the fuck did you just say to me?!"

"It's hard enough to finish this job as it is without you acting like a dominatrix in the background all the fucking time!"

"That sounds pretty funny coming from a flat chested grease monkey who can't even do one fucking thing!"

Macao and Wakaba were quick to try and do some mediating between the two of them "Hey come on now you two, we're all on the same side here. Besides everyone here really does count on Levy, especially seeing how her machine has saved her lives more times than any of us would care to mention."

"..Fine fuck it, but quit wasting time and get that thing working."

"Well what can I say?" Levy gave a shrug "It is what I do best."

"Don't fucking push it."

"That's also what I do best."

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Meanwhile, at another end of the bar…

Noah took a sip from a cup of coffee he had order from the bar, and he slowly glanced around the inside of the guild hall "Most of the members of your guild are accounted for, but I'm not seeing any sign of Thunderclap or Black Steel."

"Probably not a bad thing when you think about it." Natsu commented "How do we know he didn't get sucked in like anyone else."

"Because I was there when the light when the Anima struck, and I could still smell him afterwards, but the scent I was picking up from the two of you was stronger, so I decided to go after you first."

"But how do we know he's not the opposite of himself like everyone else? For all we know he might even be a bigger psychopath than Lucy is."

"That actually isn't too much of a stretch right now, also why the hell are you hiding underneath a table right now?"

"Becuase I don't want Lucy to suddenly turn on me like she did with you, god only know what she'd do when she's like this."

"...That might be the smartest thing I've ever heard you say."

"Thanks. Wait. HEY!"

"So speaking of Thunderclap, what do you think his opposite would be like?"

"I can see it now, he'd totally be bowing before my awesomeness and acnowledging me as the stronger between the two of us and cowering over his stupidity."

"So basically what you are to Titania."

"Yeah. HEY!"

"But in all seriousness, there is no fucking way in hell that would happen. You've got way too rich of a fantasy life."

"The same with most people in Fairy Tail." Bolt noted dryly.

"And since you seem so tame in comparison to them, what's your thought on what the opposite of Thunderclap would be?"

"I've already seen what the opposite of him is, I've lived with it for a few years. It's a laid back and easy going douchemonkey who couldn't give less of a shit, but still has a good heart."

"Huh. That one has some sound logic."

"No need for logic, it's what he was like before the accident with Mira and he left to train for a year and a half."

"Just because it was the past doesn't mean it's the same for another timeline." Happy told him, earning some WTF looks "What?"

"We're not in another timeline you dipshit, we're in another dimension. What do you think he would be like then?"

"I can see it now, he would be a valiant knight fighting to defend his faithful master for whom he holds absolute adoration, Happy the Great!"

"...And you had the nerve to make fun of us, what world are you living in?"

"I think I know what he would be like here!" Wendy had stars in her eyes as she started rattling off her fantasy "He'd be more than happy to make any delicious sweets any of us desire, I just know it!"

"And I thought the blue cat was as high as fucking elephant's eye." Noah muttered "I thought it was Titania who had the hardcore sweet tooth."

"Yeah, but you said the opposite right? How do you see him Noah?"

"Let's see, opposite of Thunderclap… I'd say a prerogative loan wolf, living by his own rules, a tragic incident leaving him cold and cynical, refusing to trust anyone as he's cast aside. At least that's the idea."

"Wow… that's deep."

"It's just a rough idea off the top of my head."

"Enough of that all of you!" Carla let out a scoff "These fantasies of yours are just a waste of brainpower, not to mention embarrassing."

"Shut it Miss Prissy, this is how people unwind, something you'd come to understand if you would pull that stick out of your ass. But in all seriousness, he's probably just roaming around somewhere with Black Steel right now anyway."

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What none of them realized was that a young man with brown hair, teal colored eyes and a pair of glasses, clad in azure colored armor was riding a creature of Edolas, heading in the direction of the Fairy Tail guild hall '_One more, and all of those who oppose the king will have at last been vanquished.' _he looked down at the locket hanging around his neck and his gaze hardened ever so slightly '_Remember, everything you do is for her.'_

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Meanwhile, back at the Fairy Tail guild hall…

"Alright boss, time for you to get the fuck over here!" Lucy grabbed Noah out of his chair by the collar of his shirt "Hide and seek is over, I say we get back to it."

"I wasn't hiding, I was refueling." Noah told her flatly "It's the only way I can deal with people like you guys."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself, now this new move I've been working on is gonna rock your socks off."

"Okay seriously blondie, cool it with the dominatrix act so-"

"Is that so? If you wanna play rougher than usual then that's fine by me, I happen to like it when they play rough."

"Hey I like a good beating as much as the next guy, maybe even more, but right now you need to back the fuck off." this was met with various gasps from the other guild members "Oh get lives of your own people."

"Oh so you're not in the mood for playing then are you? Well how about we skip straight to the lightnint round!"

"Fine by me if it gets you off my back." Noah easily parried Lucy's lunging attack and caught her in a full nelson, then kicked her knees out from under her "How about you remember this the next time you decide to force me to play, you got me chica?"

Cana was left with a hand over her mouth in shock at what she was seeing before her "I can't believe Noah would actually fight back against Lucy like that."

"Believe whatever you want southern belle."

"No way in hell am I done yet." Lucy broke free of Noah's full nelson and tried to throw him over her shoulder, only for this to be met with a power struggle between them "Now start talking, you might be more a fighter now than usual but I still want answers about where you were and what you were up to."

"Your first mistaking is thinking I answer to you blondie, it was fun at first but now you're getting on my nerves. If you're not going to back off then I'll make you."

"Hey Lucy, are you seriously trying to harass some poor bastard again? Do we really need to have another intervention? Beating the crap out of people in the guild is one thing, but leave it to people in the guild."

"See, even we have rules to-" Natsu cut himself short and froze in place at the sight of who was standing in the doorway to the guild hall '_No way… no fucking way. This has to be some kind of crazy dream or something.'_

"Sorry I took so long, the boss wanted to stop for some takeout on the way back. The guy's got a craving for mozzarella sticks every other day."

'_Huh, that actually does sound pretty good right about now. _Noah glanced over at Wendy "Wait I don't get it, what's got Salamander over there so startruck?"

"I don't know, I've never seen her before." Wendy told him.

"So then what's with him?"

"You'd be too if you were there back then." Bolt muttered "Because that's her…"

"You wanna elaborate?"

"That's the guildmate that sacrificed herself to save Luke, she's Lisanna and Elfman's older sister that died two years ago. That's Mira."

Sure enough, there stood Mirajane Strauss, clad in her usual revealing gothic outfit, standing in the doorway with a bag slung over her shoulder, and she stopped when she noticed the starstruck look Natsu and Happy giving her "For fuck's sake guys we've gone over this, you don't have to start worshipping me the minute I come in with food."

Lisanna and Elfman just waved at her like she hadn't been dead for 2 years "Hey welcome back sis, we were starting to get worried."

"Yeah well, you know the boss can get when he passes a pizza joint."

"Mira… I thought…" Natsu suddenly reached out to her.

"Hold it Salamander." Noah grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him down into a chair "Hey can we get a huge jug of water or something over here?"

"Here you are." Erza handed him a few glasses, as well as a large jug of water.

"That works, thanks."

"Is he going to be alright?"

"He just needs a minute, or with me here, about 5 seconds." Noah poured some water in a cup, and then he threw it in Natsu's face "You gonna get a grip or will I have to slap you?"

"You'd probably be in the same place if the roles were reversed." Bolt pointed out "I'm not too far off personally, I mean I was there when Mira died that day."

"That's what Thunderclap told me himself. So what then, did she just fake her death or something like Nick Fury did in Captain America: the Winter Soldier?"

"I doubt it, pop culture references aside." Carla told him flatly "But more importantly, we had initially suspected that this world was the opposite of our own, but it turns out that's not the case at all. If it were then surely Lisanna would be behaving differently like everyone else."

"Although the biggest clue would be the fact that we're seeing someone that looks very similar to one of us?"

"Exactly, see for yourself." Carla pointed across the guild hall.

As it turns out, a young woman with blue hair had noticed the group, and apparently she looked very similar to Wendy, except she was _bigger _in every way "So you guys really think that kid over there looks like me? Now that I think about it, I have noticed a few similarities I guess, but she's so small and… yeah."

"See?"

"Are you trying to say that's me?!" Wendy almost lost it at the sight of her supposed counterpart.

"This is bad, the rest of us should get out of here immediately."

"So that's it." Noah's frown deepened "You're thinking that everyone in our world has a specific counterpart in Edolas, and that the two Wendy's are the same, but aside from the ones that came here with us nobody in here is from the Fairy Tail guild we know."

"Exactly. Edolas is a separate world with its own history, culture and customs, so that means that the existence of a different version of Fairy Tail is also possible. They've been people of Edolas from the beginning."

"Which would also explain that." Noah jerked a thumb towards the doorway.

As it turns out, a certain someone else was making his way into the guild hall, and he looked exactly like Noah, only he had a scythe strapped onto his back, and he stopped when he locked eyes with Noah "Okay, what the hell am I looking at right now?"

"...So this is me in this world then?"

"We can only assume." Carla told him flatly.

"Well that makes sense, at least I know I'm ridiculously good looking in both worlds." he was met with a few groans "What?"

"Is this some kind of Ben 10 sort of thing?" asked the other Noah (who from now on shall be referred to as Edolas Noah).

"If by that you mean parallel worlds and that sort of crazy batshit insanity, then yeah that about sums it up."

"Which raises the question then." Natsu downed an entire jug of water "If these aren't our friends from Fairy Tail, then where the hell are we supposed to find them?"

"How the hell should I know that, ask our tour guide down there." Noah jerked a thumb down towards Carla "She's supposed to be the one leading us to them."

"You think I'm supposed to know everything?" Carla let out a scoff "Be realistic you foolish brute, if I knew that then we wouldn't even be on this wild goosechase." she promptly grabbed onto both Happy and Bolt and started dragging them away "Now come along, we have to get out of here before we waste any more time."

"So what the hell are we supposed to do then?"

"From here we should journey to the Royal City, if there are any clues as to the current location of the others from Fairy Tail then that's where we're most likely to find them. Now come, we must not waste any more time!" she was about to drag them out the door, when…

"Guys this is bad, this is really really bad!" Edolas Nab suddenly bolted back into the guild hall looking terrified "We've got a huge problem, the Thunderer is coming for us!"

"Dammit, you mean he tracked us down already?" Edolas Noah quickly whipped out his scythe and used it to lock the doors to the guild hall shut "Alright guys you know the drill, if you don't wanna die then sit your asses down and don't move a fucking muscle while Levy get this thing working."

"Those monsters from the kingdom." Cana's voice was full of dread "Will they never stop hunting us?"

"I can't say that for certain Cana, but what I can say for certain is that there's no way in hell we're going to be dying today."

Bolt shot a glare over towards Carla "The kingdom huh? You wanna elaborate?"

"The kingdom are the ones who created the Anima in the first place and sent us to Earth Land on our mission." Carla told him flatly.

"Which means that by extension, the three of us are enemies of Edolas Fairy Tail."

Edolas Noah was quick to make the call "Levy fire up the machine!"

"Working on it! Preparing the reactor for ignition, entering the coordinates." Edolas Levy was quick to fire up the machine in question "Automated error-correction in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1! The marker has been connected, routing magic power to shock absorbers.

"Less talking, more casting the teleportation circle before we die!"

"Shut your hole, I'm working as fast as I can!"

"We've got seconds before he gets here!"

"You wanna do this instead of me?! Anyway, the magic power output is at 40% of what we need for the teleportation circle to activate. 43… 46… 51…"

"Dammit Levy you need to do this faster!" Jet and Droy took the moment to round on her "We might as well get flattened like this!"

"If you wanna walk out there and throw your lives away then that's fine by me! The magic power output is at 61, from here on we have two minutes until the teleportation circle has been activated!"

"You've got about a minute and a half before the Thunderer shows up, he's already closing in on us as it is." Edolas Noah told her flatly "And everyone stop screaming like bunch of idiots, it's not going to do any good!"

Noah glanced out the window to see a massive winged creature looming over the guild hall a short distance away "Well that's all kinds of fucked up, what the hell am I looking at?"

"That's a Legion, a beast that belongs to the Royal Knights of Edolas."

"Well if you're cool on doing a Q&A then answer me something else, why the hell would the kingdom sent someone after Fairy Tail?"

"You really are that out of the loop on this aren't you? The king of Edolas ordered that all wizard guilds be destroyed in order to conserve our ever decreasing magic supply as much as possible, which really isn't that much when you think about it. Out of all of the guilds in Edolas, there's only one left standing, and it's the one you're standing in. I don't know what things are like where you and your possy came from, but this is Fairy Tail, and in the world of Edolas we're the sole surviving dark guild, at least in the eyes of the kingdom."

"...Fairy Tail and dark guild, two terms I never expected to hear together."

"I'll be asking you about who you guys are later, but for the time being we have other things we have to worry about. Levy what's the status of the teleportation circle?"

"We've finally reached criticality, launching the teleportation circle now!" Levy was quick to do her thing "Shock absorbers have been activated, teleportation circle is deploying!"

"Don't talk about it, get it done! We're as good as dead if you don't just do the thing! Everyone listen up because we don't have a lot of time, if you want to stick around for another sunrise then grab onto something quickly! Link together and make sure that no one floats away, we're not losing any more members than we already have! Not while I'm in charge!"

"Wait a second, you mean this is a vehicle?!" and then Natsu's cheeks suddenly started bulging as he tried not to wretch "Oh dear god help me…"

"Oh for fuck's sake, don't tell me he gets motion sickness."

"I could, but then I'd be lying." Noah told him dryly as they held onto each other, as well as holding onto Edolas Cana, as the Fairy Tail guild hall disappeared from where it once stood in a flash of light.

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The beast crashed down on the crater where the Fairy Tail guild hall had stood mere seconds before its disappearance.

The young man with the axe in hand, who shall be known as the Thunderer for the time being, looked down at the crater, his expression unreadable "So they escaped again."

"Teleportation magic eh?" a man with blonde hair in pink armor came up next to him "To think they would go so far as to stoop to employing a spell that uses so much magic power in a single shot like that. My oh my, dark guilds sure can be wasteful with such a precious resource."

"Spare me the condescending tone Sugarboy, the fact is that the search for them will be going on for awhile longer."

"Such a thing is truly concerning, those Fairy Tail wizards are quite a resourceful bunch are they not? Then again I suppose it's only proper to squash insects, rather than praise them."

"You're just realising that now? They've been avoiding us for three years, they wouldn't be able to do that if they didn't have brains to go with the magic power at their disposal."

"Perhaps, but I doubt they'll be able to keep the act up for too much longer. Their demise is as certain as the rising of the sun. Did you hear that the plan regarding the giant Anima turned out to be a success? It's almost hard to believe."

"Do you actually have anything important to tell me? You should know by now I'm not one for smalltalk."

"Actually I do, the order has been given that all captains of the Magic Warfare units are to return to the Royal City."

"So the Fairy Tail of Earth Land has been destroyed?"

"To be more accurate it has been absorbed. You have to hand it to the king, he certainly has style going for him."

"I don't think style is the word that I'd use. And what of the wizards from Earth Land that were also absorbed by the Anima?"

"I believe they're enjoying their stay as part of the giant Lacrima."

"Which means that the magic supply of Edolas should be capable of sustaining us for a considerable amount of time." the Thundered glanced up at the spot where the Fairy Tail guild hall once stood, then looked down at the locket in his possession '_Remember, everything you're doing is for her.'_

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After teleporting away, the Fairy Tail guild hall materialized in a desert far away from where they once stood.

Edolas Noah let out a sigh as he reclaimed his scythe "That was way too close. Levy, give me the status report."

"It was a close call but we made it, the teleportation was successful." Edolas Levy told him "We should be safe here, at least for the time being."

"That's somewhat a relief, good job. Now to shake off the inevitable concussion and the fact that I'm probably going to throw up, but before that I have some business to tend to." he then proceeded to help Edolas Cana to her feet, much to the jealousy that Edolas Macao and Wakaba were clearly feeling, if their glares were anything to go by "So how are you holding up, you're not hurt are you Cana?"

"Oh no, I assure you I'm quite alright." Edolas Cana assured him "Thank you for your concern, but I can take care of myself."

"I know that, but I made a promise and I have no intention of keeping it."

Noah shook off the inevitable concussion and eyed Edolas Noah intently '_Why is it that this version of me reminds me more of Thunderclap than myself? Does that mean that his counterpart is going to… oh shit.'_

_Edolas _Mira on the other hand, she was tending to Elfman and Lisanna "So how are you two holding up, nothing is broken is it?"

"No we're fine sis, we both are." Lisanna assured her "Both of us are still in one piece, but what about you?"

"Forget about me, the only thing that matters to me is that the two of you are safe."

As for Edolas Lucy, she took the chance to round on Edolas Levy in a rage "It's about fucking time, you sure as hell took your sweet time firing that thing up. He almost fucking wasted us because of you!"

"Oh shut your fucking trap!" Edolas Levy rounded on her right back "I didn't see you doing anything to pull our asses out of the fire!"

"Can't you at least do something about the annoying shaking?"

"I wouldn't do it so much if you weren't such a cow!"

"Bite me bith, you're just jealous of my body!"

"Yeah right, give me a fucking break!"

"Oh yeah, this is a great thing to listen to when you've got a concussion." Noah shook off the concussion in question "But putting that aside for now, who the hell was that at the reigns of the monster earlier?"

"You serious?" Edolas Noah shot him a look "Either you got a concussion when we teleported or you seriously have no idea who that was."

"Both actually, but you say that like the first one is a common thing here."

"It is. Anyway that was one of the captains of the Magic Warfare Unit deployed from the Royal City. He's known far and wide as the Thunderer, but I know him as Luke Tempesta."

"...Hommina? _So that means that in this world, Thunderclap is the enemy? Shit, you think you know how something is gonna go.'_

"But in the meantime, I think it's safe to say that you have some explaining to do. Who are you guys, and how do you not know any of this stuff?"

"Well it's kind of a fucked up story, even by the standards of anime. But aside from my breaking the fourth wall, it goes something like this…

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About 45 minutes of explaining later…

Edolas Noah frowned at what he heard "Okay so let me make sure I got the gist of this, you're trying to tell us that you're different versions of me, Natsu and Wendy from another world called Earth Land, the three of you were raised by dragons, and you came all the way to this world by passing through the Anima in order to try and save your friends."

Noah gave a simple nod "That's the short version, but yeah."

"So there's a Fairy Tail in your world too?"

"Yeah but I'm not a member of it there, it's kind of a complicated story."

"And in your world, Luke is a member of the guild and you actually consider him one of your comrades?"

"They do, with me it's a lot more complicated. You sound so surprised by that."

"You would be too if you had him supposedly trying to kill you every time he found out where your guild hall was. He actually used to be one of us, but that was a long time ago."

"What the hell do you mean supposedly?"

"I said nothing of the sort." the glare he shot Noah silenced him right then and there "But you're clearly me, and that's definitely not the Natsu and Wendy we know."

"Yeah I kind of figured." Noah glanced back to see _Edolas _Mira staring at him and his group, her expression making her look rather uncomfortable '_That look on her face, if I had to guess then I would say that she's hiding something.'_

"So then that little girl is the me of the other world." Edolas Wendy looked down at Wendy with some clear skepticism "For crying out loud, she's basically a pipsqueak version of me."

"You don't know the half of it. Anyway as fun as this is, if you can just tell us how we can get to the Royal City then we'll be on our way." Noah was met with various gasps "Yeah yeah I got the shtick, we're doing something you think is batshit crazy, but a lot of people are depending on us and if we can't save them then they'll be converted into magic power and they're gonna be lost forever, and I'm not letting that happen if I can do something about it."

"Oh, this isn't gonna be fun." Edolas Wendy pinched the bridge of his nose "Okay listen, I doubt this is something you're going to want to hear, but all things considered it's probably for the best if you forget about them."

"And why the fuck would I do that?"

"Because anyone who would defy the king of Edolas is as good as dead. He has a mighty army at his beck and call, and on top of that there's only so much magic power in our world and there isn't much left of it. It's not going to be too long before we completely run out. There's nothing that the king fears more than that, so he tries to keep all of the magic power for himself, which is why he ordered that all of the magical guilds be disbanded."

"And you guys defied his orders, which is exactly what I would've done. I hate being ordered around as it is, and I'm guessing you guys felt the same."

"We tried to, but it didn't pant our very well." Edolas Noah told him flatly "Everybody tried to ignore the order at first, but then the Magic Warfare started wiping out the magic guilds one after another, and now our guild is the only one left standing, but even we weren't able to escape unscathed. We've lost about half of our members because of the Royal Army, Laxus and his Thunder Legion, and even our original master were slaughtered like a bunch of wild animals as a result, and this was after Luke turned on us. The fact is that we have our hands full trying to stay out of sight and alive as it is, and in all honesty the best thing for you to do is go back to your world while you still can."

"Like I said, I hate taking orders from anyone, especially the master of my own guild, and I'm not about to let some power hungry mother fucker from another world try and tell me what I can and can't do. Is that juvenile, maybe but I don't care." Noah was met with more than a few surprised gasps as a result "We're not leaving without our Fairy Tail, and if I have to go through this old bastard to do it then I'll do it with a smile on my face." he glanced over to the side and noticed Mira quietly sneak out the back amidst the gobsmacked expressions he was getting from the others '_She's hiding something, but what?'_

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"_Now we move onto the Royal City of Edolas, headquarters of the joint chiefs of staff."_

"Holy crap, have you taken a peek at that giant lacrima?! It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen!" this came from Hughes, captain of the 3rd Magic Warfare Unit of the Royal Army.

"Yeah, drop the dramatic flare." Edolas Luke, AKA Luke Tempesta, Captain of the 2nd Magic Warfare Unit of the Royal Army, AKA the Thunderer, breathed a sigh "I saw the lacrima when I got here, it's impressive without a doubt."

"Especially considering it has the power of tens of thousands of people from Earth Land."

"Yes indeed." Sugarboy, captain of the 4th Magic Warfare Unit of the Royal Army, gave his usual flamboyant grin "From what I've been told that would be the equivalent of about 100 wizards, not to mention it also happens to house the lives of countless others."

"Oh come on Sugarboy, don't bother trying to bore me to death with all of the details. Does it really make that much of a difference? All that matters is it's totally awesome, I mean do you guys even understand how awesome this lacrima is? It's like super mega awesome."

"Super mega awesome you say?"

"Tell me Mr Tempesta." a new voice got their attention "I have to ask, when are you going to wipe out the Fairy Tail guild?"

Edolas Luke (who shall now be known as Tempesta) glanced back and scowled at the sight of an old man with a cane approaching their group "Byro."

Sure enough, before them stood Byro, chief of staff of the Royal Army of Edolas "You wield the name of the Thunderer, and you wouldn't wish to tarnish that name now do you? Fairy Tail is the only magical guild in Edolas that has yet to be disbanded. I realize that they're difficult to track down and constantly on the move, but the patience of his majesty is at its end."

'_I'm supposed to believe he actually has patience?'_

"So tell me, what will you do?"

"There's no need to rush our trusted comrade here." Sugarboy called him off "The day that the Fairies are felled by the Goddess is close at hand. They may believe themselves to be a formidable force, but they stand very little of a chance against him. Just give him time, and you'll see that for yourself."

"I see." Byro let out a chuckle.

"Honestly Byro, I've had enough of that laugh of yours."

"I think we all have." Tempesta glanced back to see another figure approaching them "Thank you for saving us from that Panther Lily."

"No need to thank me, I simply can't stand the sound of it, it gaves my nerves." this was coming from Panther Lily, the captain of the 1st Magic Warfare Unit of the Royal Army of Edolas.

"Seriously man, what's your deal?" asked Hughes "You always walk around and act like you're that much better than the rest of us, well guess again."

"You'd be wise to watch your mouth Hughes."

"You're in one hell of a bad mood aren't you?"

Panther Lily didn't respond to this, he just walked past them and left."

"And my point has been proven."

"He's usually like that." Tempesta pointed out "But if I had to guess as to why he is now, I would say he's not too thrilled with the recent increase in armarment."

"Such a thing is surprising though." Sugarboy noted "Seeing how he's a military man himself, one would think he would be elated."

"One would think, but our kingdom has nearly unified this entire world, or subjugated it depending on your perspective, so I really don't see what the point would be in increasing our arsenal either."

"Perhaps it has something to do with the pocket of resistance still out there."

"That's something we can handle ourselves without too much difficulty."

"Oh for fuck's sake!" Hughes let out a groan "Would it kill you guys to speak in plain English for once? I don't understand a thing either of you two are saying."

"If that's the case then the problem is that you're an idiot, not the way we're speaking."

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At the same time, Coco, the assistant cheif of staff of the Royal Army of Edolas, had reported back to Faust, the king of Edolas, that the magic in the giant lacrima would be enough for them to power Edolas for the next 10 years.

However, Faust was far from satisfied by this, and claimed that he would not be satisfied until the world of Edolas had a source of everlasting magic power.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with our heroes, and Noah…

"Alright, hold still you little bastard, and… gotcha!" Natsu pounced at a pink frog-like creature, only for it to slip from his grasp at the last second "Hey come on you little bastard, wait the hell up would ya?!" and he started comically hopping after it.

"What do you think you're doing you imbecile?" Carla shot him a look full of disdain "Honestly, what is wrong with you?"

"Too many things to count." Bolt told her dryly "So putting that aside for now, what's our ETA for getting to the Royal City."

"We just left and you're already asking me that?"

"It helps to have an idea of how long a trip is going to take."

"They told us that it would take about 5 days for us to get to the Royal City, and without any access to our Aera magic I don't see any other alternative to walking."

"Well this stinks." Happy muttered "Do you think we're ever gonna be able to use our magic power again?"

"I wish I knew, but this certainly doesn't bode well for any of us."

"Come on you little fucker!" Natsu pounced at the pink frog creature, only to fall flat on his face in the sand "Hey can one of you guys give me a hand with this? I've never seen a frog like this one outside of Dragon Ball, and I was hoping to take it back to Lisannas a souvenir."

"...Wow." Noah tried to suppress a scream, and only partially succeeded "At least you have your priorities in order, but are you sure she's gonna want that thing?"

"It's kind of cute, and she likes cute things. Just look at Happy."

"Agree to disagree, just be careful in case the angry parent comes looking for it. Just because you don't have any common sense doesn't mean that the rest of us want to get eaten."

"Oh come on, what are the odds of-" Natsu ended up pouncing face first into the stomach fat of a much bigger version of the frog he had been chasing.

"See, this is why you listen to the smart ones in the group, even if they never do in anime for some reason. Anyway meet mama Ginyu frog, and I'm pretty sure it wants to eat us."

"No way am I getting swallowed by a frog that looks like Captain Ginyu again!"

"...Again?"

"Don't ask."

"I don't want to know."

"Good, because I'm not telling! **Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" **Natsu tried to ignite some flames in his fist, but he quickly found that nothing was happening "Uh… oh crap."

"You forgot we couldn't use magic here didn't you?"

"...Maybe."

"That's a yes."

"So… run for our lives like a bunch of idiots?"

"I don't see any other way out so, yeah let's go with that." and so they all started running and screaming like a bunch of idiots.

"This is bad." Wendy mutttered "I hate to admit it, but I'm completely helpless without my magic power!"

"You and pretty every other loli in existence!"

"Then I guess it's up to me, I'm gonna take this gigantic son of a bitch down with my bare hands if that's what it takes!" Natsu let a fist fly towards the frog creature, only to be sent flying by the backlash resulting from its stomach fat.

'_Okay, so maybe this isn't all bad. Then again, I doubt what I did with the fish earlier is going to work on this thing. Maybe if I can find a pressure point on it or something.'_

"GET DOWN! **TERRA SLICER!"** that was when Edolas Noah dropped down onto the scene, whipped out his scythe as it was encased in what looked like an outer shell made of rock, and cut down the frog creature in one clean shot, causing it to run away in terror.

"Alright!" Wendy and Happy started cheering "Thank you so much for saving us, mr…"

"Just call me Scythe here, since there's going to be two of us for the time being." Scythe glanced over at the frog creature lying on the ground a few feet away "One would think that something as big as that would've put up a fight."

"Looks can be pretty deceiving." Noah pointed out "I've learned that more than a few times back in my world."

"Sounds like you're a voice of experience, we've got one back in our Fairy Tail too. Here she comes now."

Sure enough, at that moment Edolas Mira dropped down onto the scene wearing a pair of metallic claws, and she let out a sigh of frustration "You know you could've bothered to wait for me to catch up."

"You could've gone a lot faster yourself."

"I'm liking this version of me more and more." Noah stared down Scythe, but then he took a good long glance in the direction of Edolas Mira '_This one seems different from the others somehow. I wonder… _So not that we don't appreciate the save, but what the hell are you guys doing here?"

"It's not that hard to figure out, if you're seriously planning on taking down the kingdom then you're gonna need a lot more than just two guys, one loli and a few cats."

"Let's see… tough, good looking, snarky, uses Earth based magic, you're this world's version of me without a doubt, so I guess I owe you one."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Yep, and you've got an attitude to boot. I think I know a certain girl back home who would get a kick out of meeting you. I think. Actually maybe not, she doesn't really get a kick out of anything, seeing how she doesn't really show emotion very much."

"Now I have to wonder what kind of taste you have compared to me." Scythe took out a picture from his pants pocket, then shook his head as he put it back "I lost the woman I loved about a year ago, it's why I'm so determined not to let any more of my comrades throw their lives away because of the Royal Army."

"That's definitely worth noting, but you know the difference?" Noah shot him a smirk "Now you've got a pack of Dragon Slayers on your side."

"Yes yes, I'm all for the brovado." Carla promptly ruined the moment "How long do the two of you intend to keep this up? Keep in mind that we have enough to worry about as it is."

"I know I know, along with taking down the kingdom and getting Fairy Tail back we still need to track down Thunderclap and Black Steel."

"You think they came through the Anima to this world too?" asked Scythe.

"Knowing what Thunderclap is like I don't have a doubt, and if I had to guess then I would say that he and Black Steel are probably together."

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As it turns out, Noah's statement was very accurate.

Luke and Gajeel were wandering through the deserts of Edolas together, only they were both covered in long dark cloaks to conceal their identities "Well that figures, I leave Natsu alone for 5 minutes and he gets them sucked into another dimension."

"Just my fucking luck." Gajeel mutered.

"I figured you'd be used to the batshit craziness of Fairy Tail by now. But then again, even I'm not fully used to it."

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Meanwhile, back with the others…

Edolas Noah frowned in thought at what he was being told by his counterpart "That makes sense, so they were able to catch wind of you guys because some of the people you ran into mistook you for Exceeds and then reported you, which was how the Thunderer was able to track us down in the first place."

"That about sums it up." Noah told him flatly "I guess that's why people seemed so jaw dropped when we told them Thunderclap was a member of Fairy Tail in our world. I guess he's a lot more fucked up in this world than ours."

"Why, what's wrong with the one from your world? You know what that discussion can wait until later, I don't know what he's like in your world, but I wouldn't believe until I see with my own eyes that he would even dream of siding with our guild again."

"He sounds like one hell of a fucked up dude."

"He is, I can't think of a single wizard in Edolas who isn't afraid of him."

"Including you?"

"I wouldn't say I'm not afraid, but I don't want to face him in combat."

"So if I run into him while we can't use magic then turn tail and run and pray to the love of god he doesn't catch up to you?"

"More like he'll catch up to you so pray he makes it fast. The guy's got the blood of almost every wizard in Edolas on the blade of his weapon. He used to be my closest friend, but then… You know what let's put that discussion on hold for now."

"Fair enough I suppose. How close are we?"

"You can find the city down there." Edolas Noah gestured to the city below them "This is the city of Louen, you'll need to gather some stuff from here before anything else."

"It's all pretty round isn't it?"

"Yes it's very interesting, now let's get going." Carla told him flatly.

"Whatever. Hey listen man, I guess I owe you for coming with us."

"Forget about it for now, just follow us for now." Edolas Mira told him "You guys are going to need some magic weapons, if you don't have something like that for at least one of you then don't expect to make it very far in this world."

"We'll be sure to keep that in mind, so thanks for that, uh…"

"Mira, call me Mira."

"Yeah, I just needed to make sure of that. _If my hunch is right, Thunderclap and the others are going to be in for one hell of a surprise. If not, then I'm a gigantic asshole.'_

"It wasn't that long ago people were able to buy and sell magic here like anything else, but then the Royal Army started hunting down guilds, and now buying and selling magic is seriously illegal in Edolas. What's even worse is that just possessing it is a crime too." Mira started leading the group down towards the city alongside Edolas Noah.

"Seriously, you get in trouble just for having it? What about the people who've always been able to use magic?"

"What are you talking about?" Edolas Noah shot him a strange look "I can only explain something like this so clearly, if you have any magic on you then you just have to get rid of it or else you're gonna end up getting busted or worse."

"Duly noted I guess." Noah frowned in thought for a moment '_The way he's saying this, it sounds like magic power used for spells and stuff are treated like objects in this world. Carla did say that magic power is a limited resource in this world means that this world doesn't have any wizards who have innate magic power like the rest of us do. Instead, they must store magic power within objects like lacrima, which they supposedly would combine with weapons in order to create magic items, so these items are what people consider to be magic in Edolas, like my counterpart's scythe. So wizards here can't cast any ordinary spells like us, they need objects to do it.'_

"Enough of your brooding, we're here." Mira and Edolas Noah stopped the group in front of a dark and shady staircase "There's a black market for magic just down this staircase, if you want to do any travelling then you're going to need to gear up."

"Definitely worth noting, given the circumstances I guess we might as well play by the rules of this world in regards to using magic. You've gotta adapt in our line of work."

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Meanwhile, in another part of the city of Louen…

Gajeel peered around a corner as he lowered his hood "Well that's just fucking perfect, now where the hell are we supposed to go from here?"

"Considering the situatiion, it's not like we have a ton of options to begin with." Luke pointed out "Frankly we might as well just start asking around and see if we can find anything out from the townspeople."

"Better than nothing I guess." so Gajeel promptly walked up to some random guy in the middle of the street "Hey, you mind if I ask you something?" he was answered with the guy just ignoring him and walking away "Hey what the fuck, get back here!" he was met with more people walking away, much to his clear ire.

"Well that figures, you're about as much of a people person in this world as you were back in our world."

"Piss off Thunderclap, these assclowns make the ones back home look like a bunch of angels."

"Agree to disagree on that note." Luke glanced up to see a bunch of "tough-looking" punks waltzing towards them "Well one thing is the same no matter what world you're in, you just have to find the right guys and get them to talk, and it usually turns out to be way too easy. You wanna handle this one or can I?"

"I'm sick of dealing with the locals, you have your go."

"Fine by me." so Luke stepped forward "How's it going?"

The leader of the group let out a scoff "What do you want punk, you looking to start something with us? I say step off of us you lousy horsefly."

"You know something man, you've got a lot to learn about throwing out a decent insult."

"Oh cut the crap, we don't have time for some stupid lecture. If you don't like a horsefly then how about a maggot?" the three of them burst out laughing.

"You know it wasn't that funny, and at least I don't look like a bunch of Scooby Doo rejects come to life."

"Oh you wanna play that way do ya?" the first one let a fist fly, only to be sent flying backwards by a surge of electricity.

"Not really, but if that's what it takes to get through to you then so be it."

"You want a piece of us punk?!" the other two both puncked Luke square in the face, only for their hands to start bleeding upon making contact.

"Sorry about this guys, usually I'm not a fan of using violence in these kinds of situations, but at the moment me and my companion are on a tight schedule." Luke picked up the leader and pulled him back to his feet "Okay here's the deal, a giant lacrima should've appeared somewhere around here not too long ago. I don't suppose you can help us track it down?"

"What the hell do you-" the leader spat out some blood "Look I don't know where it is okay?"

"Are you being real with me or do I have to let my companion jog your memory?"

"No no seriously, I swear that neither me or either of my boys know where it is!" he was met with two simultaneous nods from his lapdogs.

"So be it then, I guess we'll just have to get answers from somewhere else. Thanks anyway you guys, you can go about your business." he was met with a few sighs of relief.

"I've gotta ask though, is Gajeel as strong as you?"

"More or less."

"That's all kinds of screwed up, I never took him for the kind of guy who would wanna go around picking fights with people."

'_These guys must be talking about Gajeel's counterpart from here in Edolas, so that confirms what we were told by Mystogan. _Tell me something you guys, what does the Gajeel here do for a living? And just to clarify they're not the same guy, they just look alike."

"You kidding? Come on, he looks exactly like the guy."

"I know I know, they've both got no eyebrows but that doesn't mean they're the same guy. So what does he do?"

"He's one of those free lance journalists and he's got a reputation around these parts for being way too nosy for his own good."

"A journalist huh?"

"Yeah, the guy's written a bunch of magazine and newspaper articles ripping the king and the kingdom a new one a whole bunch of different times. He's a real busybody too, so nobody in this town can stand him."

"Definitely good to know, thanks guys." Luke glanced back at Gajeel 'So that explains why nobody would bother to give you the time of day.

"Tell me about it." Gajeel gave a smirk "So the version of me from Edolas is some kind of freelance journalist eh? I think it's time to get the scoop on him."

"...Dude seriously?"

"Yeah that sounded better in my head."

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Meanwhile, in the black market shop…

Noah glanced around the inside of the black market shop and let out a sigh "Well on one hand, it looks like they've got some pretty cool stuff available for us. On the other hand, it smells like the inside of Zancrow's quarters."

The shop owner let out a chuckle "That's because this place happens to be full of priceless historical antiques my friend. A few old scratches and unpleasent smells here and there are what sets my items apart from the rest, they have flavor going for them."

"Good to know, but none of us are really here for flavor old man." Mira pointed out "Being able to use it is what matters the most to us. There are a lot of counterfeits here, so make sure you double check before you buy."

"A smart shopper, looks like you've got some experience."

"It helps to have a few smart ones in your group." Noah commented dryly "So what have you got in terms of Earth based magic?"

"I think I have just what you're looking for." the shopkeeper held up what looked like a fuma shuriken "This is the Edolas magic Terra Slicer, just put the lacrima in the charge it with magic power and it'll slice through anything, harder than any rock."

"Looks pretty low tech but I guess it's better than nothing."

"What a keen eye you have my friend."

Wendy on the other hand, was attracted to a small blue cylinder that caught her eye "Hey can we get this one, please?"

"Why do you want that one to begin with?" asked Carla.

"Just look at it, it's so cute and tiny."

"Come now child, you should know better than to choose something to buy based simply on cuteness."

"Please?"

"This pretty little gizmo is called an Air Lift Cannon, all you have to do is pull the two pieces apart in order to open it and then watch it work its magic." the shopkeeper demonstrated by activating the device, summoning a small breeze around them, much to Wendy's delight.

"Oh wow it's wind magic, this is going to be perfect for me!"

"It seems you have a keen eye as well miss."

"That covers me and the kid." Noah shot a glance over at Natsu "What have you got in terms of fire magic?"

"I think I may have just what you're looking for." the shopkeeper pulled out something that looked like a flamethrower "Does this contraption strike your fancy? This is the Edolas magic Sealed Flame Sword, just put the power source in this compartment and you can summon a sword made of flames." he promptly summoned a blade made of flames "What do you think, pretty cool isn't it?"

"Flames look pretty weak but it's better than nothing, we'll take it and the earth and wind stuff too."

"Perfect, thank you for your business my friends. Together they'd cost you around 30,000, but I'll knock the price down to 25,000 just because I like you guys. How does that sound?"

"Like you're trying to rip us off."

"Well these items are incredible hard to come by these days."

"Yep, ripping us off."

"Hold on a second." Edo-Noah shot a look at him and the others "Let me take a wild guess, you guys don't have any money do you?"

"Dude we're from another dimension, what the hell would make you think we have any money on us?"

"Hoping like some naive jackass, but considering the hell our world is going through I guess I should've known better."

"Of course you should've, you're me."

"Yeah that figures, just hold on a second." Mira pulled out her wallet "I'll pick up the tab for you guys, but don't expect this to be a regular thing for me okay?"

"No no of course not miss Mira, I couldn't take any money from you after all that you and the others have done for me." the shopkeeper told her "After all my shop would be shut down if you hadn't helped me out when the Royal Army searched it."

"Forget it man, that was no big deal. We were just lending you a hand."

"In any case, I would be more than happy if you took them as a present from me, as my way of thanking you for that."

"You sure? If you're offering then I guess it wouldn't be right for me to refuse."

"Well you're dependable if nothing else, so it wouldn't be right for me to deny credit where it's deserved." Noah commented "I guess I owe you one."

"Forget it, it's not that big of a deal."

"From the way that guy was talking it sounds like you and my counterpart are a pretty big deal around here. So is there any way we can pay you back for this?"

"Well there is one thing." Mira looked away, her expression somewhat nervous "If you guys wouldn't mind, I wouldn't be against hearing about what things are like with Fairy Tail back in your world. Just out of curiosity."

"I'm not a member in our world, so I'll leave it up to Salmander and the kid."

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About an hour passed, and the group took a break to grab some lunch in a nearby cafe.

Mira paused for a moment to take in everything she was hearing "So to sum up, the Thunderer in your world is some kind of self appointed protector of the Fairy Tail guild?"

"That's one way of looking at it." Noah downed a few fries "He told me about it himself, after the version of you from our world died he left to train for a full year and a half, and he's probably the strongest wizard in the guild by now. It's why I'm so interested in fighting him one on one when he's at his best, to see just what he's capable of."

"Huh. Sounds kind of familiar."

"Hey by the way." Wendy pulled out her Air Lift Cannon "I can't seem to remember how to use this thing, do any of you?"

"You shouldn't go pulling that thing out in public." Mira quickly threw the thing under the table before anyone could see it "We already told you guys that magic is banned in this world, if you even have it then you could get in a hell of a lot of trouble. You don't want to take any chances with this."

"So what does that mean then, magic used to be a part of everyday life like it is back in our world?" asked Noah.

"It used to, but things have changed since then." Edo-Noah told them grimly "The kingdom went and stole a part of our culture from us."

"And let me take a wild guess, they went and did that because they want to keep the magic power all to themselves. I'm also guessing that's where we'll find the lacrima with everyone from Fairy Tail right?"

"Yeah that's exactly it."

"And since those royal assholes are gonna hog all of the good stuff for themselves, not to mention that gigantic lacrima with thousands of people inside, and since I personally hate authority and people who think they can do whatever the fuck they want without having to worry about consequences, I guess that means there's only thing to do: We storm the kingdom and beat the ever loving shit out of them."

"You're officially out of your fucking mind, we don't stand a chance against the forces of the Royal Army."

"If that's the case then why the hell did you guys bother to tag along with us?"

"What the hell are you going on about? You guys said you needed an escort to get to the Royal City, I didn't come out here to fight anybody."

"Whatever lets you sleep at night."

"Look guys." Mira let out a sigh "I know how you feel, I tried to fight the Royal Army myself about two years ago, and it didn't end well." she pulled up her shirt to reveal a deep scar along her stomach "So yeah."

"Shit. Sounds like challenge, but as Barney Stinson once said in almost every single episode of that Legendary show, challenge accepted."

"There they are, corner off the area!"

Noah glanced back to see a bunch of armored men closing in on the group "I take it those guys are from the Royal Army."

"You guys are all wizards of Fairy Tail aren't you?" the men raised their spears "All of you stay right where you are, you're under arrest!"

"Aw that's cute, they think they can arrrest us."

"Oh hell yeah, it's time to try out my new magic!" Natsu whipped out his new Sealed Flame Sword.

"And things just went from cute to shit."

"Here goes nothing, now eat some fire mother fuckers!" Natsu comically unleashed a massive wave of flames that roasted a few of the soldiers alive "Now that's how we roast fuckers back in my world!"

"Oh yeah, roasting 3 of them alive but not even breaking through the shields with any of the others." Noah gestured to the shields being used by the Royal Army.

"Oh shit, they've got shields?! No matter, another blast coming at ya!" Natsu tried to unleash another blast, but nothing happened.

"That thing is about as useful as Blockbuster now." Mira told him flatly "We told you before that magic power is limited here, you can only use that thing a certain number of times."

"You mean that thing is only good for one shot?!"

"For you maybe, but for a normal person who doesn't spam like they're batshit crazy it can be used about 100 times."

"Which means that we have to be careful about how we use it. Well either that, or we can just do this." Noah snatched Wendy's Air Lift Cannon and yanked it open, causing a massive tornado to engulf them, sending them hurtling high into the air.

"What the hell did you do man?!"

"You mean aside from reading the instructions while she struggled with just trying to learn how to open the thing? Well with any luck, I created a way for us to get the fuck out of here without wasting more magic than necessary!" and they were sent flying and crashing into a different part of the city.

The captain of that squad looked over at the damaged caused by the crash "They landed in that vicinity, we must capture them at all cost! Do whatever it takes!"

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Meanwhile, with our heroes…

Mira and Edo-Noah glanced out the window "Well the good news is that we got away from the Royal Army, but the bad news is that we're stuck in the city now."

"Well that's just great." Natsu grumbled "The magic in this world totally sucks."

"Oh please." Noah let out a scoff "You're just mad because you spammed yours like a jackass and now you can't use it again."

"You basically stole Wendy's."

"I knew how it worked, she couldn't even open it. Anyway let's get back on topic, is there some other way out of here we can use?"

"Not that either of us know of." Mira told him grimly, followed by the sound of voices coming from outside.

"Gotcha Fairy Tail trash, we found you!"

"He let the hell go of me!"

"Shut up and get over here!"

"Let go of her!"

"What the hell?" Noah poked his head out of a nearby window, and he motioned for the others to do the same.

As it turns out, the Royal Army had caught two girls outside, but it wasn't exactly who they were looking for, but they didn't know that "You're Lucy and Lisanna aren't you?"

As it turns out, it was Lucy and Lisanna, the Earth Land versions "Yeah that's our names, don't wear it out, now get your hands off me you ass!"

Noah quickly caught a whiff of both of them "I can smell it, those are the verions that came from our world."

"Hey cut it out asshole, that hurts!"

'_But I don't get it, I thought only Dragon Slayers could withstand the Anima. How the hell did those two get here?'_

"I told you to let go of me!"

"Of for fuck's sake, come on let's go do some damage control." Noah prepared to bolt out the window, with Natsu and Wendy doing the same.

"You know what, that's it!" Lucy pulled out one of her Zodiac keys "**Open, Gate of the Scorpion…"**

'_And I'm guessing she doesn't realize we can't use magic here, which means she's in for one hell of a rude awakening.'_

"**Scorpio!" **she opened the key, and it actually _worked_.

'_...Then again, maybe I can be wrong.'_

"**Wicked!" **sure enough, Scorpio emergred from the gate opened by Lucy "And now, **Sand Buster!" **he unleashed a tornado of sand from the tip of his tail that sent all of the Royal soldiers flying.

'_And she can use magic, why the hell can she use magic?'_

"Sorry to skip out like this, but I've got a hot date with Aquarius tonight, so later!" and on that note, Scorpio took his leave.

Lucy let out a sigh "Sounds like Aquarius isn't the only one who likes to throw that right in my face."

"Come on, he seems like a nice guy." Lisanna pointed out "Besides, I don't think not being in a relationship is that bad."

"Easy for you to say, you and Natsu act like you're a married couple in your 90's!"

"Okay maybe I'm not really impartial."

"Lisanna!" sure enough, at that moment Natsu burst forward and promptly pulled her into a tight hug "I've missed you too."

"Yeah, me too." but then Lisanna looked back and saw Mira with the rest of the group, and she instantly froze where she was "It can't be… Mira?"

'_Lisanna… it's really her…' _once the two of them locked eyes, Mira let a single tear roll down her cheek.

"Well… this just turned all kinds of awkward." Noah was met with a few dry looks "Bad timing, got it."

As a result of Noah opening his mouth, Mira quickly snapped out of it and regained her composure "I figured you would look similar to the version I know of, but in all honesty, this is kind of unsettling."

"Try looking at yourself in this world, it's all kinds of fucked up."

Lisanna's gaze remained locked on Mira as she freed herself of Natsu's embrace '_No, this isn't her… this is just the Edolas version of her.'_

"As much as I hate to ruin the moment, I think we've got other problems we need to deal with right now." Noah jerked a thumb at the number of soldiers charging at them "So introductions and/or reunions are gonna have to wait."

"Yeah you're right, we're gonna get caught if we stay here."

"And what's worse is that unlike blondie over there, me and the other two over there can't use any of our magic power."

"Wait what? But we can-" and then some other dots connected in her mind "Wait a minute, aren't you that Dragon Slayer that I fought back on Galuna Island?"

"Chill out Animal Girl, I'm on your side for now. But more importantly, you were going to say that you can use your magic just fine right?"

"Um… yeah."

"And it's official, we're all being nerfed for plot convenience. We can't let ourselves get captured or the others are as good as dead."

"I may not know who you are, but I get what you're saying." Lucy suddenly gained a look of determination and a ridiculous level of overconfidence "So this means I'm the strongest member of Fairy Tail right now."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself."

"Got it. **Now open, Gate of the White Ram, Aires!" **and so Lucy promptly pulled out another key and opened the gate.

Sure enough, Aires timidly appeared before the group "Um hello, please just leave everything to me. I promise I'll do my very best."

"Alright Aires let's get down to business, do you think you can take these guys down?"

"I don't know, but I promise I'll try. **Wool Bomb!" **so Aires attacked the army of royal soldiers with a wave of magic wool, only for them to start getting high on the comfort instead "Oh no, I don't think it's working Lucy. I'm useless after all."

"Oh it's working alright, I say you hit them with another one!"

"Yes, I promise I'll do my best. **Wool Shot!" **she hit them with another wave of wool, earning the same response "And now… **Wool Wall!" **she created a thick pink cloud made from her wool magic, engulfing the last of the soldiers.

"Alright this is our chance, now we have to get out of here."

"Is that to your liking Lucy? I hope so, but if not then I promise you I'll do much better next time, so take care of yourself Lucy." and so Aires vanished, which promptly the others to take off running.

"Yes, that was awesome! I knew I was strong but this totally rocks!"

"Well that's one way to subdue an army." Noah commented dryly "Better than nothing I guess, at least better than the other crap we're stuck with."

'_So this is the power of magic from Earth Land huh?' _Edo-Noah shot a look at his counterpart, and then at Mira '_Looks like we've got a lot to learn about this, and with any luck it just might be what we need.'_

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About 20 minutes passed.

Noah and the others, now a fair distance away from the city, and they took a moment to calm down and thing things through "Okay, so now that we have a minute, we should take a minute to figure out our next move. And for starters, blondie and Animal Girl can start by explaining how in the name of fuck they got to Edolas, and how they can use magic. Last we heard, everybody in Magnolia was turned into a giant lacrima with the exception of any Dragon Slayers."

"Yeah and we almost were too." Lucy told him "But Mystogan and Horologium, one of my Celestial Spirtis, rescued both of us just in the nick of time."

"And Horologium is…?"

"Like she said, one of her Celestial Spirits." Lisanna told him "Elfman and I were… a little bit preoccupied, when I noticed the hole in the sky opening up because of the Anima, so we both rushed back to the guild hall to try and warn the others, but we were too late."

"So how did you end up with blondie here?"

"Horologium had passed through the gate on his own to protect me when he sensed the fluctuation in time-space." Lucy told him "As for how he was able to get Lisanna too, all I can say is that he must have been close enough for him to get her too. Then Mystogan appeared in front of both of us."

"So he was able to escape being absorbed by the Anima too?"

"Yeah, then he gave both of us the rundown on what's been going on, and after that he gave both of us some kind of weird red pills and sent us here to Edolas. After that, we just started searching for anyone we might know and we eventually ran into the rest of you."

"That fills in a few gaps, but still doesn't explain how Mystogan is the only one who knows anything about Edolas. I mean granted I'd have to say he's the Edolas counterpart of Jellal, it's pretty obvious when you think about it."

"We may get to confirm that if we're lucky."

"Maybe, but why the hell do the two of you get to use magic here and we don't?"

"Well… maybe I'm some kind of legendary beautiful heroine in this world, and Lisanna is my faithful sidekick!" she had stars in her eyes as she droned on about this.

"...You've got a rich fantasy life don't you?"

"Oh come on, can't a girl have a dream?"

"Depends on whether or not it sounds like utter BS."

"But in all seriousness, we don't have an answer to that question." Lisanna told him "But either way, if Natsu can't use any of his power, then I don't know how we're supposed to win."

"By not whining like a damsel in distress. That may sound harsh, but there's no way I'm backing down from some douchebags who think they can do whatever they want whenever they want just because there's no one powerful enough to take them down. As far as I'm concerned, these people are at the top of my shit list."

"You're really serious about this?" Edo-Noah shot his counterpart a look "You guys really want to take on the entire kingdom all by yourselves?"

"Like I said, they need to be taken down about a dozen notches. Why do you find that such a hard thing for you to believe?"

"You're talking about fighting them when you can't use any magic, that's not too different from suicide."

"Maybe for you."

"Forget about that, one of us still has an entire arsenal!" Lucy bolted to her feet with a renewed fire in her eyes "Yeah you've got that right everyone, just stand back and hang tight while the strongest wizard in Fairy Tail takes care of this problem single handedly!"

"Ahem." was the only sound that came from Lisanna.

"While she takes care of this problem with help from Lisanna!" she was met with a simple nod of approval "Either way, now I've got one hell of a fire in my belly that's just raging to get let out!"

"...Okay you know what?" Bolt glanced over at his counterpart "I'm starting to think you were right, if she's our best hope then we're pretty much fucked."

"Tell me about it." Edo-Noah let out a snort "I'm just gonna say it, my counterpart and the others honestly come off to me as a bunch of lunatics."

"Hey come on, be fair now." Mira told him "For all we know they're probably saying the same thing about us, it's not every day you enter a Shadow Realm version of your home."

"You really think these guys can pull this off?"

"Call it a hunch if nothing else, but I have a feeling in my gut that they've got what it takes to change this world for the better."

"I might be insane then, because I think you're right. Either way, I think a hell of a lot of changes are coming for Edolas."

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A few hours went by, and the group started holding up in a hotel in another city of Edolas, a fair distance away from Louen, this time in the city of Sycca.

Bolt pulled out a map and laid it out on the table for the others to see "With any luck we'll be able to figure out where we're going if we use this map. You know it's kind of weird, but based on the map Edolas looks a lot more similar to Earth Land than I thought it did. Anyway, from what I can gather this is where we last saw the Edolas Fairy Tail, then the giant frog beast chased us somewhere in this area, and from there we travelled to the city of Louen, where we met up with Lucy and Lisanna, and now we're hiding out here in the port city of Sycca. If we want to come even close to reaching the Royal City then we're going to need to find a way for us to get overseas."

"Which means that our friends are half of a world away from us right now." Natsu muttered, his tone somewhat grin.

"Not to mention half a world filled with soldiers from the Royal Army that we'll have to dodge left and right, at the rate we're going it's probably going to take weeks at least to get anywhere near the Royal City. Maybe if we can find a ship or something to take us there, or-"

"What are you two doing?!" Lisanna suddenly bolted out of the bathroom and into the open wearing only a towel, her face red as she realized her situation "Noah and his counterpart have decided to… compare themselves to each other… in a few different ways."

"...I knew I liked him." Bolt was met with a few disturbed looks.

"I'll be honest Bolt, sometimes you scare me."

"Yeah, we have a few people like that in our Fairy Tail." Mira made her way out into the room, wearing only a towel herself "I've gotta admit though you look just like my Lisanna in every way, you've even got the same birthmark on your butt. I think it's shaped like a giraffe raking leaves."

"Is that for real or are you just referencing Drake & Josh?" asked Bolt.

"Yes."

"Huh. Cool."

"I know right, it's sitting right in between the-"

"Cut it out!" Lisanna's face turned an even deeper shade of red, if that was possible, especially at the sight of Natsu staring.

"What, do you see something you like on her? Give me a minute, I'm more than happy to show you more of her."

"Please don't! It's embarrassing, and keep in mind Wendy is in the room too! She's just a little girl!"

"And yet she can handle this kind of stuff better than this version of you can or the one from this world."

"Forget it, I'm not looking." Natsu promptly blindfolded himself with his scarf.

"Huh, I never would've pegged him for being a gentleman."

"I never would've pegged him for having an IQ higher than that of a brain dead squirrel." this was when Noah made his way out into the room alongside his Edolas counterpart "I can only pray that his counterpart here is different." he was met with a shrug from his counterpart "And I spoke too soon."

"You know the two of you look so much alike each other, it's kind of hard to tell which one of you is which." Wendy commented.

"Yeah well we've done enough comparing to each other to know which one of us is for real, plus I think my ass is in better shape."

Then Natsu suddenly let out a chuckle "Okay okay I've got this idea, work with me, so if the two of you set up some kind of mirror routine-"

"Finish that idea and I'm sending you blasting off again like Team Rocket."

"I think we'd all pay to see that." Bolt then glanced over at Lucy "Don't you have one of your Celestial Spirits that can do something like that?"

"You mean Gemini right?" Lucy lit up at that and pulled out one of her keys "Yeah they can actually turn into copies of other people, just take a look at this. **Open, Gate of the Twins, Gemini!"**

"Tada!" sure enough, the Gemini twins emerged from the gate, only they were already transformed into an identical copy of Lucy "Gemini at your service!"

"If you thought one of me was great then why don't you try a double dose of hotness from yours truly?"

"Blonde and busty doesn't make up for being high maintenance." Noah commented dryly, easily dodging a few slap attempts from Lucy "But then again, if you play your cards right this could make for one hell of a kickass guessing game at a party."

"You think it could make some gameshow?" asked Natsu.

"Don't bothe staring lover boy, or else the sleeping beast lying within the Animal Girl could awaken, and I don't think that would've worked well for any of us. Also quick question blondie, you gonna put on some clothes any time soon or what?"

"Wait what-?" and cue the terrified shriek from Lucy "I'm still naked!"

"And you conveniently forgot about that until now."

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About an hour went by, and the group started settling down for the night.

Edo-Noah studied Lucy intently for a moment "You know, as nice as it is to see a version of you that isn't a total dominatrix, it's still kind of hard to tell you apart from the version that I'm so familiar with. And for that matter, do you guys find it hard to tell me apart from the version from your world?"

"The gigantic scythe you carry on your back helps to tell you apart." Natsu pointed out.

"Fair enough. Hey by the way less scary version of Lucy, I don't suppose you have one of those spirits that's good with facial hair do you?"

"Actually I think I have the perfect spirit for that job." Lucy pulled out a key and promptly opened the gate.

Sure enough, at that moment Cancer emerged from the gate "It's been a good long while since you called me Baby."

"Yeah I know, some people find it creepy when he calls them baby, but then again they'd probably lose it when they meet Taurus for the first time." Lucy stepped back a little bit and allowed Cancer to get to work "So what do you think?"

When it was done, Edo-Noah was now sporting a somewhat thick goatee hanging down from his chin "Now we're talking, you guys shouldn't have any sort of problem telling us apart now should you?"

"That's not too bad of a look for you." Mira noted.

"I've been trying to grow a beard for half a decade, but apparently Lucy isn't too fond of facial hair so every time I try she shaves it off in my sleep."

"And I'm jealous as fuck." Noah let out a groan "I've been trying to grow a goatee for like a year now, I don't know why but I've never been able to."

"Add that to the growing list of reasons why we're so different from each other. As for me, given everything that's been going on, I haven't really thought about growing a goatee in a damn long time."

"How come?"

"It's not that important in the grand scheme of things." Mira's face fell as she spared glanced out the window and into the night sky of Edolas "In a world like the one we're living in, you don't really have time to think about things like boy or girl or the things that separate you from your friends and comrades. In the end, we're all just people who share the same goal: trying to survive."

"Sounds pretty hardcore, and yet everyone in this world's version of Fairy Tail seemed so laidback and easygoing when we were there before."

"Well yeah that's kind of a no brainer, in times like these you have to keep your spirits up, even if you have to force them to every single day, even if it hurts. Sure there are times when we think we can't even force ourselves to smile, but we remember that there are people in this world who are counting on us to protect them from people who think they can do whatever they want, even if that means we have to be labelled as a dark guild. That's pretty much what Fairy Tail is all about, lending a helping hand to people and having fun along the way."

"Sounds a lot like the shtick Thunderclap has going for them."

"Yeah, but unlike with you guys it still isn't enough in the end for us."

"Maybe not on your own, but if you've got comrades willing to fight by your side, you should be able to accomplish anything." Lisanna told her.

"Sounds pretty optimistic, doesn't it?"

"Isn't that what Fairy Tail is all about?"

"Yeah… Yeah I guess it is." Mira looked out the window, then left the room to hide the tear rolling down her cheek.

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Morning came, and the sun was rising over the skies of Edolas. Everything seemed like it was nice and peaceful, until…

"YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!"

Noah let out a groan as he pulled himself off of the couch at the sound of Lucy's rage filled rantings "Alright alright, what crawled up your ass and died?"

"You did!" Lucy pointed accusingly at him in the same style of the evil monkey "I mean your counterpart did!"

"You wanna elaborate or are you just going to keep pointing at me like the evil monkey? If it's the latter, then at least let me turn it into a meme." he was handed a note "Okay, so it's the former then. Too bad, I like memes."

"Little Mr You went and packed his metaphorical bags and took off on us in the middle of the night!" her tirade also ended up waking up Wendy and the others.

"Keep walking for three more days and you'll get to the Royal City. I have to head back to my guild now before Lucy blows something up or kills somebody, or something else that would get her into all sorts of deep shit. Good luck, try not to get busted, and make sure Natsu doesn't do anything stupid. Huh, looks like my counterpart is just as smart as me."

"And what the hell was all of that about lending a helping hand?! When I get my hands on that bastard I swear I'm gonna wring his scrawny little neck!"

"You put your hands anywhere near my neck and you'll lose them."

"Shut up!" and so she started throwing a tantrum in the corner.

"Oh yeah, it's a wonder how you're still single, and in case you hadn't noticed, I'm trying to be sarcastic."

"Oh for fuck's sake, it's too early for this." Mira let out a groan "Give him a break, he's not a brawler for shits and giggles."

"Any particular reason you're sticking around?"

"If you guys are gonna save your friends then you're gonna need someone familiar with the territory to make sure you don't get yourselves killed, and I don't want anybody accusing me of abandoning you."

"Fair enough. It could be worse, we could be stuck with two of Salamander back there. Or two of the blonde one throwing a tantrum."

"Worse things have happened I guess, like Teen Titans Go."

"Oh lord don't even get me started."

"There's nothing we can do, other Noah said that he didn't want to fight, and we should respect his wishes." Wendy pointed out.

"Yeah we're past that, now we're hating on Teen Titans Go."

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Meanwhile, outside the hotel…

With a bag slung over his shoulder and his scythe strapped to his back, Edo-Noah started making his way through the streets of Syccan, his mind drifting '_These lunatics might change this world for the better huh? Either Mira's going soft for thinking that, or I'm going nuts because I think she's right. Probably both now that I think about it. What a joke. I can't believe how lazy I've been getting. Change shouldn't be brought about by outsiders, it should be brought about by the people who actually live in this world. If they can pull off this suicide rescue mission of theirs for their Fairy Tail, then I say more power to them, but they shouldn't be the only ones taking the kingdom down a peg or ten. As far as I'm concerned, it's time for the Fairy Tail of Edolas to stop running from our problems like a bunch of cowards. I'll do whatever it takes to convince everyone to stand up and fight for this world as one! As for how I'm going to convince them at this stage of the game… Luke, I'm sorry old friend, but I think I'm going to have to tell them about the real reason why you left.'_

**A/N:**

**And with this chapter, we dive into the second act of the Edolas arc, with a few surprises in store for the characters and for the viewers. I decided to try and take a few liberties here and there to make things more interesting, so that it wouldn't be entirely predictable to the viewers.**

**Yep, instead of evil Edolas Erza in this version, I'm gonna be doing the evil Edolas version of Luke instead. Didn't see that one coming did you? As simple as it would've been to do evil Edolas Erza like in canon, I decided to spice things up a bit and do something that you wouldn't have expected, hence evil Edolas Luke, though there's going to be a twist to it later on as to why he's doing what he's doing, but it won't appear until later.**

**Speaking of Luke, he's going to be paired with Gajeel for the time being, working with him more behind the scenes to free the others from the Lacrima. I did think about putting him with Natsu and Wendy and having Noah tag along with Gajeel, but I figured that would've been too easy and too predictable, so I decided that I would have him and Noah swap roles. Speaking of Gajeel, his counterpart in Edolas is by far my favorite out of all of them, and it's part of the reason why I ranked this arc ahead of Oracion Seis.**

**On another note, along with Lucy, I also had Lisanna show up in Edolas with her in this chapter, seeing how I'm trying to give more build up to a certain revelation in regards to Mira. I did consider putting Cana in that place instead of Lisanna, but like with the roles of Luke and Noah, that would've been far too easy, so she'll appear later in the arc. I know some of you are going to ask how Lisanna could've been saved from the Anima along with Lucy since they were in different areas at the time, but I'll explain that next chapter.**

**Now then, I'll be ending the chapter here since I feel that it's already run long enough in my opinion, over 17,000 words as it is. But before I wrap things up, I want to thank all of you for getting this story to 100 reviews! This has only happened with one of my stories before. When I started this story back in June of 2019, I never anticipated this story becoming as popular as it did, but now it's become my most popular story of all time, and it's thanks to all of you.**


	29. Edolas III

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it, and I want to thank you all for getting me up to 25,000 views. Here's to getting to 30,000.**

**Donumah36: **Thanks, glad to see you like the story. And yes, while most of the references are for comedic value, they are a lot of fun to do.

**Guest: **Yep, evil Edolas Luke was a surprise I've been planning for while now. Anyway I'm glad you like the story, so thanks for that.

**Fiendgod: **Well I appreciate your honestly. I get why you're not too fond of Cana, and while it's somewhat disappointing you're not invested in this story, it's understandable. Thanks for being honest, and for being so mature about it.

**Ragnas Bredvolts: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you like this chapter. Yep, in these harsh times where the world is struggling to pull itself together, sometimes a good fanfic chapter is all you need to get through. Maybe not flipping the script all the way through, but I made enough changes so that it wasn't a total copy and paste from the canon version. Yep, the surprising inclusions of Mira, Edo Noah and Lisanna were part of my diversions from canon to spice things up a little bit and add a little bit of the element of surprise. And yes, Edo Luke is something that I doubt anybody saw coming. Yeah, I am a little bit saddened myself over the fact that I'm basically cutting out Knightwalker, but having her as the evil counterpart would've been far too easy and predictable. Besides, it got me the chance to do the nice version of Erza, which I think is a worthy sacrifice, and Luke will be going toe to toe with his counterpart, so that will be a sight to behold. As for who will be freed from the lacrima by Luke and Gajeel later on, well I don't want to spoil the story for you, so you'll have to wait for the next few chapters. As for the manga Spy x Family, it sounds interesting, so I'll have to take a look at it sometime. That's all I have to say for now, so you have a nice day as well my friend.

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Things were quite calm in a certain other city, at least with the Earth Land group that was remaining incognito during their time in Edolas.

Gajeel downed a glass of booze and shot a look in Luke's direction "Let me get this straight, you're seriously telling me that Hawkeye of all people is your favorite Avenger?"

"I don't see why that's so hard to believe." Luke pointed out.

"I mean if it were Black Widow then it would make sense."

"A lot of people could argue that she's eye candy, I mean granted that's probably not relevant, but you can sure that some sick bastards out there are going to think of some sick scenario with her at the center."

"Probably. You know I would've figured that Thor would be your favorite?"

"Because he wields the power of lightning? That's predictable as hell, it's like saying that Iron Man is your favorite because he's made of iron."

"He's only third on my list."

"Thor is third on mine personally, right behind Captain America."

"Fair enough. So why the fascination with Hawkeye?"

"Because as far as I'm concerned, Hawkeye is the most respectable out of all of the original six Avengers."

"You mind elaborating?"

"Think about it, what superpowers does he have?"

"None, but the same could be said for Black Widow."

"What about equipment?"

"Bows and arrows, Black Widow has none."

"Correction, Black Widwo has guns going for her and that tazor thing. She's got even more gear than he does when you think about it."

"Fine, I'll give you that point."

"Hawkeye doesn't have any fancy gadgets or powers like the rest of the Avengers, keeping in mind the fact that Black Widow does have guns. What he does have going for him is a hell of a lot of training, skill, grit and heart, and see what he's able to do with it. Plus he's a family man above all else, and I respect that in a man."

"Huh, sound logic I guess. Okay I admit you have a point."

"See? So what about you, who's your first pick for favorite OG Avenger?"

"Hulk, mainly because he's a savage."

"...He became your favorite after he smacked Loki around like a rag doll didn't he?"

"I'm pretty sure he became everyone's favorite after that."

"Fair enough- Wait shut up, listen to that over there." the two of them glanced over at where a few men were sitting nearby and having a _very _interesting conversation, unaware of someone else listening in on that conversation as well.

"Hey did you hear? They're gonna extract the magic power from that giantic lacrima in the Royal City in two days."

"Yeah I know, but to be honest it kind of freaks me out. I mean where the hell did all of that power come from, an alien world or something?"

"I sure hope they know what they're doing, messing with that kind of magic power could lead to all sorts of trouble."

"Hey you'd better be careful about what you say man, you're making it sound like you're questioning the methods of our great king."

"No no that's not what I meant, I swear I'm loyal!"

"Interesting conversation." this was when Gajeel approached the group, along with a certain someone else "You three punks wanna tell me what you know in greater detail/ You gentlemen mind telling me what you know in greater detail?" it was then that he suddenly found himself staring face to face with his Edolas counterpart.

Luke let out a low whistle "Well okay then, I think we found him."

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Meanwhile, with Noah's group…

Noah looked over to see Lucy clutching a certrain book to her chest with a wide smile plastered across her face "With a look like that, one would think she just got some happy time, and note that I'm sugarcoating it for the kid." he jerked a thumb over at Wendy.

"Well it could be a lot worse." Mira gave a shrug "She's a hell of a lot eaiser to please than the version of Lucy from this world."

"And she's not a dominatrix, so that's a plus. But then again, she does seem a hell of a lot more conceded."

"It is really good to know that we can cheer Lucy up just by giving her a rare book for her to read." Wendy pointed out.

"It's definitely good to know how to make her shut up. What's in that book anyway?"

"The complete history of Edolas silly." Lucy shot him a ridiculously bright smile "Don't you want to learn more about this amazing world while you have the chance?"

"You can call it amazing if you want, I call it more of a shit hole than the world from Rising of the Shield Hero."

"Oh come on, have you ever heard people say that knowledge is power? Well this book has an absolute crap load of the stuff! For example, there's information here regarding the history of a fearsome tribe called the Exceeds."

"And now I'm interested, people back in this world's version of Fairy Tail started freaking out because they thought the cats with wings were Exceeds."

"The hell with that, I could probably take them." Natsu waved it off, earning a disapproving glare from Lisanna "Language?" he received a nod "Got it." but then a large shadow started looming over them "What the fu-" another glare "Fudge?" the glare subsided.

"Hey check it out." Noah pointed upwards to where a massive airship was looming above the city of Syccan "Unbelievable, people here have a Helicarrier of all things. You've gotta be fucking kidding me."

"And it just so happens to belong to the Royal Army, come on we can't let them see us. Get over here." Mira quickly motioned for everyone to hide behind a pillar, where they heard a certain something very interesting from one of the soldiers:

"I heard they're gonna be draining the magic power from that giant lacrima the day after tomorrow, and that's why they're calling for additional security detail in the Royal City. Come on men, we'd better get moving before we get chewed out."

Noah frowned at what he was hearing "That giant lacrima they're talking about must be where we're gonna find the people from Fairy Tail and the rest of Magnolia."

"But they said that the extraction of their magic power will be in two days, there's no way we'd make it on foot." Lucy pointed out.

"And I'm guessing that once they start the process of extracting the magic power that means the others are as good as dead. Anybody got a plan, cause I'm drawing a blank at the moment personally."

"I think I've got one." Natsu shot a look in the direction of the airship "It's a long shot and it's pretty damn risky, but it may be our only choice, and the only hope for the others."

"Get to the point."

"Right. We're gonna beat the crap out of every soldier, throw them out and then steal that airship for ourselves."

"...Okay seriously, are you high like the yellow cat right now?"

"What's the problem?"

"It would be a lot easier to just sneak on board, but even then you've gotta consider the problem of Dragon Slayers having motion sickness."

"Yeah I know that, but if Wendy uses her Troia spell on me then motion sickness isn't a problem for me anymore."

"...You want me to point out the obvious hole in your plan?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'll take that as a yes then. You've clearly forgotten that none of us can use magic here, which includes the kid."

"...Okay new plan, we'll have to find another way."

"A little bit late for that, the thing is already landing."

"I say we take it by force." Lucy told them "Doing that is the best chance we have of making it in time to save them."

"Appreciate the initiative, but how are we going to do that?"

"How do you think, we'll just use my magic. Did you forget that you're in the presence of the most powerful wizard in Fairy Tail?"

"...Yeah we're fucked."

"Ignoring that, didn't you notice how quickly we got the upper hand on those soldiers back in the city of Louen? Magic from Earth Land must be far more advanced than anything we could find in Edolas."

"Considering the crappy Terra Slicer I got stuck with, on that we can agree."

"Fine by me, Lisanna let's get moving. Hey you guys check this out!" Lucy quickly bolted out and pulled out a key, grabbing the attention of the Royal Army "**And now open, Gate of the Lion!"**

"**Take over: Animal Soul: Tiger!" **Lisanna activated her Animal Soul, giving her the features of a humanoid tiger.

"**Loke!" **Lucy opened the gate, but what emerged from the gate wasn't Loke, but just a simple note that gently floated to the ground "What the hell?!"

"It's a note."

"I know that it's a note, I mean why the hell did it come out of the gate, and more importantly than that, where the hell is Loke?!"

"Hold on, let me read the note." Lisanna picked up the note and started reading it "Dear summoner, I regret to inform you that Leo the Lion of the 12 Celestial Zodiac Spirits is currently unavailable, as he is currently occupied with a date. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please try again at a later date."

"Are you kidding me, has he lost every ounce of sanity he had?!"

"No, that's just how Loke is."

"It's Lucy and Lisanna from Fairy Tail, capture them!"

"They're coming."

"Now what the hell am I supposed to do?" asked Lucy "I was counting on Loke to come and take all of them down in one go and make me look like a powerhouse!"

"Looks like that means it's up to me them. I've been training a lot lately, so I have more than a few tricks up my sleeve. **Animal Soul: Rabbit!" **Lisanna switched to her rabbit form and blitzed above the soldiers in mid air "**Animal Soul: Tiger!" **she switched back to her tiger form and started cutting through the spears and shields of each of the soldiers, sending a good number of them tumbling backwards "And that's why don't hurt any of my friends from Fairy Tail, you don't want to forget that."

Noah let out a low whistle "I've gotta give it to you Animal Girl, looks like you're a fair bit stronger than you were the last time I saw you."

"It's been at least a few weeks since Galuna Island, and I've been training really hard since then so I don't lose so easily again. I did prepare something else, but it requires a lot of magic power to use and I can't maintain it for very long."

"Good to know, but let's focus on the here and now." Noah pulled out his Terra Slicer as it began radiating magic power.

"Fine by me." Natsu pulled out his Sealed Flame Sword, with Wendy also pulling out her Air Lift Cannon "If we can't use our Dragon Slayer magic then we'll just have to use Edolas magic instead, you'd better watch out because we know what we're doing now!"

"No we don't, but we'll go down fighting mother fuckers! **Terra Slicer!" **Noah hurled his Terra Slicer at the soldiers, cutting down two or three of them in the process.

Natsu and Wendy on the other hand, they didn't even last ten seconds before they got blown away in a comical fashion.

"Yeah that figures, without their Dragon Slayer magic they're about as useful to us as YouTube friends are to pretty much anyone. But they're still more useful than the blonde, so that's still something. More or less."

"Enough of your snark, the airship is getting away!" Carla pointed to where the airship was starting to take off "We have to do something quickly, if we don't then we're never going to make it!"

"Dammit get back here!" Natsu tried to force his way towards the airship, only to be slammed into the ground by one of the soldiers "Dammit, now what the hell are we supposed to do?"

"I think we're about to get some backup." Noah kicked one soldier in the face and jerked a thumb at something approaching them in the distance, in the form of a magic mobile with the Fairy Tail guild mark on it "Okay, wasn't expecting the road rage to be our savior. You know I swear there was this old Hot Wheels cartoon a few wheels back that-"

"Fuck the references, just get in the thing." the driver cut him off, having pink hair and a pair of goggles "I got the word from Lucy and Noah that you guys might need a lift, so hop in before they get any bright ideas."

"Good enough for me." Noah grabbed onto Natsu and Wendy and threw them in, then did the same to Lucy and Lisanna "That fast enough for you?"

"Works for me, just come on and I'll get you to the Royal City. You'd better fasten your seatbelts kids, we're riding hard. Ignore the potential for the "That's what she said" joke, and now we're gonna GO FIRE!" and so the magic mobile soared away, literally covering itself in flames in the process.

"Dammit, I like "that's what she said" jokes."

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Meanwhile, with the B team for this arc…

Having met his counterpart, Edo-Gajeel was now taking what he was being told by Gajeel, as well as Luke, and putting pen to paper "So to summarize what you're telling me, the two of you were sent to this world by one Mr Mystogan with nothing but a simple explanation and the clothes on your backs?"

"That's about the sum of it." Luke told him "In all honesty, this is the weirdest thing I've ever had to deal with, but not by that much."

"I see."

"I'll tell you one thing." Gajeel muttered "Getting used to this place isn't all rainbows and sunshine and other bullshit, I'll tell you that much."

"Duly noted. This may very well be the most bizarre story of my entire career."

"Well no shit, how often do you meet yourself at a bar?" Gajeel was met with the sound of an amused chuckle.

"I must say your simple perspective is certainly quite refreshing in comparison to some others I've had to deal with in the past."

"I know the feeling." Luke told him "All things considered though, it seems like you've made quite the name for yourself as a muckraker around these parts."

"Yes indeed my friend. Seeking out the truth and enlightening the masses, investigative reporting is the true calling of my life."

"The truth is one pill that a lot of people have a tough time swallowing, we've met a few people around these parts that seemed pretty cold and distant because they thought the version from my world was actually you."

"I see. Well while do thank the two of you for taking care of such annoyances for me, I must apologize for the inconvenience. Truth be known I've made myself out to be a thorn in the side of many powerful organizations."

"It's what I'm known for too back in my world."

"The articles I've written have caused numerous problems for the king and the government over the years, but it doesn't matter to me. As long as I'm able to put pen to pad I'll write the truth to the best of my ability."

"Good for you." Gajeel let out a sigh "You know when I first heard about this place, I figured it would be insanely different from my world."

"I can imagine." they both stood up and put their arms around each other.

"But the two of us-"

"-are almost exactly alike!"

"You not only don't take crap and fight the man, but you dress good and write fancy words like I do if I give a shit!"

"And you unkempt wildness is reflective of my soul, we have so much in common with each other don't we Mr Me? Incidentally I'm also quite skilled when it comes to playing instruments and singing."

"Holy crap me too, we're a musical genius!" they bumped elbows like bros do.

Luke just glanced over at one of the soldiers guariding the doors "How the hell did I become the third wheel in the span of 30 seconds?" he was met with a shrug, and then he promptly turned towards the bartender "Hey man, get me a #3 and leave the bottle. If I'm putting up with two of them, I think I'm going to need it."

"Way ahead of you." the bartender handed him a bottle "Here's the Gajeel special."

"The Gajeel special?"

"You think you're the only one who's had to spend hours alone with him?"

"...Get me two more. _Holy crap, I've been spending way too much time around Cana. I have some serious issues don't I?'_

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About 10 minutes and half a bottle of the Gajeel special later…

Luke peered around the corner and turned back to face the Gajeel duo "A few friends of ours came to this world too in search of the rest of our guild."

"Tell me about it." Gajeel let out a snort "In all honesty, they're a bunch of morons."

"No, I'm pretty sure that's just Natsu. They've all got it where it counts though, and they're gonna be raising hell in a matter of hours, especially considering Natsu's an idiot, Wendy doesn't have any real backbone, and Noah is probably gonna lose it around them any day now. Either way, it's only a matter of time before they make their move, and when they do…"

"Yes, I'll be sure to let the both of you know the moment they strike." Edo-Gajeel gave them confirmation "I've got contacts everywhere, including someone inside the Magic Warfare Unit itself, so the king can't scratch his nose without me knowing about it, so for me to keep tabs on him is going to be too easy."

"Be sure to live up to that, we're going to be counting on you. We'll be sure to keep a low profile until we get the word from you."

"Well until then my friends."

"Just make sure you don't keep us waiting, we've got way too much riding on this." and on that note, Luke and Gajeel split up from the latter's counterpart, the two of them going one way and him going the other.

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Meanwhile, with the A team…

Bolt glanced out the window of the magic mobile "Well this is kickass, first we kick the crap out of a bunch of soldiers and now we get to make a clean getaway and sail right across the desert, and do so in style!"

"Well that's one way of looking at it." Noah glanced over at the Fireball "I guess I should thank you for saving us back there, we owe you one."

"Please… help me…" Natsu let out a groan of agony.

"Most of us do anyway, and for the record we can't be held accountable for any chunks he blows over your ride."

"Duly noted, but there's no need to thank me." the driver told him flatly "My set of wheels here is way faster than that piece of crap they call an airship. Then again, there isn't a vehicle in all of Edolas that I can't leave in the dust." he lifted his goggles, revealing his face.

"Oh you've gotta be shitting me, Salamander?"

"Fireball actually, but the real name is Natsu Dragion. I'm kind of a big deal around these parts in case you didn't know."

"Natsu is that really you?" Lisanna's jaw dropped at the sight of him.

"You're the Lisanna from that other world right?"

"Well, no offense but you're nothing like that Natsu we know."

"Which is ironic because you seem exactly like my Lisanna, drop dead gorgeous but with a heart of gold." Edo-Natsu promptly put an arm around Lisanna, causing her face to turn a deep shade of red and for Natsu to start biting down on his other arm in a comical fashion "So I take it the biter over there is your version of me? Talk about pathetic."

"And irritating too." Noah pointed out dryly "Seriously, one day with this idiot and I already want to shoot myself. At least motion sickness keeps him quiet."

"Again duly noted, but if he upchucks then make sure he does it out the window. They would never be able to call me Fireball the Currier Wizard if I tossed my lunch just from lying on my ass in a car."

"Not just cars either. Also hold that thought." Noah then proceeded to hurl out the window of the car, earning looks from everyone present "What? It's a Dragon Slayer thing, we all get motion sickness, but I learned that you can't upchuck if you've got nothing in you. In all seriousness though this ride is pretty kickass, how do you do it without the SE plug?"

"What the hell is an SE plug?"

"It's a plug that allows users in our world to power magic mobiles using their own magic power from within their body, but since people from Edolas need to use weapons or other objects in order to use magic power you'd have to have some kind of alternative. So what then, do you have some kind of lacrima that acts as the power source for this thing?"

"For fuck's sake, how ignorant can you people get?" Edo-Natsu suddenly slammed on the brakes, bringing the magic mobile to a halt.

"And you're trying to make me get intimate with your dashboard."

"I get there enough with Lisanna as it is, frankly it's nothing new."

"And now I need to disinfect myself."

"Whatever lets you sleep at night. Anyway magic power in Edolas is a resource that has a crapload of limits, and by extension that means things like magic fuel have just as many limitations going for them. Something like that is almost impossible to get ahold of. To make a long story short, I can't really afford to take you guys any further than this, so to put it as bluntly as I can, get the hell out of my ride. I can't keep burning through fuel and wasting it like this, or else I won't have enough to make it back to the guild. Thanks to that traitorous son of a bitch the Thunderer they had to change locations again recently."

"All I need to hear, hello to you solid ground!" Natsu bolted out of the magic mobile with a wide goofy smile on his face "I'm alive like mother fucking Frakenstein!" he was met with a disapproving glare from Lisanna that made his blood run cold "No cursing, got it." the glare subsided.

"I've gotta give this to your version of me if nothing else, he knows when it's time for you to pick up and move on. Okay time's up, now clear the hell out." Edo-Natsu then proceeded to toss them out of his ride.

Mira promptly spat out some dust "Well that was a dick move if there ever was one, pull that stick out of your ass."

"If you guys want to take on the kingdom then I have no interest in trying to stop you, but I don't need you guys trying to drag me or the rest of my Fairy Tail into it. Truth be told Noah is the only real reason why I bothered to help you guys in the first place, well him and Lisanna that is anyway. My versions I mean, Noah's kind of the boss around our guild so whatever he says goes, and I could never say no to my version of Lisanna. Plus Mira is her sister so if anything happened to her then lord knows how bad that would turn out. Anyway thank them for your rescue, but I don't want anything else to do with you guys. Driving with my girl is all that matters for yours truly."

"Hey assclown." Natsu got right up in his face and yanked him out of the car "Alright listen up reject, you and I need to talk for a second."

"Oh dear god no, you get your hands off me right now!"

"Not happening you little shit, I think it's time I give a new meaning to the phrase talking to myself."

"Will you get your hands off me, I can't get out of my ride!"

"Let me think about it, thinking thinking thinking and no to the fuck no." Natsu threw his counterpart onto the ground with a loud thud "I've got something I want to ask you, and don't give me any bullshit."

Noah promptly let out a low whistle '_Hot damn, and here I thought I was going to have to chew him out for bailing on us like that. I guess me chewing him out yesterday actually did get through to him after all. Maybe there's hope for him yet.'_

"Why the hell don't you get motion sickness like you?"

'_...Then again, maybe not.'_

"I… I don't know, I swear I don't know…" Edo-Natsu then proceeded to make everyone's jaws drop by cowering in terror "I'm sorry, just please don't hurt me!"

'_And now I've officially seen everything. _Are you actually the same dude?"

"Yes of course I'm the same guy, but people say I'm like a different person when I'm behind the wheel!"

"Oh you've gotta be fucking kidding me!"

"Please don't yell, you guys are freaking me out bad enough as it is!"

"...You can't be serious, you cannot be fucking serious."

Mira just shook her head in disappointment "Oh for fuck's sake Natsu."

"Is he always like this?"

"When he's not in his ride yeah."

"And I reiterate, you cannot be fucking serious." Noah shot a glance over at Natsu "So much for it being like looking in a mirror."

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry you guys." Natsu bowed to them like a scared little kid, something that left them considerably put out "I'm sorry but this is as far as I can take you!"

"Why the hell is that?"

"The only reason I came in the first place is because my Noah and Lisanna told me that they would sick Lucy on me if I had to!"

Wendy was actually sympathetic towards Edo-Natsu "Hey it's okay, you don't have to do anything that scares you."

"That suits me just fine." Carla noted flatly "We definitely don't have any room for a blubbering coward in our team."

"Come on Carla, don't be so rude!"

Edo-Natsu nervously glanced up at Wendy "Hey, so your name is Wendy right?"

"Yeah that's right."

"Oh wow, you're such a cute little girl. And the rest of you are the other world's versions of me and Noah right?"

"You're just figuring that out now?" Noah shot a glance over at Natsu "Looks like stupidity is a universal trait with you." then he turned back to Edo-Natsu "Anyway you know who most of us are, you've got the gothic chick over there. We've got the cats here like Bolt, Happy and the little (bleep) is Carla, and you've got the blonde over there and now you're hiding behind your ride because?"

"I'm so sorry I upset you Lucy, I swear I'll do whatever I can to make it up to you! Just don't hurt me!"

"...And it's official, she's a dominatrix but you're a submissive right?"

"The Lucy and Noah that I know from here told me that I needed to bring you this far, so I did bring you this far." Edo-Natsu pointed at a certain city in the distance.

"Holy mother of fuck you actually did it, so is that the Royal City? You should've told us you ere here before I figured out you were the submissive type."

"Yeah you're right, I'm so sorry, I swear I can be such an idiot!"

"And you just got annoying again, why the hell am I not surprised?" Noah made his way to the edge of the cliff and stared down at the Royal City "This is actually going a lot better than I was expecting it to, if things keep going like this we might actually be able to bust out the people of Fairy Tail in no time."

"Hells to the yeah we can!" Natsu slapped Noah on the back "The way things are going, what could possibly go wrong!"

"...And you ruined it."

"They're all down there." Mira noted "All of them are trapped inside that gigantic lacrima with the rest of their city."

"You still coming with us?"

"How can I not? I've come way too far to give up now."

"Fair enough, but we're wasting time as it is." Noah turned back to Edo-Natsu and gave him a two finger salute "Thanks for the ride wimp, say hi to my other self when you get back to your guild."

"Wait hold on a second." Edo-Natsu called after him "You mean you guys are seriously going to take on the entire kingdom?"

"I wouldn't say no, it's more of a to be determined than anything else. We're just trying to get back our version of Fairy Tail, and if they decide to get in our way then that means they're asking to get their asses kicked, and that's good enough for me."

"Oh… well I hate to say this, but you can't beat them."

"How about you let me be the judge of that?" and so he and the others started the way to the Royal City.

Edo-Natsu was left alone and staring in awe.

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About a half hour passed, and the group had reached the Royal City, and found it surprising lively and cheerful.

Noah glanced around at the bright and light-hearted atmospher "Okay, wasn't expecting that. So was anyone else expecting some kind of dreary post-apocalyptic hellhole like something out of Terminator or Clockwork Orange?"

"Clockwork Orange wasn't post apocalyptic." Lucy pointed out.

"Maybe not but it was all kinds of fucked up. Either way this isn't what I was expecting from a dictatorship."

"And what's even more weird, and frankly kind of disappointing, is that we got into the city without having to fight a single guard." Natsu pointed out.

"That makes our jobs a lot easier though."

"I wasn't expecting that myself." Mira commented "I've never been to the Royal City myself, so I guess I wouldn't know, but this place is like some kind of carnival compared to the other cities in Edolas."

"You think it's because they steal all of the magic and pour it here? Makes sense when you think about it, the capital gets the most of the good stuff and then they try to light it up to make it more appealing to the masses."

"It doesn't work on us."

"Because we have brains and minds of our own. It's not that hard to figure out, these people are living in some kind of fabricated fantasy land. I doubt any of them even know that they're almost out of magic power, and for all we know this king of theirs is making himself look like some kind of god and guilds like Fairy Tail out to be terrorists, and apparently if they're a dark guild in his eyes, then it's the same in the eyes of everyone else."

"You think they'd turn on him if they knew the truth?"

"More like they'd think we're on crack or something."

That was when Wendy noticed a large crowd gathered nearby "Hey guys check it out, it looks like there's something going on over there! Do you think they're maybe having some kind of parade?"

"Probably them worshipping the king like he's some kind of god."

"Holy crap, you think it's some kind of thing like the Fantasia parade?!" Natsu grabbed Happy and Lisanna by the arms and started dragging them over.

"In case you forgot stupid, we're not here to screw around." and yet Noah and the others started following after him, finding themselves in the middle of the crowd cheering blindly like a bunch of fools.

"What's the deal, why the hell is everyone cheering like that?"

"I don't know and frankly I don't care, we're not here to listen to people cheering like a bunch of blind idiots for shits and giggles." Noah promptly slammed into the back of Natsu when he stopped suddenly "And you know it's common courtesy to give someone a heads up when you slam on your brakes like that, what gives?"

"Guys… take a look ahead."

"What?" but then Noah glanced in front of the crowd and his gaze hardened at the sight of the massive lacrima at the front "And suddenly you have a good reason, it was bound to happen sooner or later."

"It's a lacrima…" Lisanna muttered "A giant one, so that means…"

"It means that your Fairy Tail and all of Magnolia are inside that thing, and if you look closer then you can see that a chunk of it is missing from the top."

"Wait, you mean there's more of it around here somewhere?"

"I have a feeling we're about to find out, if I know these things as well as I claim, and I do, then chances are the Grand Puba is going to show himself any minute now. These people don't have a damn clue the bastard they're worshipping."

Sure enough, this was when Faust made his way out onto the balcony overlooking the crowd of people gathered to worship him "Hear me my children of Edolas, it brings me great joy to my heart to tell you that our Anima Program has produced enough magic power to last our kingdom for another 10 years!"

Bolt had to hold Happy back from charging at him "Yeah yeah I know, he didn't produce a damn thing. He broke into our world and stole it right from under our noses, but we can't cause a scene here as awesome as that would be."

"Now come my children, let us rejoice together! Let us sing and dance, let laughter echo and roar through our sacred kingdom!" he was met with various cheers from the people "The power within this lacrima belongs to all loyal subjects of our fair homeland of Edolas! Today we shall hold in our hands the future to ensure its prosperity into tomorrow and beyond! Therefore we all must make a vow to protect this gift from Heaven with our very lives!" he was met with even more cheers "Listen well my children, for today I shall make a most solemn vow to all of you as your benevolent leader!" he jammed his staff into the lacrima and broke off a piece of it "I shall bring more power to all of you, more power than you could possibly imagine! More beyond what any of you could even begin to fathom!" he was met with the people chanting to his glory.

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What no one realized was that the cloaked forms of Luke and Gajeel watching the festivites from around a corner, their expression of disgust pretty much the same "I guess Kaminari was right on the money when he said that stupidity is a powerful thing."

"I take it you got a plan then?" Gajeel shot him a look.

"We still have to lay low until your counterpart gives us the word, but I have a few ideas until then."

"Good enough for me."

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Noah glanced down at the piece of the lacrima falling to the ground, then looked over and noticed that Natsu's veins were throbbing from his rage, and he grabbed him by the waist to stop him from moving forward "Dial it back Salamander, charging him like a crazed bull isn't going to do any of us any good."

"But it's them!" Natsu tried to force his way out of Noah's grip "Our friends are inside that thing, we have to get them out of there!"

"And how is getting caught and getting yourself killed going to solve anything? You think that will do any good for any of them? How would they react if they found out you died here, what about your cat, what about the animal girl?"

Natsu froze in place as he looked back towards them '_Lisanna… Happy…' _he gritted his teeth and gave up the struggle "Fine. I'll wait. For now."

"Good enough for me, let's get out of here."

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Hours passed, and the sun was setting over the skies of Edolas, and by this point, the group had checked into a hotel in the Royal City for the night, though the moral had been lowered considerably.

It only took about 10 minutes for Natsu to run out of patience and bolt to his feet "Dammit I can't just sit around doing nothing like this forever. I'm storming the castle!" he prepared to storm out of the room.

"Holy that thought fireball." Noah grabbed him by the scarf and yanked him back into the room by force "That's not going to do any good for any of us."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because of something you've forgotten about twice already, we can't use our Dragon Slayer magic here, and without a decent plan in that empty skull of yours you don't have a hope in hell of saving yourself, let alone anyone else."

"But still, they were all turned into that crystal and we don't even know how we can change them back." Wendy pointed out.

"That is a fair point, but what are the odds the royal douchebag knows?"

"I think he would, but I don't think he'd ever willingly tell us that."

"Willingly, probably not. But if we find a way to get to him and beat him within an inch of his life, then that actually might work."

"Actually, I think he's right." Lucy's head snapped up at this "Do you think the king actually does know how to reverse the effects of the Anima so we can turn everyone back."

"Probably, so that means we still have a shot."

"The only question is, how do we get him to talk in the first place?"

"Didn't you say something about having the key for a pair of Celestial Spirits that can turn into people they touch?"

"You mean Gemini? Yeah that's right, they can also read the minds of whichever people they turn into! That means that if they're able to transform into the king…"

"Then that means they can tell us everything that he knows."

"Timing is going to be a major issue in that regard though, Gemini's weakness is that they can only transform into someone for 5 minutes at the most, and they can only remember a few people at a time. Literally just two, so there's that."

"But the real question is, how are we going to get close enough to him? That's going to be the hard part of this plan."

"As much as I would prefer to beat the ever loving shit out of these people, charging in guns blazing when you and the Animal Girl are the only ones who can use their magic power will do way more harm than good."

"Allow me to demonstrate, for I've come up with a plan that will enable us to get within range of the king." Carla held up a piece of paper "As with any home belonging to a paranoid ruler, when the castle was originally constructed there was a secret tunnel built as an escape route that links up with an abandoned mine shaft just outside the city wall."

"And you know about this how exactly?"

"It's in my head, just coming to me in various bits and pieces the longer we're here."

"You want to elaborate on what the hell that's supposed to mean?"

"From the moment we set foot in Edolas, it's as if I have some sort of mental map that's slowly being filled in within my mind."

"Sounds like a metric fuckton of plot convenience, but whatever works I guess. If we can find the entrance to the tunnel, then we may actually have a real shot at getting close enough to the king to do our thing. Let's grab the old fucker and get in his head and lord, now I'm seeing that I've been spending way too much time with Salamander."

"Alright, fuck yeah to the fuck yeah!" Natsu was met with a glare from Lisanna "Sorry, language again." the glare subsided "Anyway let's get moving, we've got work to do."

"Not yet fireball."

"Why the fu- fudge are you always stopping me like that?"

"Because if we go now then we'd attract way too much attention, so we should make our move when it's dark out. Until then let's try and get some rest, and since the gothic chick over there is paying for this…"

"You wanna order room service don't you?" Mira guessed dryly.

"They invented it for a reason."

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Hours passed, and the dark of night had closed in on the world of Edolas, so now was the time for our heroes to go through with their plan.

"Keep moving everyone, we should be arriving to the entrance to the underground tunnel any minute now." Carla led the group outside the walls of the Royal City on foot until they came across the entrance to the underground tunnel that was crucial to their plan.

"So is this is?" asked Noah.

"Yes it is, I'm positive of it."

'_Something's wrong, it can't be this easy.'_

"What are we waiting for? I say we get moving already, the sooner we get in there the sooner we can save our friends." Natsu made a mad dash for the tunnel, only to be grabbed by the back of his shirt by Noah.

"Yeah hold that thought Salamander.

"Again with stopping me, what the hell dude?!"

"I know we're on a tight schedule but we can't rush into this head first, like I've been saying since we got here. We need to be able to see inside the tunnel, so we're gonna need some kind of light for starters."

"I've got this covered, one torch coming up!" Natsu stuck out a fist in front of them, but nothing happened.

"Add another tally to the scoreboard of how many time's you've forgotten you can't use magic here."

"...Oh crap."

"Yeah tell me about it, with the three of us being powerless I can't see blondie there being the most capable of us as a very comforting thought."

"Hey don't forget about Lisanna."

"I know, that makes it better, but not by much."

"So what's your plan then grand puba?"

"For you to never call me that again if you don't want me to shove my Terra Slicer right up your ass. Speaking of which goth, what are you holding there?"

"You mean these?" Mira held up the objects in question "I just got us a few freshly made torches, so you're welcome.

"Surprisingly convenient, so where did you get those?"

"I got them from some hut on the way here, when you're on the run all the time like Fairy Tail is in this world, you tend to see the need to get creative. I got the wood, I wrapped them in cloth and dipped them in oil, so now all we have to do is light them up."

"Uh huh. You give any thought about how to do that?"

"Actually I have, when magic is limited you tend to learn other skills."

"About fucking time someone else in this group learned how to be useful without using any magic." Noah started rubbing the torches together to create a spark "You see the fact that people find stuff like this so hard really pisses me off to no end."

"I know, people here act like losing any access to magic will be the end of the world. If anything it's like losing access to Netflix."

"Bout time someone says it, the master of my guild may be one sadistic and delusional mother fucker, but he did teach me one important thing: You can't rely on magic to solve every single problem that comes your way, so if you're nothing without it, then you don't deserve it in the first place. Plus that was the entire moral of Iron Man 3, and Spider Man Homecoming too by extension. Seriously, if anything people consider magic power to be a major crutch, but it's way worse here than in my world. Oh yeah by the way, here we go." Noah held up the small flame in his hand "See, at least I know basic survival skills. Like I said, if you're so dependent on magic that you can't live without it then you don't deserve it."

"Alright!" Natsu pumped a fist "Way to make yourself look awesome."

"And way to make yourself look pathetic since you're a Fire Dragon Slayer and yet you don't even know how to make a simple flame without your magic."

"...Well we've got fire now so why don't you just drop it?"

"Irony and much needed humility, thy name is Salamander."

"Well speaking of Salamander, why don't I try chomping down on that thing?"

"You wanna elaborate on that theory?"

"Me eating fire usually gives me back my magic power, so maybe the same kind of thing will work here, so fork it over!" he was held back by Noah grabbing him by the face.

"Not going to work, so don't even try it."

"Why the he- heck not?" he stuttered over the middle of his sentence to avoid cursing in front of a certain animal girl giving him the evil eye.

"Because if that did work then both me and the kid would've gotten our Dragon Slayer magic back by now. Besides, the kid ate some of the air here and I ate some of the earth when we first got here."

"Aw dammit, you're right." he was met with the evil eye from Lisanna "Oh no."

"Yeah that's a personal problem, we'll deal with you being whipped as fuck once we get back to our world okay? Good, now if we're done screwing around, we have a lot of ground to cover in there."

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It wasn't long before the group was slowly making their way through the tunnel.

Lisanna and Lucy looked around at their surroundings "It looks like nobody has come down here in awhile, and in all honesty it's kind of creepy."

"Hold on." Carla stopped the group a fair ways into the mine "Put the light right out in front of us here."

"On it." Noah made his way forward with one of the torches, revealing that there was a considerable amount of debris blocking their way "And it has to be a dead end, why the hell am I not surprised?"

"But that right there is our link."

"From the looks of it this is pretty thick, and if I had to guess I'd say it was fortified by some kind of spell. Plus there's wood along with the rock so if I did try to eat my way around it, chances are it would take awhile."

"So what does that mean?" asked Natsu "Does that make this a dead end?"

"I doubt it, if I had to guess then I would say that the passage leading to the castle is probably on the other side, which means we're probably going to have to break it down."

"That won't be a problem, seeing how I can call on a certain someone that can bust right through it!" Lucy whipped out one of her keys "**Open, Gate of the Golden Bull: Taurus!" **she then opened the gate.

"Moo to the moo!" sure enough, Taurus was summoned forth before them in all of his bovine glory.

"Yeah now we're talking, if you're looking for brute strength then Taurus is definitely the Celestial Spirit you want to call on. Now do us a favor and plow through that wall for us, will you?"

"Of course miss Lucy, cause you know I'm always in the mood for plowing."

"Now knock that thing out of our way."

"Way ahead of you miss Lucy, I'll make it vamoose!" and so Taurus swung his battle axe at the wall, shattering the debris in their path and clearing the way for them.

"You see, now that's what I'm talking about."

"Well shit." Noah let out a low whistle "Not going to lie, that's what I call firepower. I guess everyone has their moments. And from the looks of it I was right, there is a passageway behind that wall. Okay I'll admit, that was pretty impressive for a Celestial Wizard."

"Yeah I know, thanks. Hey!"

"Moo to the moo!" Taurus promptly started flexing his muscles "That wall wasn't so hard to moove Miss Lucy.

"Thanks for all of your help here Taurus?"

"Don't you think I deserve to get a smooch?"

"Would it kill you to get over it already?"

"Oh come on now miss Lucy, don't be like that! A kiss from you would be enough to send me to the mooooon!"

"How about I just send you home instead." and so she promptly closed the gate, sending him back to the Celestial World.

"Well he wore out his welcome fast." Noah pointed out.

"He tends to do that."

"So I can see."

Carla on the other hand frowned in thought "Whether or not this passage actually leads us to the castle remains to be seen."

"Well you've been right about everything else so far, so I'm sure that you're right that this is the way we need to go." Wendy told her.

"I suppose we'll find out soon enough."

Bolt glanced behind him to see Happy trailing behind the rest of the group and looking rather downcast "Let me take a wild guess, you're wondering why neither of us are getting any sort of map inside our heads too? I get it, we're from Edolas like she is and we all supposedly got sent to Earth Land on the same mission, so you want to know why you don't know anything."

"In case you had forgotten before, we agreed not to talk about that. I can't give the two of you an explanation, that just seems to be how it's working out."

"You really wanna stick with that?" Noah shot her a look "Keep in mind you're the reason we're here in the first place."

"I thought I told you as well not to pry into the details."

"And why is that exactly, what is it you're so desperate to hide from us?"

"I'm not hiding anything."

"And Teen Titans Go isn't an atrocity. You knew the Anima was going to suck everyone up back in Earth Land, but that's not even it, and you know damn well what I mean. You said that the kid, Thunderclap, Salamander and myself were able to escape the effects of the Anima because of the fact that we're all Dragon Slayers. How the hell could you have known that unless it was part of the mission?" this left most of those present surprised.

"But Noah, keep in mind that Carla's been helping get here." Wendy pointed out.

"And yet as soon as we get here, she suddenly has a map pop up in her head that's gonna lead us to the castle?"

"What exactly are you getting at?" asked Lucy.

"All I'm saying is that I don't get how the white cat knows all about this, it just sounds like a giant steaming pile of plot convenience."

"What are you getting eat you heathen?" Carla rounded on him "If you have something to say then just come out and say it."

"You know a lot more than you're telling us. I'm gonna ask you this one and I'm not putting up with any BS from you. What are you hiding?" this was followed by an awkward silence.

This was when Lisanna finally intervened "Cut it out you guys, we don't have time to point fingers at each other. If we're going to make it out of this then we need to be able to trust each other."

"Tell that to the walking example of plot convenience."

"You know she's got a point." Natsu was met with a few jaws dropping "I get the whole plot convenience thing, but saving our friends is the important thing, so we can interrogate her like something out of Clockwork Orange later."

"...Fine fuck it, we are on a tight schedule, but you'd better be right about this."

"Please just trust us." Wendy told him "Carla may have her moments, but she's as good as they come, and I trust her with my life."

"Yeah yeah, go ahead and make me look like the bad guy." Noah shot another glare down in the direction of Carla "But remember that whatever happens is going to be on you." and so on that rather ominous note, the group continued onwards into the tunnel.

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About an hour passed, and the group was still continuing onwards.

"Now in about 50 paces, we take a left… We should turn here…" Carla continued leading the group onwards, only for them to come to a stop when the came across a large cavern that was being illuminated by glowing green crystals all throughout.

"Huh, and now this goes from being a tunnel to being a cavern." Noah promptly picked up and devoured a stalagmite "Huh, kind of minty tasting. Too bad I can't fucking stand the taste of anything involving mint." he spat the piece out, but then shrugged and took another bite "But then again it kind of has a tangy aftertaste that reminds me of grapes."

"If you're done acting as an unprofessional taste tester, then I believe that this cavern is located directly underneath the castle."

"You sure about that?" the suspicion in Noah's voice was evident.

"I am quite certain, thank you very much."

"You're not welcome, not yet at least."

"I will admit that I'm rather perplexec by how the map keeps formin inside my mind, but as I told you all the map just keeps getting more and more filled in."

"You'll forigve me of I'm still skeptical."

"Regardless of what you believe, being able to find our way in here is most likely going to be the easy part. But what will be truly amazing will be sneaking in and out of the Royal Chambers belonging to the king without being detected, and considering the fact that we're as defenseless as we are now, this mission will be over the moment we're spotted."

"Oh believe me, that's been made painfully clear by now."

"I wouldn't worry about that." Lucy was still being way too smug for her own good "Keep in mind that we can always use my magic if we end up getting into a pinch."

"And you're going to be our savior? Oh yeah, and Teen Titans Go would suddenly cease to exist in the blink of an eye."

"Hey what the hell are you saying? Keep in mind that Taurus got us this far, and the success of the entire plan relies on us using Gemini!"

"You don't have to be suck a fucking smartass about it."

"Hey, my cockiness is justified!"

"Whatever you need to tell yourself." they continued on for a few feet, but they only got that far before it happened, as silk robes shot out from within the darkness and didn't miss a beat in catching Mira, Lucy and Lisanna before they were able to act "What the hell, everybody get down!" but immediately after he said this they got caught too "Dammit, once again I have to do everything!" so Noah quickly leapt out of the way of the silk robes and grabbed onto a stalagtite hanging from the roof as a number of Royal soldiers surrounded the group "Yeah that looks about right, I knew this seemed way too easy. Keep in mind you guys, magic or no magic I have no problems with tearing into all of you hard, now how the hell did you guys find us?"

"So I take it these are the magic users from Earth Land, and counterparts of Fairy Tail wizards by the looks of it."

Noah looked around and his gaze hardened "So it looks like they were right, you really do serve the Royal Army… Thunderclap."

"It's the Thunderer actually, but that one isn't bad either." sure enough, the man leading the troops was Luke Tempesta, better known as the Thunderer "But in all seriousness, the fact that you resemble the outlaws Dragion, Ashley and Quake."

"It's Aftershock actually." Noah dropped to the ground in front of him "Now how about you get your lapdogs to let them go before things get messy."

"Defying the law even when the odds are stacked against you, looks like you and your counterpart are more alike than I was expecting. But then again, I'm sure he told you that facing off against the Royal Army almost always means death."

"Dude I know Thunderclap, I spare with Thunderclap, I'm gonna be fighting him soon enough, and you are no Thunderclap. If you really think I'm gonna go down without a fight then just wait, even if I'm stuck with crappy magic from this world I'll still be damned if I let you take me without a fight."

"As commendable as your fighting spirit is, there's a time and a place for that sort of thing, and this is neither of those. And keep in mind, you have little to no experience with using magic from this world, whereas I have plenty. And with my power, I am now more powerful than the king of Edolas himself." Thunderer drew his battleaxe from his back and unleashed a small surge of electricity that sent Noah flying backwards too fast for him to react "Keep in mind that actions speak a lot louder than words. Take them away."

"Yes sir!" the soldiers promptly grabbed onto Noah and the others and started dragging them away as ordered.

As they did this, Mira locked eyes with the Thunderer for a long moment, her mind racing over a certain something he said '_More powerful than the king of Edolas himself?_

"Oh for fuck's sake, hold on guys we're coming." Bolt and the other cats tried to rush after the group, only to stop at the sight of a certain someone blocking their way.

That someone was Thunderer and the Royal Army all getting down on one knee in front of them, and what they said shook them to the core "Brave and noble Exceeds, it's my great honor to welcome the three of you home."

"Oh that's all kinds of fucked up!" Noah started raging from where he was being restrained by the Royal Army "You white little (insert massive stream of cursing), I knew you were going to double cross us you little son of a-" he was promptly gagged.

"Thank you Steve, you know I have sensitive hearing. Apologizes for that unwanted interruption mighty Exceeds, we're most grateful for your help in capturing the intruder." this left the three of them frozen, silence and shaken to the core.

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The next few hours weren't particularly pleasent for our heroes.

Noah found himself thrown in a cell with Natsu and Wendy, courtesy of Hughes and a number of Royal soldiers "Alright start talking, what did you do with the others?"

"What do you mean others?" Hughes raised an eyebrow.

"The blonde, the animal girl and the gothic chick with the nice rack, keeping priorities in order in that regard."

"Oh yeah, the chicks that were with you guys. Pretty little things too, it's a damn shame that we have no use for them, so they're gonna have to be executed."

"You son of a-" Natsu tried to pry the bars open, to no avail "If you sons of bitches lay so much as a finger on Lisanna then I'm gonna be sending you on a one way trip straight to hell! I'm gonna rip you fuckers apart and burn you alive and bathe in your fucking blood!" he was then hit with a chop to the back of the neck.

"Thanks for that."

"He gets annoying a good chunk of the time." Noah pointed out dryly "As for me, well I'm the kind of rage you don't see coming until if shoves its hand through your chest, which I'll most likely be doing to you once I get out of here."

"Well now, aren't you a bunch of scary ones? So tell me something, are all Earth Land wizards as ferocious as you are?"

"I don't know if ferocious is the right word I would use, truth be told that sort of depends on my mood. But tell me something, what about Bolt and the others?"

"You don't have anything to worry about with the Exceeds?"

"You know they happen to have names."

"But that matters extremely little. The fact is that the Exceeds finished their mission, so we already took them back to their homeland. If I had to guess, then I would say that right now the little ones have already claimed their reward and are having a feast as we speak."

"Again with the mission, is someone going to elaborate or do I have to start busting heads before I actually get any?"

"No way, it's impossible!" Wendy suddenly blurted out "I don't know what kind of mission you guys sent her on, but I know that Carla abandoned it!"

"At least that's what she told us."

"At least one of you has sense." Hughes let out a chuckle "Truth be told, she actually completed it like a pro."

"Okay enough being vague, if you're gonna taunt us about it then would it kill you to be straight forward?"

"What, you mean you still haven't figured it out? How about I shed some light on that subject for you?"

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By this point, Edolas Gajeel had made his way to the Northern part of the city plaza, where the lacrima was being guarded, and he started scribbling on his notebad only to be spotted and surrounded by the guards and demanded for answers.

Edo-Gajeel merely told them that he was a journalist and was hoping to interview the guards about the ceremony, and when they refused to answer his questions, he tried to ask whether there were guards positioned in the Southern part of the plaza as well, and upon receiving no reply, he simply left with a smile on his face.

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At the same time, the cloaked forms of Gajeel and Luke were hidden atop a small building as they observed the giant lacrima "So what do you think?"

"We can't just rush in there." Luke pointed out "There are too many bystanders down there for something like that, they'll get hurt in the crossfire without a doubt. The only question is, what can we do?"

"Check it out." Gajeel jerked a thumb down towards where his counterpart was looking up at them.

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Meanwhile, with the Exceeds, as they're now known…

Bolt opened his eyes and found himself in a large and luxurious bedroom, with Happy and Carla both asleep by his side '_Okay, so we're god knows where and they've decided to become cuddle buddies. _Hey lovercats 1 and 2, get the hell up, I need to get some details on where we are right now."

Carla slowly opened her eyes, with Happy following not long after "Heathen, tomcat, what is this place? What in the world happened to us?"

"I was hoping you would shed some light on that, all I remember is that we got knocked out and came to here, and you two were cuddling. I mean I know none of us have ever even been here before."

"Perhaps, but…"

Happy was quick to notice the downcast expression she had "Hey are you okay Carla, what's the matter?"

"It would seem that my information was actually a trap, Noah was right not to trust me all this time."

"That's not true, I'm sure it was just a coincidence that they found us. Come on Carla, it wasn't your fault!"

"Yes it is, I betrayed dear Wendy. I swore that I was going to protect her no matter what, but now…" she began choking up "This is my fault, all of it."

"No arguments here." Bolt noted dryly, earning a glare from Happy, only for their heads to snap up at the sound of the door opening "Get ready guys, we've got company."

Sure enough, that was when a certain cat like man entered the room, and he looked both familiar and disturbing "Le-meow, le-meow, I do apologize for my intrusion, but are you the ones who recently completed an Earth Land mission le-mow?"

"Holy sweet mother of fuck, this is like every nightmare I've ever had come to life, actually having to be face to face with Ichiya like this."

"Meow, you all have quite the nice parfume."

"And he's a cat now, just perfect."

"Don't be silly my friend, I'm no cat, I'm an Exceed just like you."

"Mr Nichiya sir." this was when another one came, in, this one being tall, black and with his arm waving endlessly "I've been told that this is the first time they've ever been to Edolas, in fact I doubt they've ever even seen any other Exceeds before."

"Is that so? Well I had no idea. Welcome then my friends, I am Nichiya, the captain of the Royal Guard of Extalia, le-meow."

"And my name is Nabi, and I am otherwise known as the minister of state for Extalia. I really must congratulate you on your mission."

"Our mission huh?" Bolt glanced back at Carla and saw her looking away from them '_She knows what they're talking about doesn't she?'_

"I know this is rather sudden, but the queen would like to see you all, so if you would please follow us."

"The queen huh?" Bolt quickly huddled up with them "Okay guys here's the deal, the first thing we need to do is get the lay of the land. Let's just lay low for now, and then we'll go from there, so bear with me for the time being."

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A few minutes later…

It wasn't long before Bolt and the others were following Nichiya and Nabi, getting a look around as they did so '_From the looks of it there are cats everywhere, and from the look of things they're armed and dangerous.'_

This was when Nabi spoke to them "I bet all of you are excited aren't you?"

"I am, or rather I might be if I knew what the hell was going on. You guys gonna start shedding some light on things or what?" the group passed through a gate, revealing the sight of a sizeable bustling town filled with cats like them going about their daily business "Holy crap, is this where Garfield came from? Good lord that sounds like a nightmare. And now we're getting stares from the locals, which we actually should be used to when you think about it." sure enough, they were getting stares from the locals, and a lot of whispereing too.

"Hey check it out, is that them?"

"Holy crap it is, they're the ones who completed the mission to Earth Land."

"You guys are totally awesome, you're heroes to the Exceeds!"

"The chick is actually pretty hot too, I wonder if she's with either of those two."

Bolt rolled his eyes at the sound of these comments "And just like that, being in a land of cats quickly got boring as hell."

"I'm afraid you're wrong about that my friend, this is the land of Exceeds." Nabi told him "The people here stand above the humans, it's our duty as Exceeds to guide them each and every day."

'_So basically we're playing gods.'_

"And that beautiful sight you see before you is Extalia, the kingdom of the Exceeds."

'_And they have a castle dedicated to what I assume is some kind of prophen that they worship like a god. Yeah this just keeps getting better and better doesn't it? Luke, I really hope you're having a better time than I am.'_

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Meanwhile, back in the Royal City…

By this point, Edolas Gajeel had made his way to the South side of the plaza just as the parade had begun, and he quickly learned from a lax guard that there were no guards stationed in the East or West sides of the plaza, and with this information he started to make his move.

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Meanwhile, with the B team…

"Hey man check it out." Luke motioned for Gajeel to take a look down at his counterpart "Looks like your new BFF is giving us some signals."

"So he is, looks like he did his job." Gajeel noted "Looks like he's saying there are less soldiers on the Northern side."

"Looks like we know what to do, so let's do it." they both shared a smirk.

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Meanwhile, in Extalia…

Nabi and Nichiya continued leading Bolt and the others onwards, and at the same time they continued talking down about humans "You see in our world, humans are a foolish and inferior species, so it is our duty as Exceeds to keep them under control."

Nichiya nodded "And in case you didn't notice, they have quite the nasty parfume. And for the record, parfume means smell, meow."

"Our beloved queen watches over the humans of this world and governs them from her place in this castle."

"And she has an absolutely delightful parfume."

"It would be dangerous of the numbers of the humans were to get out of hand, so the queen is responsible for determining which humans are unnecessary and has them executed."

Bolt and the others seemed rather disturbed by that little fact "Why the hell would she go and do that?"

"She does it in order to restore the magic power that's dwindling in our world, at least that's what we've been told by the Queen. You see, not only does she govern the humans of this world, but she controls the humans of Earth Land as well."

"So she decides which people get to live or die?"

"Yes indeed she does, our benevolent queen does have that authority. After all, she is a beloved goddess, meow."

"You said she's a goddess? _Yep, worshipped like a god. This is going to be fun.'_

This was when Carla finally decided to speak up "This mission that your queen sent us on, I remember. It's coming back to me now, but it's been imprinted into my mind ever since I was born. The queen chose me in order to control the human population, and my orders were to eliminate the Sky Dragon Slayer, Wendy."

'_...Okay then, I think we can all agree that shit just went sideways in the most colossal way.'_ but putting the Deadlpool references aside for now, Bolt slowly turned to face Carla, his expression unreadable "And what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Please don't ask-"

"Not an option, what are you talking about?!" Happy was clearly the most frantic of them when he heard this "Tell us what the heck you meant when you were saying that you were sent to eliminate Wendy!"

"Dude." Bolt shot him a look that made his blood run cold "I think it's pretty obvious what she's talking about."

"But… no way… that can't be… Does that mean…"

"Yeah, it looks that way."

"Then our mission was to… No, that can't be true…"

"It's bullshit, plain and simple."

"I'm sorry." Carla bowed her head in shame "I thought you were better off not knowing the truth about this."

"What's even more shocking is that I actually agree with you in that regard. How the hell would I have reacted if I just found out that my mission was to kill Luke, and Happy's mission was to kill Natsu?"

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Meanwhile, in the dungeon…

Natsu gripped the bars of the cell as he felt his blood boiling in a twisted mix of rage, confusion and disbelief "What…? No, no way in hell, that can't be right…"

'_Shit… of all the plot twists to not see coming…' _Noah glanced towards the back wall at the sound of cheering '_Irony, thy name is… well a bunch of different names in this case.'_

Hughes let out a chuckle and shot them a smirk full of malice "This is so cool, we finally got our hands on you guys. The three of you have that awesome Dragon Slayer magic inside of you, so all we have to do now is suck it out.

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Meanwhile, in the Edolas Royal Plaza…

By now, the festivities had begun as the extraction of the magic power from the giant lacrima at last started.

Luke gritted his teeth from where he and Gajeel were hiding amongst the crowd "Dammit this is bad, it's starting. We'd better hurry."

"No shit you idiot." Gajeel spat out "Where's the Edolas version of me when we actually need him around?"

"How should I know? You're the one who knows what your new BFF is thinking, so if anyone should have the answer to that it would be you. Either way we don't have time to wait, we have to get moving."

"You think I don't know that? The problem is it's way too crowded, I can barely move."

"Lucky us that's not going to be a problem for too long." Luke pointed upwards as some fireworks were launched into the air to spell out the letter N "So what do you think the odds are that's your new bestie trying to send us a message?"

"Depends on what the others say." this was followed by more fireworks going off, forming the letters O-R-T-H.

"I take it that's for us, I take it that means he wants us to head towards the North."

"So you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"You make the act, I beat the crap out of them. It's been a roughe few days for me given the time of year, I could really use it."

"I won't argue I guess." and so Gajeel started putting on the act "Alright men listen up! That must be some kind of warning, we must protect the lacrima at all costs! I suspect that there's someone suspicious on the North side of the plaza!"

Lucky for them, the soldiers seemed to buy it "Wait what?! We have to do something! That's the rear side of the plaza, we don't have a lot of men positioned there!"

"Keep your forces here and I'll take the others North to secure the location." another soldier told them "And be sure to push the crowd back for their safety!" and so he and a number of other soldiers rushed off.

"Sir yes sir! You heard the man, everyone please move back!" this prompted the majority of those present to back up a great distance.

Luke and Gajeel were the exceptions in this regard "Well first of all, I literally can't believe that worked. Second of all, now that the civilians are clear, it's time for me to make my move, and given how rough it's been for me the past few days given the time of year, I _really _need this right now."

"Hey didn't you two hear me? I told you to move back!"

"Oh I heard you, but here's the thing…" Luke promptly flung off his cloak, with Gajeel doing the same "Mystogan might raise a hell of a lot of questions, but he's a member of Fairy Tail so that's enough reason for me to trust him, and again, I need this. **Dragon Sword Style: Thunder Hammer!" **he drew his sword Raiden, thrusted it into the ground and unleashed a surge of lightning magic that sent a large number of soldiers flying "**Lightning Dragon ROAR!" **he let out a roar that blew away an even bigger number of soldiers "Now's your chance Gajeel, go for the lacrima!"

"You got it, there's no stopping me now! **Iron Dragon Sword!" **Gajeel summoned an iron sword on his arm and promptly cut down the lacrima, causing it to unleash a massive white light that blinded nearly everyone present.

Luke looked at the lacrima and his eyes nearly bulged out of his head at what he saw "What the hell… You've gotta be kidding me."

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Meanwhile, back in Extalia…

Happy was pretty much left a mess after the realization he had "So my mission… I was supposed to kill Natsu…"

"Would you just calm down tomcat, you need to get control of yourself!" Carla promptly took the opportunity to round on Nabi and Nichiya "Let me make one thing clear to you, none of us ever accomplished our mission, nor did we ever have any intention of doing so! Why is everyone in Extalia talking to us as if we have?"

Nabi and Nichiya blinked, then shared a look "Perhaps it's some form of amnesia, after all there are countless side effects of overriding that are still widely unknown-"

"Answer me!"

"Of course, if you would please allow me to explain. It was 6 years ago that our beloved queen sent 100 Exceeds to Earth Land in hopes of better controlling the human population. After they hatched, the information they had been given would have them seek out and then eliminate the Dragon Slayers, but then one day the situation changed. You see, when the humans created what is known as the Anima, we were presented with a new and exciting possibility. With the invention of Anima we came to realize that rather than simply killing humans, we may be able to convert them into magic power. It's quite well known that out of all of the human wizards, the Dragon Slayers are the most powerful, and therefore instead of eliminating them, you were ordered to bring them into custody." he was met with two of them lying on the ground in tears and disbelief "Judging by your reactions, maybe overriding your orders remotely may not have been the best idea. However everything stills seems to have worked out, you were still able to deliver the Dragon Slayers to us despite your erroneous orders. The humans have been tasked with magicalization, which is the process of converting to magic power. After all, they are more proficient with that sort of thing."

"No, it can't be…" Carla was on her knees with tears streaming down her face "I came here to Edolas… I came here of my own free will!"

"No I'm afraid not you were acting on the will of our fair queen."

"But I led everyone to the tunnels… I did it to try and save them…"

"It may have appeared that way to you at the time, but in reality we were the ones that guided you there."

"No, it can't be… All I wanted… The only thing I ever wanted… was to protect Wendy… She's all that matters to me!"

"What you were experiencing was actually a self-delusion, when your orders were changed from elimination to capture, your duty became to protect the Dragon Slayers and ensure that they didn't get killed before you could bring them here."

"Stop it! That's not true, it can't be true!"

"Whether you like it or not, every move you've made up to this point has been completely controlled by us."

"...Are you done spouting out all of your bullshit?" Bolt slowly pulled himself to his feet as a single tear streamed down his face "Good, because I've got something to say. The Dragon Slayer you sent me to kill in the first place found me in the woods when I was struggling just to find a way to survive, even after I tried to rip out one of his eyeballs he took me in, gave me a home and made me part of a family. I could feel the torment in my heart over the orders between killing him and capturing him, before and even after he took me into his home, and I've been wrestling with this in secret for years. I almost lost that battle and gave into the orders imprinted in my mind, but then one of his comrades died for him he changed, became someone that fights to protect those he loves, and when something inside of him changed, something inside of me did as well. I knew then and there without a doubt that I wanted to stay by Luke's side for as long as I possibly can, and help him like he helped me. So let me put this in terms even you self righteous arrogant bastards can understand. Fuck your mission, fuck the Exceeds, fuck your queen and fuck all of you! I'm not some fucking pawn you can manipulate however you see fit, and neither are they! We're wizards of Fairy Tail, and if you don't like it you can suck on the flat end of my (bleep)!" he was left breathing heavily after his outburst that left those present in stunned silence, but then things got even more shocking, even to him

Happy looked up at him in disbelief, but then the tears stopped flowing and his eyes started burning with resolve as he too stood "Yeah you're right, we're not puppets, we're wizards of Fairy Tail through and through!"

"You've got that right mother fucker!"

"My word…" Nabi shared another look with Nichiya "Tell me Mr Nichiya, do you think the three of them are…?"

"Grab on you two, we're getting the hell out of here." Bolt grabbed onto Happy and Carla and started flying away from Nabi, Nichiya and the other Exceed guards "Jokes and weed aside, I would never even dream of bailing on Luke, and there's sure as hell no way I'm going to start now. Let them try and come after us, I'll rip them apart myself if I have to!"

"My word… have they gone mad? No, it seems worse than that… They're fallen angels, otherwise known as Fallens… The three of them, especially the yellow one, have been tainted by the abominable essence of Earth Land and lost their divinity… Three Fallens are loose in the city, hunt them down at once Royal Guard!"

**A/N:**

**And with this chapter, we begin the third act of the Edolas arc, and things are really picking up now. While Noah and the others have successfully reached the Royal City, and been imprisoned there as a result, Luke and Gajeel have been working behind the scenes in their own attempt to save Fairy Tail and the rest of the people of Magnolia. On top of that, we've learned part of the truth about the Exceeds, and we've seen Bolt stand proud and true for what he believes in. I know there really wasn't much that changed in this chapter compared to canon, but one pretty significant change should come in either the next chapter, or the one after that. Also, eveen if it's a few hours away from the time of this update, Happy Easter 2020 everybody, though "happy" is a rather loose term given the current situation, but I believe that in time's like these, it's important to stay optimistic, if not for yourself, then for the others around you.**

**I don't really have much to say in terms of notes in this chapter, but I do have one thing I'd like to mention. When I first started plannig for this arc, I was originally going to have it focus on Luke finally coming to terms with Mira supposedly sacrificing herself for him and getting over his guilt, but then when I decided to include Noah in this arc, it became more about fleshing out his character and having him bond with some of his fellow Dragon Slayers, and Luke overcoming his guilt was more in the beginning and then everything went to shit, which, looking back, makes more sense, seeing how he's had 2 years to grapple with his guilt, and that last push from Noah was enough to help him reach two important realizations about what happened that day: First of all, he did the best that he could that day. Second of all, if Mira had made the choice to sacrifice herself for him, then it means that she thought he was worth it, and he should make the most of it his life that she saved instead of spending it feeling sorry for himself.**


	30. Edolas IV

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**Guest: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it, and Happy Easter to you too.

**Rabbihumayundip: **Thanks, I intend to.

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Things weren't looking too good for our heroes, seeing how they were still trapped in the dungeon with no way out.

Natsu was still processing the revelation over Happy "I don't believe it… Happy would never turn his back on us, there's no way in hell that would happen."

"Don't assume that he's at fault here Salamander." Noah told him "For all we know, chances are he and Bolt were manipulated or something."

Wendy glanced over at Noah "So does that mean you blame Carla for all of this?"

"What do you think the answer to that is kid?"

"But if Happy and Bolt are being manipulated, then maybe Carla is as well."

"Oh yeah, let me think about that. Thinking, thinking, thinking, nope. For all we know this was probably part of her plan too."

"But that can't be… she wouldn't…"

"Hate to break it to you kid, but it makes a lot more sense than you're willing to admit. She knew about Edolas this entire time, and even after she claimed to know nothing about the layout of this world, she still knew about the underground tunnel where the Thunderer ambushed us. The fact is that she knew this was going to happen."

"But I don't believe it! I've known Carla my entire life, she would never dream of doing something like this!"

"Think about it, did she ever once mention Edolas to you? Did any of this ever come to mind with her?"

"Forget it Noah, whether she screwed us over doesn't matter now since it's not gonna get us out of here." Natsu pointed out flatly.

'_Huh, that actually sounded serious and mature.'_

"Breaking stuff does that job damn fine!" Natsu promptly started trying to pry open the door to their cell.

'_And he's back, that figures.'_

"**Fire Dragon ROAR!" **and yet nothing came out.

"How many times does it have to fail before it gets through your thick skull, we can't use our Dragon Slayer magic here."

"Well we can't just sit around and do nothing."

"We're not, I'll think of a way for us to get out of this if you can shut up for 20 seconds and let me think."

While that little exchange was taking place, Wendy seemed more downcast than ever "Where are you right now Carla?"

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Meanwhile, in another cell…

Lucy opened her eyes and found herself bound in stocks "Hey what the- When the hell did this happen? Is this some kind of sick joke or something?"

"Hate to break it to you blondie, but this is anything but a joke."

Lucy looked around and found that Mira and Lisanna were bound in stocks just like her "What the heck, what is this?"

"We were brought here after the Royal Army captured us." Lisanna told her.

"Oh. _Oh that's right, I remember now, we were all captured in that underground tunnel. We got so close, but then it was over in a flash. They took all of us away. _Let me make this clear, if you jerks lay a finger on my friends then I'm gonna rip you a new one! Do you understand me? Do you?!"

"I'm pretty sure they hear you back in Louen." Mira told her dryly.

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Meanwhile, in Exalia…

The Exceeds of Extalia were still going about their business when they noticed a comotion rushing towards their city "Hey, what the heck is going on over there? Oh god no, don't tell me it's Mr Nichiya starting another orgy."

"Get the fuck out of our way!" this was when Bolt soared through the streets with his two companions holding onto his tail.

"See, stuff like this is why we need a zombie survival plan!" Happy pointed out.

"Shut up and hang on like your life depends on it, because it does!"

"After the Fallens meow meow!" Nichiya and his guards were chasing after Bolt and the others at full speed "Don't let them escape, capture them at all costs, meow meow!"

"And what the hell do you mean zombie survival plan?"

"I mean when you're being chased by the equivalent of a bunch of mindless drones, when you think about it there isn't much of a difference there when you think about it."

"...Huh, that actually makes a lot of sense. Whatever let's argue about that later, we've gotta ditch them!" they rounded a corner and dove into a hay cart, leaving the Royal Guard to keep charging onwards blindly.

Nichiya on the other hand, he tripped over something and fell flat on his face "Not tired yet… not at all… I must apprehend the Fallens… I must live up to the expectations of the queen… It shouldn't be a problem… I'm a strong and healthy young man…"

"Strong and healthy maybe, but ugly is a topic for a whole other conversation." but then things got bad as the cart they were hiding in started rolling forward, running over Nichiya and ending up as a runaway that soared down the streets and out of the city "I imagined this going very differently!" this was followed by Carla coming close to falling out of the cart "That I had imagined somewhat."

"Hang on Carla, I'll save you!" Happy reached out and managed to grab her "You don't have to worry, there's no way I'm gonna let you go again!"

"You might wanna retract that, cause we're about to go over a cliff!" sure enough, once the cart rolled over, Bolt grabbed onto both of them and flew off… or at least he tried to, but in reality their combined weight made them slowly fall to the ground with a loud thud "Okay, well that happened I guess."

"Hey, are you guys okay…? Is the ground spinning for both of you too?"

"Well nothing is broken, and I guess someone did say that any landing you could walk away from is a good landing and- Holy sweet mother of fuck, guys take a look at that." he gestured to an absolutely massive lacrima on one of the floating islands in the distance.

"Holy crap that's a giant lacrima, it's even bigger than the one in the Royal City!"

"What do you think the odds are that that one has everyone from Magnolia in it? I thought the one in the city looked pretty small if it was meant to contain about 60,000 people."

"But if that one has Magnolia, then what about the one in the city?"

"Probably a few people with a lot of magic power, if I had to guess then I would say it's probably people like Gray or Erza. But speaking of the city…" Bolt pointed down to where the Royal City was sitting below them, a very great distance below them for that matter "Okay, did not see that one coming."

"It's so tiny!"

"I've got eyes, I know that."

"Extalia must be built on one of those floating islands." Carla pointed out "In other words, this is how everything is positioned in Edolas."

"The only question is, how do we get back down to the city? I've tried carrying you both before and we know how that turned out."

"I'm well aware of that, and until myself and the Tomcat can use our magic again, I'm afraid that the two of us may be stuck up here."

"Well that's just perfect, I can't go down there on my own or else risk being caught in a matter of seconds, and besides leaving you two would mean you'd get caught in no time. So what the hell do we do now?"

"Hey you little varmints, what in the Queen's britches are y'all doing in my field?!"

Bolt and the others looked back to see a white male Exceed in overalls scowling and pointing a spade in their direction "And now we meet a pissed off local, that's just great."

"I was expecting a couple of dead-beets but I got trouble-makers instead, you lot are them Fallens ain't ya?"

'_And now we have to fight, why does this have me more bored than concerned?' _this was followed by the angry local swinging his spade at them like a maniac.

"Now get on out of here, get the hell lost before I get mad!"

"What the hell do you mean before you raving lunatic?"

"Meow!" of course Nichiya and the others echoed from atop the cliff "Keep your peepers peeled for that cart, it's around here somewhere so find it at once meow!"

"Well at least they're stupid enough to just be looking for the cart."

"But they're still on our trails."

"MEOW!" the white Exceed, his name is Lucky by the way, rounded on the three of them in a comical rage "I thought I told the three of you to get lost!"

"Okay okay yes sir, we're scramming right now!"

"Good, then come over to my place!"

"...Wait what?"

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Later, at Lucky's place…

Happy and the rest of the group followed Lucky back to his home, albeit they were somewhat reluctant "But what about those soldiers? Oh wait I get it, you already reported us to them didn't you?"

"No now pipe down!" Lucky raised his spade, freaking them out to no end.

"Hey take it easy, I was just asking a question!"

"A stupid ass question!"

This was when Lucky's wife Marl showed up, a middle aged blue Exceed, carrying a basket of vegetables "Oh hello dear, did you finish working out in the fields already? Oh and I see we have some guests here as well, that doesn't happen for us very often."

"Uh, yeah." Happy bowed to her slightly "Sorry to trouble you like this."

"Oh it's no trouble, like I said we don't get guests very often."

"Oh, well thanks. I'm Happy, this is Bolt and Carla."

"My my, those are such wonderful names. My name is Marl, now why don't the three of you come inside and wash up."

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Later, inside the house…

Soon enough, they group was seated inside.

"Poor things, it seems like you've had quite the rough day." Marl made her way over to the group with a large plate of fish.

"It's so beautiful…" Happy was promptly smacked upside the head by Bolt, which caused him to stop drooling "Thank you. Mr Lucky, Ms Marl, thanks a ton for letting us hide out here for a little while."

"Shut it!" Lucky rounded on Happy in a comical rage "What in the name of hell do you think you're doing?! You should be using that mouth for chewing, not yapping!"

"Aye sir, sorry sir, please don't smite me!"

"Please excuse my husband." Marl told them "He doesn't exactly see eye to eye with the kingdom, and he's so vocal about it they kicked us out, and we've been living on this little farm ever since."

"Dammit Marl!" Lucky rounded on her "What the hell did you go and tell them something like that for?!"

"Oh no reason."

"You've gotta have a reason!"

"So that's it." Bolt muttered "That's why you helped us escape, as a giant middle finger to the kingdom."

"Believe whatever you want kid."

"I'm believing that because you're not denying it, so it's obviously true."

"Enough of your whining, if you lot are gonna stay here then you're gonna work, you get what I'm saying?!"

"As long as you quit screaming in my ear."

"Right, so you lot had better eat since you're gonna need the energy, you hear me?! Now start munching!"

"I'm pretty sure they can hear you back in Earth Land."

"I said MUNCH!"

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A few hours passed, and lunch had ended, while work for the male Exceeds had begun.

Lucky was promptly tearing into Bolt and Happy as they worked in the fields "HEY! Put your backs into it you little bastards, you wanna call yourselves men don't you?!"

Happy let out a groan "I don't get it, what does this have to do with becoming a man?"

"No back talk you little shit, now less crowing and more howing!"

"Aye sir, howing right away!"

"You heard the man, shut up and keep working." Bolt didn't even glance up from where he was howing as he said this "And for once, it's not because I'm sick of listening to your whining. I mean it's part of it, but still."

"Right right. Hey Mr Lucky, do you really work with these heavy tools every day? I feel like I'm about to break my back."

"That means you're one with the tool." Lucky told him "The weight from the tool comes from the heaviness of your heart and soul, you got it?!"

"Yeah we got it."

"We both do." Bolt glanced over at Happy "Well it's official, this guy is a fucking lunatic even when he's working."

"Take it easy, he'd blow a gasket if he heard either of us say that, so you should probably watch your fish hole."

"YOU'VE GOT THAT RIGHT YOU LITTLE BASTARDS!"

"Sorry sir, we're getting back to work now!"

"And you're doing it wrong, a real man would do it like this!" he started charging across the field and plowing as he went "Now do you see? You've gotta put your backs into it!"

"...The deja vu is strong with this one?" Bolt received an odd look from Happy "Oh come on, the Star Wars references have been going strong since the Nirvana incident."

"There, now that's how you plow a field, you see?!"

"I see what I've seen with you since we got here."

"Now quit yacking and gawking!"

"And he already forgot he told us to watch him, this dude has almost as many issues as I do, and that's saying something."

"Hey take it easy." Happy told him "You know he'll get mad if he'll hear you, I think we should both keep our traps shut."

"Yeah but here's the difference, I'm not scared of him."

"HEY!" Lucky promptly rounded on the two of them "Did the two of you already forget that I could hear both of you?!"

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Meanwhile, with the females…

Marl made her way out of the house and found Carla hard at work on some fruit "My my, it looks to me like you're quite skilled at this."

"It's actually quite simple." Carla told her "And I'm all done for that matter."

"Thank you for the help with this dear."

"HEY!" Lucky on the other hand, was still yelling at Bolt and Happy in the distance "I thought I told the two of you to pick up the pace! No I don't wanna hear any whining from you two, if you have the energy to whine then you have the energy to work!"

"Well it seems the three of them are getting along very well. Hey listen boys, why don't you strong men take a breather from it for a little while? We made some cold drinks for you."

"Hm? Alright fine, if the wife says to take a break then we might as well."

"Good enough for me." Bolt tried to make a beeline for the house, only to be grabbed by the tail by Lucky.

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Meanwhile, with the Edolas Fairy Tail…

Edo-Natsu was cruising through the rocky terrain of Edolas, only to screech to a halt when he found Edo-Noah hitchhiking a short distance ahead of him "Hey man, you need a ride or are you gonna star in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?"

"Hey I only made that mistake once, now drop it before I put this scythe here where the sun doesn't shine." Edo-Noah told him flatly "At least I know I can count on you, whether it be saying or doing something stupid or getting the job done. Now give me a ride, we've got a lot of work to do." he promptly hopped into the magic mobile, and they took off.

"I did what you told me, I dropped the lot of them in the backyard of the Royal City, and from what I could tell they sounded pretty serious about taking on the Royal Army."

"What about Mira?"

"She decided to stick with them, apparently she's really dead set on helping them."

"Yeah, not really surprising. It's not like we could blame her for it either."

"No shit. You think we should've already told her that the rest of us know her little secret?"

"She already knows that I know, as well as certain someone else."

"Figures."

"As for letting her know we all know, I think if anyone were going to do that, then the best people for it would be Elfman and Lisanna."

"Fair enough I guess. Our Lisanna is gonna be devastated when she finds out."

"I know, but if there's anyone that should be there for her, it would have to be you."

"Someone's gotta be, no one should have to lose their sister like that."

"Too true."

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About an hour passed, and the break had come to an end.

By this point, Happy had been stuck with cleaning the roof of the house "I'm grateful the old timer is letting us hide here, but does he have to work me like a dog the entire time?"

"You know we could take our chances with the Ichiya reject." Bolt poked his head out of the chimney and let out a smokey cough "As far as I'm concerned, I think we've had enough of them to last for a lifetime."

"No arguments here. Do you think he can hear us from up here?"

"Probably, so we'd better get to work before he starts screaming in my ear again."

"But this isn't the time for us to be doing chores like this, not when are friends are in trouble. We need to find a way to get to them." but then Happy nearly slipped off, only to be caught by the tail by Bolt.

"Mr Personality also mentioned something about having to scrub the toilet by hand. And apparently he wants us to spend an hour prepping some firewood for him."

"How is it you're so good at this stuff?"

"I travelled on the road with Luke for a year and a half when he was off training, what did you think I just spent the entire time riding around on his shoulder?"

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Meanwhile, inside…

Marl looked up from what she was doing to see Carla staring sadly out the window "You know I haven't seen you smile this whole time, I'm sure you'd be able to lighten up the entire room. Are things really so bad you can't crack a smile?"

Carla let out a sigh "I'm just not in the mood to smile, that's all."

"It sounds like something painful must have happened to you. I know things might seem bad now, but you'll smile again soon enough."

"I doubt it."

"You may say that now, but believe me when I tell you that it will happen."

'_You say that, but you didn't see how the others looked at me. The hurt and the betrayal they were showing. Noah hadn't trusted me this entire time, and even now I can't blame him for that in the slightest.'_

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Meanwhile, back outside…

Happy let out a sigh as he kept chopping wood "Now that's more like it."

"Sure you say that for now, but quit stopping every ten seconds or there's no way in hell you're gonna catch up." Bolt jerked a thumb over at his pile.

"What the- How did you do it so fast? You know what fine, I'll show you I can do it. You're not going to win this one!"

"Put your money where your mouth is cat!" they started competing with each other and chopping wood like a bunch of lunatics "Theres' no way in hellyou're gonna beat me you fish mongering little son of a bitch!"

"We'll see about that you stoned lunatic!"

"I haven't had one of those brownies since we got here!" they kept doing it away like a pack of lunatics.

"Hey I'm down to one more!"

"Yeah that makes two of us!" they both struck down on the stump, only to both scream in agony at the recoil.

"OW!" but then Happy suddenly burst out laughing.

"Why the hell are you laughing?"

"I don't know!"

"You two are a couple of pieces of work." Lucky noted dryly from where he was standing next to a finished pile "Well I suppose that's enough firewood for one day, you little bastards got off pretty easy."

"Good thing too, I'm exhausted and I smell like a three day old salmon."

"THEN TAKE A BATH!"

"I'm going I'm going I'm going!"

"Don't say it, DO IT!"

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Meanwhile, inside…

Carla was about the same as before, still brooding over her drink '_How did everything go so wrong? Wendy was the one who brought me into the Cait Shelter guild. I never expected to be friends with her, and yet it still happened. I even became extremely protective of her, even serving as a sort of mother figure to her, perhaps in some sort of effort to fill a void left by her actual mother, that Sky dragon Grandeeny. All I wanted from that point on was to protect her, but now I've thrown her into the clutches of the enemy. What have I done?'_

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About 2 hours went by.

Bolt made his way out onto the porch and found Happy and Carla sitting there "You know that bath would feel a lot better if you hadn't clogged up the drain with what I seriously hope was blue fur."

Carla ignored this, still concentrating on her brooding "You were right Noah, I ended up betraying her."

'_And she's brooding, just great.'_

This was when Marl came up to them "You boys both did some good work out there, it feels great to relax after a hard day's work and a long bath doesn't it?"

"I know that feeling all too well, travelling on the road for about a year will do that to you after awhile."

"I see. So tell me Bolt, Happy and Carla, the three of you aren't from here, so were you hatched in Earth Land by any chance, and were you given your names by someone from there?"

"Yeah that's right. I got mine from my friend Luke, Happy got his from Natsu, and Carla got hers from Wendy."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah we did." then Happy suddenly bolted to his feet "But now they're being held captive in the Royal City below "We've gotta save them, because it's our fault they're there in the first place."

"So you intend to rescue the humans then do you?"

"They're calling us Fallens for a reason, and apparently caring about humans is pretty foreign to Exceeds. Is it bad that I want to hear one of them go on about the evils of "nigen" at some point while we're here?" ah, the joys of Dragon Ball references.

"I don't think such a thing is bad at all, in fact I think it's wonderful. If you consider someone to be a friend then it shouldn't matter if they're humans or Exceeds, after all we may look different on the outside, but inside our hearts are all the same shape."

"I'm afraid I don't follow your logic." Carla told her.

"Well what I'm trying to say is that love is the same no matter who or what you are."

"I see. I only wish that would apply to me as well. Regardless of the shape of my heart or the love it may have to give, it's not under my control. Even now, I can't be sure that if the words coming out of my mouth are actually mine, or if they're part of someone else's plan."

"Don't be like that!" Happy suddenly rounded on her "I know for a fact that those are your own words Carla, I know you're too strong to let someone control you! And I know our hearts want the same thing, and that's to defeat the Royal Army and save our friends together!"

"Do you really think we can?"

"I know we can!"

"He's right you know." Marl gave a small smile "I know things may seem a little bit confusing for you right now, but you can't give up all hope. After all, you have a pair of wonderful knights that will be at your side every step of the journey."

'_Wait a second, is she talking about me and Bolt?'_

"I understand you may feel like you lost your heart, but personally I think you found it a long time ago. Now all you have to do is learn to embrace it, believe in it, and trust the feelings of love in your heart."

"Oh… I see…" that was enough for Carla to give off a small smile.

"There you go, a wonderful smile just waiting to come out. I'm glad that I got the chance to see it for myself."

"You know Ms Marl, you really surprise me."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because all of the other Exceeds the three of us have met so far all think of themselves to be some sort of Celestial beings, and their queen is a goddess. They even claimed that the humans are inferior to them." this caused her smile to fade.

"Ah yes, I see. To be completely honest, I used to believe in the same thing, but then one day our "beloved queen" came and took our children away from us. 100 children still in their eggs were taken from their homes, they gave us no warning, and they simply told us that we had to accept this. The queen had chosen them for the task of eliminating the Dragon Slayers, and they were sent to Earth Land against our wishes. We opposed the cruelty of this project, and as a result we were exiled. We never even got to see the faces of our children. Everything changed after that, and we realized the lie that we had been subjected to. She was far from a god, and the rest of us were certainly far from being angels. We were just parents. It was once we realized this that the lines between humans and Exceeds all but vanished for us. It didn't matter anymore. My husband may be opinionated at times, but he feels the same way."

"HEY!" that was when Lucky joined the conversation "Dammit woman, quit wasting time yapping about nonsense with these kids! How the hell long are they planning to stay here anyway?!"

"Calm down dear."

"Like hell I will! I'm sick of those looks on their faces, don't they realize they're lucky to be alive right now?!" he rounded on them "Do you?! Now grow a pair, I want you lot out of my house and I want you out NOW!"

"Oh but dear, this is much too sudden."

"Forget it, the lunatic's got a point." Bolt pulled himself to his feet "We've got a lot of work to do down there and not a lot of time, and at the top of the list is making sure that our friends don't do anything stupid and get themselves killed."

"At least one of you finally gets it." Lucky let out a scoff "Scaredy cats can't get a damn thing done, I swear the stupid kids these days need it spelled out for them."

"I might get high as an elephant's eye way more often than I should, but I've got brains to counterbalance it. Come on you guys, let's get moving." Bolt grabbed Happy and Carla by the tails, then gave a salute to the others in a comical fashion "Thanks for the hand guys, now we've got some shit to wreck."

"Make sure you don't come back you little shits!"

"I don't intend to."

"Make sure the lot of you take care of each other." Marl told them.

"Duly noted." he took off running and holding the others by their tails.

Happy looked up at the others "You know guys, somehow I feel like we were destined to meet the two of them today."

"You wanna elaborate on that?"

"I mean when we first came to Edolas, there were a lot of things that I wasn't really sure about, and I felt like I was lost."

"I'm pretty sure we all felt that way, but now the path is all too clear for us." Bolt threw them over the edge of the floating island as he sprouted his wings and took off in the lead "No more running from our past, no more standing by to watch it burn, we woke up to a life collapsed and we're carrying the weight of the world!"

"Is that a reference?"

"Quoting a kickass song I found on the internet actually. But putting that aside, we've gotta fly forward and stand by our friends to the bitter end. I bet Luke is gonna flip when he hears about all of this."

Carla was more in thought to herself '_The three of us are Exceeds, the only race in Edolas that's born with magic power coursing through our veins, yet the only reason we couldn't use our magic before was because we lost our sense of who we were.' _her wings suddenly sprouted into life, with Happy's following soon after '_Now we know for a fact that being Exceeds doesn't define who or what we really are, our hearts are telling us of the path we have to follow, and our wings will take us there! _Let's get moving you two, we can't keep the others waiting any longer than we have to!"

"Right!"

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Lucky and Marl on the other hand, could only watch them go, both of them crying as they recalled the day their egg was taken from them, but they seemed content knowing that their child grew up to be a kind child with compassion for others.

Let's face it, we all know that Happy is their son.

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Meanwhile, back in Earth Land…

Porlyusica stood outside her home and scowled at the empty desert that was left behind where the city of Magnolia, along with a good chunk of the East Forest, once stood "Humans and their ridiculous greed, it's unbelievable how much damage they're able to cause. At least they didn't touch my home with that wretched spell of theirs, there's no way in hell I'm letting them make me miss another Game of Thrones marathon." she made her way back inside, where she quickly noticed a somewhat heavily-bandaged Mystogan dressing himself "You're planning on going back there now aren't you?"

"I'm sure you mean that in a rhetorical sense." Mystogan promptly finished redressing himself in his usual attire, minus the mask that covered his face "Besides, I'm already feeling much better, thanks to you."

"You were lucky that you hadn't died of exhaustion right then and there, and the fact that you were wandering around like a maniac didn't help."

"I was able to get to Luke and Gajeel."

"And I was able to get to you before you died of exhaustion. How would you even get there to begin with?"

"I can already sense other Anima portals, and if I can get to them then I can get back to Edolas before it's too late. You know you could come with me." he was met with a sigh.

"I've been here far longer than I've been _there_. If you met that young assistant from decades ago, then maybe, but you won't get that sort of reception from this old healer. I don't need or want to return to a world where idiots fight over every last scrap of magic that still remains, until the day comes when it doesn't."

"I understand. If you're content here, then I have no right to stand in your way."

"Good, now get out. You know how I feel about humans."

"I'm well aware. Thank you for everything, and goodbye." and with that, Mystogan took his leave, his gaze set on his goal '_Please just hold on everyone, I'm on my way. I'll be there as soon as I can.'_

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Meanwhile, back in Edolas…

A meeting was well underway between the king of Edolas and the members of his court, as well as the various captains and his chief of staff, the only one absent being a certain Thunderer of the 2nd Magic Warfare Unit.

Byro was quick to inform the group that the wizards from Earth Land had magic power stored within their very bodies, similar to the Exceeds but greater. Upon hearing this, Faust contradicted him and informed the group that Shagotte, the queen of the Exceeds had ordered that both Lucy and Lisanna were to be executed.

Hughes voiced his opinion of it being a waste of time, but Byro informed him that with their current abilities, they were still unable to extract magic power from humans, but they were able to extract the magic power from the Dragon Slayers, due to them being more of a human amalgam. He went on to say that if they extracted the magic power from within the Dragon Slayers, they would gain an infinite amount of magic power, and hearing this earned him cheers from Hughes and Coco.

As for Faust, he ordered Byro to start the extraction process with the Dragon Slayers and the giant lacrima immediately, and on that note, the captains all left, with the exception of one.

That exception was Panther Lily, who tried to speak with Faust in regards to the recent bolstering of military armaments, but stopped and took his leave after seeing Faust's glare growing more unsettling than usual.

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Meanwhile, with the non-Dragon Slayer prisoners…

Lisanna and the others were still bound by their silk bondings, and now they were brooding over a certain revelation that was made to them "It's still hard to believe it, the fact that Happy and the others are really Exceeds."

"Tell me about it." Mira let out a scoff "Exceeds here are basically the equivalent of angels, and their queen is supposed to be some kind of goddess that dictates over all this world and all of the people in it."

"But that's crazy!" Lucy protested "How the hell could anyone choose to live like this?!"

"The hell if I know. People at the guild don't really think about the Exceeds too much, having to survive the Royal Army is exhausting enough for us as it is."

"Oh trust me, I know the feeling." this was when a new voice got their attention "I've hated having to hunt the Fairies down since I started this gig."

Mira looked up and her gaze hardened in a mix of fear and anger "The Thunderer."

Sure enough, Luke Tempesta stood before the three of them and opened the door to their cell as he stared down at Lucy and Lisanna, his expression unreadable "You seem quite well informed of this world, I can see you've done your research. Impressive."

"What about the others, are they okay?" asked Lucy.

"The Dragon Slayers are fine, at least for the time being."

"I see. That's kind of a relief."

"You do realize that I'm not your version of Luke right? The situation you're in right now isn't exactly worth envying."

"Yeah, I've gotta admit you do have a point in that regard. It's just that you and sound look so much like the version of Luke that I know, so I guess I end up automatically letting my guard down whenever I see that face."

"Is that right? Curiosity getting the better of me, what's that version of me like?"

"Well he's been a member of Fairy Tail for years, and frankly he's the one who brought me into the guild in the first place. He's kind, strong and gentle and cares about protecting Fairy Tail and all of the people in it above all else."

"Is that a fact?"

"He's powerful, cool and collected too, and frankly his taste in fashion is a little bit questionable, frankly because of those red cowboy boots."

"You mean like the ones I'm wearing right now?" he pointed down to show that he was in fact wearing a set of red cowboy boots.

"And it's a universal trait with you. Anyway, everyone in the guild trusts you with their lives without a second thought, especially Cana."

"...I see." Thunderer lowered his head slightly, his bangs covering his eyes "Sounds like he's living quite the ideal life isn't he?"

"Don't bother trying to appeal to him." Mira called Lucy off, her tone flat "This guy isn't a damn thing like the version of Luke you're familiar with. He's evil to the core."

"So one dimensional in your beliefs, you haven't changed a bit have you Mira? For the record, saying I'm evil is pretty relative, but I think it's safe to say that whether or not the Fairy Tail of our world lives or dies depends on the actions I take. Anyway come on, let's just get this over with." he shoved the three of them aside and used his axe to carve a massive hole in the back wall of the cell "I've heard enough from you three, obviously I'm not the version of Luke you're familiar with."

"Please just listen!" Lucy pleaded "The three of us aren't your enemies, all I'm trying to do here is save the lives of my friends! Luke I get that you're not the same person, but I also know that you have a heart! Someone like you could never be the kind of person who laughs at the sight of someone else suffering-" she was cut off by the sight of Tempesta holding the blade of his axe towards her throat.

"Like I said, I've heard enough already."

"How could you go out of your way to kill people and laugh about it? The Luke that I know is kind and gentle and strong of heart, he would never dream of hurting someone so defenseless right before his eyes."

"And you think I enjoy this? That shows how little you truly understand. I don't enjoy watching others write in agony, I don't enjoy spilling blood, I hate everything about the life I've been living for the past two years. But I don't have a choice, and if either of you knew the slightest thing about me or my life, then you would know why. But you don't. I've said it once already and I'll say it again, I'm now more powerful than even the king of Edolas himself."

Mira's head snapped up at what he said '_He said it again, more powerful than even the king himself? Either he's out of his mind, or…'_

"Now you know, what you choose to do with that information is up to you. At least you can understand and appreciate having a choice in what you do, at least once your little rescue party shows up." he promptly took a big step backwards, and with a quick surge of electricity from his weapon, he destroyed the cell they were standing in, sending the three of them falling towards their supposed death '_As I said, what they do with that is up to them…'_ he looked down at the locket around his neck and opened it '_Knowing that everything I do is to keep you safe is the only thing that keeps me going anymore… If only you knew how much I still love you, and how that love has never faded, even after all this time.'_

"Hey whassaa, did someone call for a rescue team?!" that was when Bolt and the others soared down past Thunderer in order to grab Lucy and the others "Hang tight ladies, the cavalry is here to make one hell of an entrance!"

'_The Exceeds that were with them in the cavern, I guess they decided to become Fallens. Huh, I guess you do learn something new every day. And one of them just slammed into the side of the building.'_

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"Hang tight, the cavalry is here!" Bolt grabbed onto Lucy, with Carla grabbing Mira and Happy recovering in time "Not too shabby of a rescue huh?"

"No arguments here, thanks for that." Lucy breathed a sigh "But wait a second, how come your wings are working again?"

"I'm pretty sure it was a mix of conviction and plot convenience, though one of us took some time to get the hang of flying again." the group flew back up towards what used to be their prison cell.

Tempesta calmly met Carla's firm gaze as he set his weapon down on the ground "I was under the impression the queen gave the order for these three to be executed."

"That was initially the case, but the order has been rescinded." Carla told him firmly.

"As much as I feel I should believe that considering you're an Exceed, not even you have the proper authority to terminate an order given by the queen herself."

"Then it's clear to me you don't know your place, bow down and you may be forgiven for your foolishness. It just so happens that you're in the presense of greatness, of an Exceed of the royal bloodline. I happen to be the eldest daughter of Queen Shagotte, but you may refer to me as the divine princess Carla of Extalia."

"...I see." Tempesta promptly got down on one knee "I offer my most humble apologies your grace, and I hope you will accept them."

"It is accepted, this time. Tell me, where are the three Dragon Slayers being held at this very moment?"

"They're being held in the basement of the West tower."

"I command you to release them at once."

"As much as I would like to I can't, the fact is that I don't have the authority to do so."

"I don't intend to accept any excuses."

"I expected as much, but-"

"Luke stop, the three of them are Fallen Exceeds!" this was when Panther Lily came charging onto the scene with a number of soldiers following him "They've been officially banished from the kingdom of Extalia!"

"Well that went to hell pretty fast." Bolt noted dryly "I don't know who Tigger's evil uncle is over there, but holy fuck he is Android 16 levels of huge!"

"Spare me your various anime references, we need to get out of here now." Carla told the group flatly.

"What the hell, I thought you were some kind of princess!" and yet the group took the opportunity to retreat regardless.

Tempesta pulled himself back to his feet and watched them go, his gaze hardening '_Looks like they haven't even come close to losing all of the fight they had in them.'_

"Attention all soldiers, there are three Fallen Exceeds that are currently escaping with three prisoners of the court! The Fallen are blue, white and gold and they must be terminated with extreme prejudice!"

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Needless to say, now the group was on the run.

Lucy looked up at Carla and gave a small smile "We really owe you one, you really saved us back there."

"I believed you would be more angry." Carla noted.

"Why's that?"

"Because we were the ones that resulted in you getting captured in the first place."

"Well yeah, but you did make up for it by rescuing me. Maybe it would be a different story if you hadn't come back to get me, but we've got bigger things to worry about so let's forget about that for now. I'm still shocked to hear about the fact that you're a princess of all things in this world."

"I believed it was rather obvious that was just a bluff."

"...Oh my shit." Bolt shot her a look.

"Care to explain the look you're giving in my direction Bolt?"

"Because that's totally something I would do, well either that or rip their faces off. I guess that means I'm rubbing off on you. Not to mention you called me by name, so that's a first."

"...I suppose it is. Regardless of that, Lucy's right when she says that we need to focus on the task at hand."

"Yeah that's true, we've gotta rescue the others before Natsu says or does something that gets them killed."

"True enough, you heard Tempesta say that they're being held in the West Tower."

"Right. Just a heads up though, I doubt Noah will be as forgiving."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind. We're coming up on the West Tower now."

"...Okay what the hell is that noise?" they looked back to see what the noise was.

As it turns out, it was Nichiya leading a huge army of Exceeds after them "You would be wise to surrender now Fallens, escaping is futile, meow!"

"And it's a metric fuckton of flying cats led by my worst nightmare. Any ideas?"

"We're too exposed staying in the air like this, we should get to the ground." Carla looked down to see a number of soldiers from the Royal Army "Actually nevermind, the ground might actually be worse at the moment."

"New plan, Lucy, Lisanna, can either of you use your magic power right now?"

"Unfortunately no, I think this sticky stuff is blocking my power." Lucy told him.

"Of course it is, this just keeps getting better."

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Faust observed the Exceed army entering the Royal City and was informed by Coco about their pursuit of the Fallens, and as such he decided to take drastic action: the activation of what was referred to as Code ETD.

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Tempesta's head snapped up at the sound of hunting horns echoing throughout the city, as well as the sight of several devices being assembled across the city rooftops, and a cold sweat dripped down the side of his head '_That old lunatic is actually going through with using Code ETD, is he out of his mind? This is the last line of defense in our homeland security arsenal, and he went to it without a second thought.'_

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Bolt glanced over at Carla "Okay now you're sweating like a donkey in the middle of August, you wanna elaborate on what the hell Code ETD is?"

"I'll explain it later, for now we have to get inside immediately." Carla promptly made a dive into a large window, with the others following her lead.

"CODE ETD INITIATE!" on this command, the cannon devices were fired, unleashing a series of simultaenous blue flashes of light… right towards Nichiya and his men.

'_What are they doing, are they out of their minds?!'_

Nichiya and the rest of his Exceed guards could only cry out in agony as they were caught in the light in question, leaving them unable to escape "How dare you take up arms against the great Exceeds you lowly humans!"

"Why would they fire on them like that?"

Lucy was quick to voice what they were all thinking "Okay, does someone wanna elaborate on what the hell is going on here? I thought the people in Edolas practically worshipped the Exceeds like gods, so does that make this some kind of rebellion?"

"I'm not entirely sure about that, but I do believe it would be wise of us to use the confusion to our advantage. This may be our only chance to rescue Wendy and the others."

"No arguments here, let's get moving!" and so they quickly took off towards their destination, the West tower.

Unfortunately, Thunderer, or Tempesta as he will now be called, saw them leave "So the Fallens are escaping with the prisoners. Call for more defences and send them to the West tower, I'm heading over there myself!" and so he promptly bolted.

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"You will pay dearly for this you human wretches, your daring to defy the Queen is going to cost you your lives! MEOW!" that was all Nichiya could say before he and the rest of his men were all transformed into one gigantic cat-shaped lacrima, leaving it to fall to the ground with a massive thud, which was met with mixed results and lots of muttering.

"Holy crap, they turned the Exceeds into a lacrima!"

"This is bad, this is seriously bad!"

"What the hell was the king thinking, is he trying to get all of us killed?!"

"Hear me my soldiers when I say, there are no gods in this world!" this was when Faust got their attention from his place on his balcony "We humans have suffered with scarcity while the wretched Exceeds flaunted their limitless abundance, they horded their wealth of magic power while we were forced to beg for scraps! The time has come for us to grab what has been kept at arms length for all these years, for us to claim our rightful prize which we have been denied for so long! As of this moment, the era of begging and subservience of humans has at last come to an end! We must fight for the future of humanity, we must rebuild our kingdom on the foundation of limitless magic power for all humankind, we must rise up and take what belongs to us! That is why I am initiating Code ETD: Exceed Total Destruction! These so called angels shall met their extinction by our hand!" he was met with various cheers from almost all of the nameless soldiers.

Even Hughes and Sugarboy seemed rather pleased by this turn of events "I've gotta admit, things just took one hell of an interesting turn for us. Then again, I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later."

Panther Lily on the other hand, he let out a low growl at what he heard '_Now it makes sense, so this is the reason why we had been building up our military.'_

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Faust seemed to be quite confident with his intentions, even though Coco was panicking over what they had done, thinking that the queen will attack and that the forces of the Exceeds would be exceedingly greater than theirs. However, Faust was quick to reassure her, claiming that it was the reason why they had the Dragon Slayers.

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Meanwhile, with the Dragon Slayers…

By this point, Byro was ready to begin extracting the magic power from Noah and the others, having bound them with chains "Now I should warn you, this may tickle a little bit. But you shouldn't fret, your sacrifices will be of great service to our kingdom."

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Meanwhile, with the rescue party…

Mira and the others, having made it to the West tower, descended down a deep spiralling staircase as fast as they could "Things are getting worse by the minute, I never would've guessed that the people of this world were so close to starting a war with the Exceeds."

"What they choose to do is none of our concern." Carla told her flatly "The fact is that we have no stake in the matter, they can wipe each other out of they like."

"Sounds pretty hardcore."

"Fitting for the circumstances." they continued onwards, only to be stopped in their tracks by a sudden surge of electricity.

As it turns out, not really surprising, that surge came from Tempesta standing before them with a number of Royal soldiers "I'm afraid I can't let you go any further."

"Oh come on!" Lucy let out a groan "You're serious, I thought you had more important things to do than bother with us!"

"In my line of work, I honestly can't afford to not do what's in the best interest of the king and his agenda. I don't expect you to understand." Tempesta unleashed another surge of electricity from his axe that sent them flying back, though it didn't do much to hurt them "You took a direct hit from my lightning magic and you're still conscious, you Earth Land wizards are more resilient than I had anticipated. You see, my orders were given explicitely by the chief of staff of the Royal Army, Byro. You know, the short bald one that sounds like he's got something stuck in his throat. I'm bound to him, as much as I hate to admit it, and he ordered that I drag your corpses to him. I wish you could understand, I really do, especially you Mira, but I don't have a choice." he raised his axe and prepared another blast, when…

"Back the hell up asshole!" Bolt suddenly charged at Tempesta and slammed him into a wall, causing the axe to blow a hole in the floor.

Happy was sent falling with the others, his mind drifting as he barely managed to cling to consciousness '_I'm sorry Natsu, I really tried… I really thought for sure that this time, I would be able to save you… but I'm too weak, and now it's all over for me… All the time we spent together, the two of us fighting against the odds… Natsu never gave up no matter what he was faced against, and he wouldn't this time either…'_

"Happy hold on!" Lisanna took him into her arms as they were caught by Carla, stopping them from falling to their inevitable deaths.

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The magic extraction process was well underway, and the screams echoed throughout the halls of the dungeon.

Byro was sucking the magic power out of Noah and the others, causing two of them to scream in agony as the process continued "What impressive specimens the three of you are proving yourselves to be, the magic power you all possess is truly something special."

"Yeah…?" Noah slowly raised his head and shot a malicious smirk at Byro "Is that all you can dish out you hideous little troll?"

"I can see you're the strongest of the three of you, and yet you're also quite the glutton for punishment aren't you?"

"I faced people and monsters in my world that scare me more than you on almost a daily basis, and no I'm not exaggerating."

"Dude this is fucking crazy…" Natsu spat out some blood "You're gonna get yourself killed at this rate!"

"Spare me your pity Salamander, this is nothing." Noah turned to face Natsu and Wendy, his expression deadly serious "Think about it, there's no way in hell Thunderclap would give up in a situation like this, so why the hell should we? We're all going to make it out of this, so don't you dare give up on me now, you got it?"

"Noah… yeah, you're right…" Wendy gave him a weak smile "I'm sure our friends will come to help us any minute now. I won't give up, I promise."

"That's what I'm talking about kid."

"Is that so?" Byro let out a disgusting chuckle "So none of the three of you are willing to face reality and admit when you are defeated? Is this stubborn bull-headedness a trait that is shared among Dragon Slayers?"

"How about you do both of our worlds a favor and shut the fuck up?" Noah was met with a pissed off glare "Seriously dude, with a voice like that how has someone not murdered you in your sleep by now? How about this, if you have to talk then what do you say you just kill us first then?"

"You little- I'll take great joy in wiping that smirk from your face."

"You can try, but you won't have any luck." Noah then started gritting his teeth and growling from the pain as the extraction process continued, but he refused to scream.

"Noah no!" Wendy and Natsu looked on in horror.

"Don't give me any pity you too, and don't let him break your spirit or this old piece of shit ends up winning!"

"I… Alright, I promise I won't…"

"Good!"

"Sounds like a challenge to me." Byro gave a sinister smirk.

"Don't you fucking dare, if you don't drain every last drop of power from me I'll break free of these chains and rip you apart like something out of the Walking Dead!"

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By now, the group was forced to hide in an old storage room.

"Well this could've gone a hell of a lot better." Mira grumbled "Now we're stuck in here like a bunch of rats, and wherever they have the Dragon Slayers they probably have a fuckton of soldiers guarding them too."

"Which means we wouldn't be able to get anywhere near it…" Lucy hung her head "We were coming so close, and yet…"

"Don't go quitting on me yet." Bolt pulled himself to his feet and spat out some white substance that looked like blood "We owe it to the others to keep on fighting until we don't have anything left in us. Luke and Natsu, they sure as hell wouldn't give up, and there's no way in hell I will either. Even if it seems impossible to win now, we'll find a way sooner or later. We don't even deserve to survive if we don't honor his ideals and his spirit."

"But do you have any idea what we should do?"

"Let's see here…" Bolt looked up at a number of sacks in the corner of the room, and he gave a smirk "I think I have an idea."

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About 5 minutes later…

"Hey what the hell is that?" a few Royal Soldiers glanced over to see something coming at them from the distance.

"How do you like me now mother fuckers?!" Bolt came charging towards them at full speed with a sack in hand.

"It's one of the Fallen Exceeds, get ready men!"

"It's you guys who need to get ready for this, **Poison Mist Attack!" **he hurled the bag forward and it spilled white stuff all throughout the tunnel.

"Poison mist, try not to breath it in!" but then logic proceeded to kick in "Wait a second this isn't poison, it's only flour! Dammit he's making a break for it, don't let him get away!" and so the men chased after him.

"Looks like his plan worked." Lucy and the others promptly tried to make a beeline, only to be sent tumbling backwards by a blast of lightning.

Not at all surprising anymore, that came from Tempesta standing before them "Creating a diversion to draw away our forces by using your surroundings to your advantage. On one hand it's a predictable strategy, but at the same time it's somewhat commendable."

"No…" but then Lisanna and the others heard screaming coming from another room "That sounds like Natsu and the others, what are you doing to them?"

"In order for us to execute Code ETD properly, the proper amount of magic power is considered crucial, so to this end the king ordered his chief of staff Byro to extract the magic power from within the Dragon Slayers."

"Please stop this I'm begging you, you're going to kill them!"

"I don't cherish the idea of blood on my hands, but the fact is that it's out of my hands in those of the troll doll."

"We've captured the fallen sir." the other soldiers came back with an unconscious Bolt and threw him on the ground.

"Good work. And just like that, I'm afraid that whatever luck you've had has officially reached the end of its usefulness."

"You just keep thinking that…" Bolt spat out some blood and pulled himself to his feet, then dragged himself in front of the others, with Happy doing the same "Forget it… There's no way I'm letting you hurt them… Not while I'm still breathing… You'd have to kill me before I let anything happen to them!"

"Is that so?"

"And that goes for me too!" Happy wiped away his tears and stood firm.

"...I see." with a deep breath, Tempesta slowly raised his axe "Then all I can do is let you both die with honor." he prepared to bring down the blade of his axe, when…

"**Lightning Dragon ROAR!" **a suddenly powerful blast of electricity ripped through the walls of the tunnel, leaving several soldiers severely scorched.

"What's going on?"

"You know I never thought the day would come that I would be telling myself off, but I thought that you of all people would know better than to hurt members of Fairy Tail while there's still life in me." a voice spoke "But since I have to, I'll give you the spiel. You've made a big mistake by hurting my friends. Anyone who dares to hurt the people that I've sworn to protect won't be getting any mercy from me."

Bolt slowly looked up and his eyes widened at the sound of the voice "Luke?"

Sure enough, the smoke cleared to reveal Luke Drako in all of his glory, as well as some unexpected reinforcements in the form of Elfman Strauss and Cana Alberona "Hey guys, sorry I took so long getting here but I had to pick up some reinforcements." of course his appearance, along with those of his reinforcements, was met with lots of muttering from the soldiers.

"No way, it can't be!"

"I don't believe it, he looks just like him!"

"Captain Tempesta?"

"Wait a second, isn't that Elfman and Cana from Fairy Tail? Wow, I don't think she's ever showed that much skin before."

"No you idiots those aren't them, they're wizards from Earth Land!"

"And you so called men have a lot of explaining to do." Elfman stepped forward, both of his arms glowing with magic energy "Where the hell are our friends that your king turned into a giant lacrima? Start talking before I show you the fury of a real man! **Beast Arm: Dual Iron Bull!" **he coated both of his arms in iron and smashed them to the ground Hulk style, sending a good number of the soldiers flying.

"**Magic Card: Summoned Lightning!" **Cana went next and bombarded the soldiers with a blast of lightning that left several of them incapacitated, only to see Tempesta blitzing across the walls towards them out of the corner of her eye '_Dammit, he's fast!'_

"Get down!" Luke suddenly pushed both Cana and Elfman to the ground and quickly took action as he blocked Tempesta's axe using his sword, their clash unleashing a powerful surge of lightning magic "I guess this takes the phrase "You're your own worst enemy" to a whole other level."

"That's it, you asked for it!" a voice echoed throughout the dungeon "You guys are in big trouble now, when I get my hands on you I'll tear you to shreds, I'll beat the crap out of every last one of you!"

"Sound familiar to you guys?"

"Looks like we know where Natsu ended up." Cana noted dryly "We can't be too far from here, and if I had to guess then I'd say that Wendy was with him."

"And expect a certain someone else with them too. You guys go on ahead and rescue them, I can handle this myself. I'll join up with you as soon as I can."

"Right, do it like a real man and then catch up with this." Elfman promptly helped Lisanna to her feet "You okay Lisanna, can you stand on your own?"

"Yeah big brother, I'm fine." Lisanna assured him, followed by him using his Beast Arms to free her of her bindings "But I don't get it, where did you guys come from?"

"I'll give you all the details on that later, for now we've gotta get moving." and so the two of them left, with Cana, Lucy and the three Exceeds following them in hot pursuit, their departure leaving Luke to deal with his counterpart alone.

Tempesta's gaze hardened as he broke off from their clash "Of all the ways I saw this going, having to face off against myself was not something I expected."

"I've gotta admit, the feeling is all kinds of screwed up." Luke noted flatly "Does that mean we're supposed to introduce ourselves?"

"I guess. My name is Luke Tempesta, former wizard of Fairy Tail and currently the captain of the second Magic Warfare Unit of the Royal Army of Edolas."

"My name is Luke Drako, son of the lightning dragon Kaminari and current S-class wizard of the Fairy Tail guild from Earth Land."

"I've heard a lot of good things about your personality, but now I want to see how you can handle yourself in a fight." Tempesta's axe suddenly morphed into a small dagger "Now then, let's see if you can handle this. **Thunder Blitz!" **he blitzed forward at high speeds.

Luke quickly found himself forced on the defensive as he struggled to block the attacks that were being hurled at him "So that's it, you can morph your weapon at will to match the style of combat you're using, and in this case you're compressing the size of your weapon so it doesn't limit your movement speed. Two can play at that game. **Thunder Drive!" **he activated his Thunder Drive and blitzed across the tunnel with Tempesta, the two of them clashing their blades together faster than the eye could see.

'_That glow surrounded his body, and all of a sudden he's able to keep up with me like it's second nature to him. One thing is for sure, this guy is a pro. _You've been able to keep up with me and my trusty Shatterstorm so far, but let's see you keep up with my **Storm Force!" **Tempesta then proceeded to morph his dagger into a large trident that unleashed a massive blast of wind and promptly sent Luke crashing through a series of walls behind him.

'_Is this some kind of Requip? No, somehow he's able to alter the form of that weapon whenever he wants.'_

"And now, **Thunder Burst!" **Tempesta morphed Shatterstorm back into an axe and unleashed a blast of lightning upon Luke, engulfing him in the explosion that followed.

When the smoke cleared, it was revealed that Luke was consuming the lightning from the attack, his magic power surging even more potently as a result "I'm guessing you're wondering how I saved myself from that."

"A little bit of context never hurt anybody."

"I don't expect anyone from Edolas to know this, but a critical piece of information in regards to Dragon Slayers is that they can consume their respective elements in order to rejuvinate themselves and increase their power."

"Sounds broken as hell if you ask me."

"You ever heard of something called a Zenkai?"

"A what?"

"Figures, then you don't know the meaning of the word broken, though I have to admit it does seem unfair if all you can do is alter your weapon."

"It may seem that way to the untrained eye, but my battle prowess is altered by form that I have my trusty Shatterstorm take."

"The principle may be different, but the effect isn't that different from the Requip one of my friends from my Fairy Tail uses all the time in battle."

"Sounds like they know what they're doing in a fight then, it's a shame that I won't get to see it in action for myself. But let's focus on the here and now, and I'll get things back on track by giving you a taste of the power of my trusty Shatterstorm."

"Then I guess I'll just have to show you what happens when you combine Dragon Slayer magic with swordsmanship."

"Works for me."

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Meanwhile, with the rescue party…

Lucy's eyes widened as she glanced over at Cana, taking in what she had been told "Wait hold on a second, you mean that gigantic lacrima in the plaza."

Cana nodded "Yeah that's the one, it just so happens that me and Elfman ended up being trapped inside the thing."

"That's insane, if you guys were inside the lacrima then how the heck did you manage to turn back to normal?"

"How do you think? Luke came up and turned us back, well him and Gajeel anyway. You see, it was like this…"

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(Flashback- How Luke and Gajeel freed Cana and Elfman from the lacrima)

"You got it, there's no stopping me now! **Iron Dragon Sword!" **Gajeel summoned an iron sword on his arm and promptly cut down the lacrima, causing it to unleash a massive white light that blinded nearly everyone present.

Luke looked at the lacrima and his eyes nearly bulged out of his head at what he saw "What the hell… You've gotta be kidding me."

The light subsided, and when it was gone, so was the lacrima, and where it once stood lay the unconscious forms of Cana and Elfman.

"So that means the giant lacrima was only the two of them."

"You've gotta be shitting me." Gajeel muttered "That was just the two of them inside that thing all this time?"

"You know what, I thought that thing looked a little bit small if it was supposed to have everyone from Fairy Tail and Magnolia inside it. Hey guys can you hear me, are you alright?"

Cana was the first one to regain consciousness and slowly shook off the disorientation "Oh god, what gives? Why the hell do I feel so hungover, I didn't even drink that much yet."

"The key word there being yet."

"Luke? Gajeel? Okay do either of you want to explain what the hell is going on?"

"We'll give you the details later, but for now we have to get out of here."

"Stay where you are, don't even think about moving!" the soldiers promptly started charging at the lot of them "You're not getting away with this, you're all under arrest!"

"And you see, this is why."

"Just stand back, I'll show them why you don't mess with a real man!" Elfman promptly activated his Beast Arm, or at least tried to "Hey what gives, why the hell isn't my magic power working?"

"I told you we'd explaing everything later. Gajeel I had my fun with them earlier, you go ahead and make an exit for us."

"Way ahead of you. **Iron Dragon ROAR!" **Gajeel let out a powerful roar that blew clean through several of the soldiers, as well as blowing a gigantic hole through the wall of the plaze in the process "There's your exit."

"Nice work Black Steel, now let's get out of here and find somewhere to regroup." and so the four of them took off running.

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About 20 minutes later…

Cana and Elfman listened carefully as they were filled in by Luke and Gajeel about the events taking place in Edolas "Wait a second, how is it you guys can use magic here? What is it some kind of Dragon Slayer thing?"

"How about this." Gajeel held up a small jar full of red pills "I'll tell you guys about it as soon as you take one of these."

"What are they? No you know what, that can wait. Just tell us what happened."

"It's actually rather simple miss." this was when Edo-Gajeel showed up on the scene "You and your rather buff companion over there had been turned into a giant lacrima."

"I told you it'd be easy." Gajeel shot him a smirk.

"Yes indeed, but then again I suppose I should've expected no less from Earth Land me, or you either Mr Drako. I knew the two of you were the right people for the job."

"...Okay what the hell?" Cana shared a look with Elfman "So now there's two of him now? Okay someone better start explaining."

"Although the two of us may look alike, we're actually quite different."

"Not that different." Luke pointed out dryly "The two of them might as well share a brain because of how similar they are, and to make matters that much worse, I've been stuck as the third wheel between them since we got here."

"Get as bitter as you want, but this guy's been a big help." Gajeel pointed out "It's fucking insane how much he looks like me though, we might as well be twins."

"And again, guess who ended up as the third wheel."

"Nice to know you've got priorities in order." Cana noted dryly "But putting aside that for the time being, what in the name of fuck do you mean we got turned into a giant lacrima?!"

"Oh yeah, I guess having two of Gajeel is more distracting than one. Oh my lord, now he's rubbing off on me." anyway, Luke promptly launched into an explanation of what was going on in Edolas "I know it sounds insane, even by our standards, but everyone from our Fairy Tail, along with the rest of Magnolia, were turned into a giant lacrima. The king of this world wants to get his hands on our magic power, but the one in the plaza was so big we thought that it had everyone from Fairy Tail inside of it, but imagine our surprise when it turned out to be just the two of you. I guess that means the two of you have a lot more magic power going for you than I expected, so that's a plus. One has to wonder though, how big could the actual lacrima be in comparison to the other one?"

This was when Edo-Gajeel spoke up "You know something, now that you mention it I actually did notice that the lacrima in the plaza had a rather jagged surface to it, as though it had somehow been cut off from a much larger one."

"Which means that wherever the bigger one is, that's where we'll find our friends."

"Okay, a lot of questions for a man to take in." Elfman pointed out "But before you guys go any further, what the hell is that stuff you're forcing on us?"

"You mean these?" Luke held out the jar to them "These things are called X-balls, you guys won't be able to use your magic power here in Edolas unless you take one. At least that's what me and Gajeel were told."

"You were told by who exactly?" asked Cana.

"By Mystogan, he's the one who gave them to us and sent us to Edolas in the first place." he was met with a few jaw dropped looks "Yeah, that's about how I expected you to react."

(Flashback end)

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Bolt let out a low whistle "Well how about that, looks like Noah was right on the money. He did say that Luke and Gajeel would be immune to the Anima because they're Dragon Slayers, and he even guessed that they would be together."

"According to Luke, it was Mystogan that sent him and Gajeel here to begin with, so I guess it's part of some kind of grand plan." Cana told them.

"But I don't get it, why didn't Mystogan just bother to come here himself?"

"Because apparently Dragon Slayer magic is capable of all sorts of things that no other magic can do in this world, they even have the power to change everyone stuck in that lacrima back to how they were in the first place."

"Sounds like a heaping dose of plot convenience, along with the fact that me and the other cats saw that lacrima awhile back and we know exactly where it is."

"You think you can get close to it?"

"Probably."

"That means we can call off Gajeel, he's out there rampaging through the city looking for the thing as we speak. But are you guys sure that you'll be able to lead him straight to that giant lacrima?"

"I can do it." Happy offered "I can take him there as long as you guys are sure that he can change everybody back."

"Well he's our only hope, I mean Luke and the others have the power to do it too, but Luke is a little bit preoccupied and I doubt Natsu or Wendy know how to do it."

"You don't have to worry, Gajeel and I are gonna go get back our friends right now!" and on that note, Happy promptly flew off at top speed.

"I'm not so sure about this, you guys think he's gonna be okay by himself?"

"He's going to be fine." Carla stated firmly.

"If you say so, but for now we'd better get moving. We've gotta find Natsu and the others and fast, right Elfman?" she received no reply "Elfman?"

As it turns out, Elfman had been left stunned and almost completely speechless at the sight of a certain member of their party "No way… Mira… but I thought…"

"You thought I was dead?" Mira looked away, her bangs covering her eyes "Sorry about this, but you've got the wrong one. I'm the version from Edolas, so I'm just a counterpart of the one you're talking about."

"Oh… I see."

"...Come on, we'd better get moving and track down the others."

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A few minuts passed.

Bolt led the group onwards until they came across a door at the end of the hallway "Hey guys check it out, if I had to guess then I'd say behind the suspicious looking door at the end of the hall is where we're going to find them."

"Just leave it to me! **Beast Arm: Stone Bull!" **Elfman coated his arm in stone and smashed the door down with one swift punch, where the found Noah, Natsu and Wendy lying on the ground, the latter two unconscious "Oh crap!"

"And the cavalry is here…" Noah glanced up and spat out some blood "And it only took about 6 hours."

"Yeah hang tight Mr Personality, since you're conscious that means you're better off than the other two." Cana knelt down in front of Wendy and tried to wake her up "Hey are you alright, can you hear me?"

"I already tried that, they're out cold. That creepy little troll doll extracted all the magic power they had going for them."

Lisanna was trying the same thing with Natsu, to no avail "Natsu can you hear me? Come on, please wake up!"

"For the record Animal Girl, that applies to both of them."

This was when Carla promptly started sobbing over Wendy's body "I'm sorry Wendy, I'm so sorry, please forgive me!"

"You'd better pray that she does." Noah tried to pull himself to his feet, and he did but his legs were shaking considerably from how weak he was at the moment "Because if it were up to me, I'd be standing over your body right now." he was met with various shocked looks.

"Hey Noah take it easy, she's on our side now I swear!" Lucy protested.

"Do you actually expect me to believe that? I don't think I need to remind either you or the Animal Girl here of the fact that she led us into that trap."

"Yeah well it's been brought to light that the Exceeds are gigantic assholes." Bolt pointed out dryly.

"It's a lot more than just that, there's also the fact she's been lying to us all along."

"What are you talking about?" asked Lisanna.

"I'm guessing the rest of you didn't know why she was sent to Earth Land in the first place. The truth is it's because her mission was to kill the Dragon Slayers, Wendy in this case." this was met with a few gasps.

"You mean…?"

"Yeah I do."

"Yes, that's the truth." Carla wiped away her tears and turned to face Noah "Our original mission was to eliminate the Dragon Slayers, but recently the mission was altered so we were to deliver them to te king of Edolas so they could extract the magic power for their own uses. That was the mission we were given."

"That's exactly what the rest of us were told."

"Hold that thought big guy." Bolt floated up to meet him at eye level "We're on your side right now, Fairy Tail wizards all the way through."

"I believe that in the case of you and the blue one, you two didn't know about any of this." he shot a glare down at Carla "You're the one I've got the problem with. You've been lying to us all this time, and you're the reason why all of us almost got killed. We wouldn't be in this situation right now if you had just bothered to give us some goddam details."

"Dude that's-"

"Don't even try to calm me down."

"Indeed, because his anger and distrust are justified." Carla floated up towards him "You're right about what you said Noah, and for that I'm sorry. I was aware of my mission this entire time, and I should've been honest and straightforward from the beginning, which is something I understand now. I promise you that I will answer for what I have done once all of this has been dealt with, but right now you, Natsu and Wendy need help. That should be our primary concern at the moment."

"And give me a good reason why I should believe this isn't a trap."

"You said you trusted me right?" Bolt got his attention "Well I… tolerate her, she's on our side and she's trying to make up for what she did. Just give her the benefit of the doubt for now, if it turns out she's wrong then you can shoot me."

"...Fine, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. For now." Noah shot a glare down at Carla "But let me warn you cat, if it turns out you're leading us into another trap, you're gonna be a smere on the ground."

"I'll keep that in mind." Carla told him flatly.

"Now then, let's deal with these two."

"Way ahead of you, time to do this like a real man." Elfman promptly picked up Natsu and started shaking him around like a ragdoll "Hey, a real man never sleeps on the job when they have work to do! Be a real man and get the hell up already!"

"Take it easy big brother, he's in really bad shape." Lisanna told him.

"Yeah I can tell, it's not working. So much for him being a real man. Maybe if we try and feed him some X-balls while they're out, can one of you open his mouth? The last time I tried that he bit me."

"What are X-balls?"

"A bunch of magic pills that Luke and Gajeel gave to us after they freed us from that gigantic lacrima." Cana told her "I figured Mystogan gave a few to you and Lucy when he found you guys back home."

"That's what it was? He just gave me and Lucy one without any sort of explanation."

"It's a good thing you took one though, you wouldn't be able to use your magic here without them." Cana promptly dropped an X-ball into Natsu's mouth, which woke him up but sent him into a coughing fit.

"Natsu!"

"Give him a minute, he'll be alright." Cana handed one to Noah "For the record, Luke told us about how you've been helping the others, so that's why he's so chill with you being around, even after what happened on Galuna Island and in the Tower of Heaven."

"Good enough for me, I was getting annoyed with not being able to use my own Dragon Slayer magic." Noah promptly downed the X-ball and started coughing violently.

Lisanna looked down at Natsu as his coughing subsided "Hey Natsu, are you feeling any better yet?"

"Kind of a relative term, but yeah…" Natsu coughed a little bit more, then slammed his fist into the ground as his body started radiating flames "We don't have a lot of time, we've gotta hurry and stop them."

"Stop who?"

"The bastards that are about to pull an Age of Ultron on our entire fucking guild!" and on that reference, Natsu let out a fiery roar and bolted out of the room at full speed.

"Natsu wait!"

"You know for once, I don't blame the idiot for taking off like that." Noah finished his coughing fit and let out a sigh, followed by the sound of a coughing fit from Wendy "Looks like she's starting to come too. Hey kid, you alright?"

Wendy slowly opened her eyes and looked up at them "Oh hey… Carla…"

"You're not hurt are you?" asked Carla.

"No, I'm fine, but…"

"But the others are in deep shit." Noah finished for her "And when I say that, I mean Salamander was right on the money when he said they were going to pull an Age of Ultron."

"What exactly do you mean by that?" asked Cana.

"What I mean is that the Royal Army is going to destroy Extalia and all of the Exceed life on it, and they're gonna do that by using the giant lacrima that has Fairy Tail inside of it, as a makeshift magic bomb, killing all of them in the process." Noah and Wendy were met with various looks of horror "Yeah, like I said, deep shit all around."

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At the same time, Faust and Byro were finally preparing to put their plan into action: a plan in which they would fuse the magic power of the giant lacrima with the magic power of all of the Exceeds, and then rain that combined magic power down upon the Royal City, granting them everlasting magic power.

**A/N:**

**And with this chapter, we move into the fourth act of the Edolas arc, where we see a few considerably twists in the plot, and more than a few surprises, with plenty more in store for our heroes. Now that the Fallen Exceed trio has reunited with our heroes, as well as with two more wizards from the Earth Land version of Fairy Tail in the form of Elfman and Cana, not to mention Noah, Natsu and Wendy can all use their Dragon Slayer magic again, they're working double time to return the people of Fairy Tail and Magnolia to their normal forms, especially now that they know what the king plans to do with the giant lacrima.**

**I knew going into this arc that I was going to try and include both Elfman and Lisanna in this arc somehow. I actually got the idea from Logannus Prime on YouTube, feel free to check him out if you like, and while I don't agree with his opinion on Fairy Tail at the moment, I have to admit that incorporating all three of the Strauss siblings into the arc was not a bad idea at all, and so I decided to go for it, but at the same time, in order to avoid overcrowding things, I also decided to cut out Gray and Erza from this arc, so they won't be involved in the adventures in Edolas. I know, it's a substantial sacrifice, but it has to be made. Besides, just because they're main characters doesn't mean they have to get all of the spotlight every single time. There's nothing wrong with letting the others have a chance to shine every now and then.**

**Oh and by the way, here's that song that Bolt was referencing. It's awesome, and I totally recommend you check it out, along with some of the other songs these guys make. **** watch?v=q8F-60tufng**


	31. Edolas V

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**Guest: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. Yep, cutting out Gray and Erza in order to make room for Elfman and Cana was a substantial sacrifice, but I think it was worth it.

**Ragnas Bredvolts (ch 29): **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. You described Bolt perfectly, a gigantic proverbial middle finger. I'm also glad you share my appreciation for Edolas Gajeel. Although for the record, he's an anime-only character. That's all I have to say, and you have a nice day as well my friend.

**Ragnas Bredvolts (ch 30): **Yeah I'm going to be honest with you, I've never given any real thought to the birthing process of Exceeds, nor do I want to. But your disturbing specifics in regard to the Exceed birting process aside, I'm glad to see you liked the last chapter, so thank you for that. Yes, cutting out Gray and Erza to make room for Elfman and Cana was quite the substantial sacrifice, but worth it in my eyes. I'll see what I can do in regards to Elfman. I can't promise new types of Take Over, but I can show him having a few new abilities, one of which you'll see in this chapter. That's all I have to say for now, and I hope that you have a nice day as well my friend.

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There was a stunned silence hanging over the group following the revelation of what Faust was planning to do.

Mira was the one to finally break the silence "I don't know how many of you have actually noticed this before now, but Edolas has islands that float in the sky, and apparently the magic power coming from Extalia is what keeps them floating up there. What's more is that I've done my fair share of research on this world over the years, and I know that the magic power coming from Extalia is what maintains the magical balance of this entire world. And you guys think that the rest of your friends are stuck on that floating island they talked about?"

"Yes, the one they're on is very close to Extalia." Carla told her "Both Extalia and the lacrima that contains our friends are floating in the sky just above the Royal City, which is where we all are right now."

"Which is what those psychopaths are hoping for." Noah pointed out "The Royal assholes are planning on hitting the floating island with a metric fuckton of Dragon Slayer magic, and they're gonna speed it up so that it crashes into Extalia."

"And… what happens next?" Cana seemed almost afraid to ask.

"According to that troll doll, once their powers collide it's gonna create some kind of giant explosion in the sky and their magic is going to fuse together, and apparently that's gonna rain down magic power on the kingdom forever."

"But… If that happens then-"

"Then everyone in your guild is going to be lost forever." this was followed by the sound of screaming approaching them.

"Someone's coming, get ready you guys."

"Nope, false alarm. I caught the scent of the idiot hurtling back towards us."

Sure enough, that was when Natsu came flying into the room, barreling past the group and crashing into the wall in the back of the room "Ow… pain… so much pain…"

"You wanna elaborate on what the hell that was about?"

"Two of Luke… twice the lightning… twice the zapping… twice the pain…"

"So to sum up whatever the hell it was you were trying to say, I'm gonna go ahead and guess that you saw Thunderclap going up against his counterpart that's been trying to kill us up until now, you tried to interrupt their fight by slamming a fire fist into the Thunderer's face, and as a result both of them sent you flying back here with two simultaneous blasts of lightning?"

"Yep… ow…" then Natsu looked up at Cana and Elfman "Are you my guys or the fucked up guys?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but right now I'm very tempted to blast you with lightning just to shut you up." Cana told him flatly.

"And that answers that." Noah noted dryly "I think it's safe to say she's nothing like the version we saw here in Edolas, and apparently Thunderclap has a strange taste in women."

"Let me sum it up for you Natsu, a lot of stuff went down and now I'm here, and I'm not the only one. Elfman, Gajeel and Luke are all here too. Happy's off looking for Gajeel so they can stop the lacrima"

This was when Wendy noticed something "Wait a minute, you mean you're the real Cana? I don't understand, why didn't you say so?"

"...You mean that you didn't notice until just now? No no it's okay I get it, you didn't recognize me before because it's so dark down here right? I understand, it's not like I'm some pathetic sad sack that's practically invisible to you."

"Damn." Noah let out a low whistle "Sounds like one hell of a bruised ego."

"Wait a second." then Natsu noticed something else "Didn't you come down her and save us a few minutes ago? Oh and Earth Dragon dude, you're okay too."

"And apparently I'm one of the few exceptions to the rule of all Dragon Slayers being morons in some way, the other being Thunderclap."

"You kidding?" Cana let out a snort "Have you seen those red cowboy boots?"

"Oh christ don't even get me started, and I thought Naruto's orange jumpsuit made me want to gouge my eyes out."

"Tell me about it."

"I'm so sorry Cana, I swear I didn't mean to offend you! Thank you for coming her to save all of us!" Wendy nervously bowed to her, then turned to Carla and glomped her "I promise Carla, there's no way I would forget about you. You're the greatest!"

"Okay you know what, I think that's enough screwing around for one day."

"What are you kidding?" Elfman promptly held up a fist "A real man knows when to take some downtime, and besides this is normal for Fairy Tail."

"Something I'll never understand, and besides shouldn't a real man know when to take things seriously?"

"...You out-manned me with your mind."

"Not a word but good enough for me I guess. Let's go get the king and beat the ever loving shit out of him."

"And stop him from crashing that giant lacrima." Natsu pointed out.

"That too." they were about to head out, when…

"Wait a minute." this was when Mira stopped them and held out her hand "I think I'm going to need one of those X-balls too." she was met with confused looks from almost everyone present, the only exception being Noah.

"Why the hell would you need one?" asked Natsu.

"They said a wizard from Earth Land can't use their magic without one right? Well I'm not exactly an exception to that rule."

"...What?"

"I'm not actually from Edolas. I was born in Earth Land like all of you." she was met with several looks of stunned disbelief.

Lisanna was the first one to speak "You mean that… you're _our _Mira?"

"Yeah." she looked away "Yeah I am."

"Looks like my hunch was right about that." Noah commented offhandedly, earning several stunned looks of disbelief.

"You mean you knew?"

"I didn't know for certain, but I did have a hunch for the past few days. It wasn't that hard to figure out. You volunteered to help us and stick with us even after my counterpart bailed on us, but you didn't. You had every chance to back out and save your own skin, but you chose to stick with us. Plus there's the fact that every scent I've picked up here in Edolas so far has this sort of musky feeling to it, but yours didn't. I was going to confront you on that when I got the chance, but as shit got crazier that ended up at the bottom of the list of priorities."

"Oh. You're smarter than I gave you credit for."

"But… But that's not possible!" Elfman finally found his voice, which is a lot more than what could be said for the others "You can't be our Mira, she died that day! I saw it happen, hell I made it happen!"

"No, I didn't die on that day. I thought I was going to, but… You know what, that can wait until later. Time is against us and we've got a lot of work to do, so just give me one of those X-balls you guys took and I can help you."

"Yeah, as epic as this plot twist is, she's right when she said we've got a lot of work we have to get done." Noah pointed out dryly "Besides, if we want to hear her entire life story then we can do it after we get this shit over with and dethrone the Royal assclown."

"But it does sound suspicious though." Carla pointed out "The fact that she claims to have been your Mira all along and never said anything."

"Fine how about this, we'll put it to a test, one surefire way of knowing for certain if she's telling the truth. Salamander, get in there and do the dog thing."

"Way ahead of you." so Natsu slowly made his way over to Mira and started sniffing her, then looked back at the others "It's her alright, no doubt about it."

"You sure about that?"

"As sure as I can be, I don't forget the scents of my friends, or people who actually do beat the crap out of me."

"Good enough for me. Like I said, we can grill her on the details of whatever the fuck happened to her after this is over with. Sound good?"

"I can live with that." Mira was handed an X-ball, which she promptly swallowed, resulting in black magic energy surging around her body '_It's been a long time, about two years since I've been able to feel this kind of power.'_

"I can't help but wonder though, what will Thunderclap say when he finds out about your little secret?"

"...You had to ruin the moment didn't you?"

"Someone had to. Anyway like we said, let's go find the king and beat the shit out of him, and if we have time, then stop the lacrima." he was met with a few looks "What? You know what fuck that, anyway let's get moving."

"But what about Luke?" asked Lucy "We can't just leave him."

"Blondie we're dealing with someone who can fight toe to toe with Thunderclap, do you really want to get involved with something like that?"

"...You know you make a good point."

"I know." this promptly the others to take off running, but Noah quickly glanced back and noticed that Wendy was still there "Hey kid you coming?"

"Sorry Noah, but I'm sure you and the others can save them." Wendy told him "In the meantime, I think Carla and I should head to Extalia."

"What? But that's foolish!" Carla protested.

"We need to warn everyone about the plan the Royal Army has and help everyone escape before it's too late!"

"I don't understand child, I thought we were going to stop the attack."

"There's no way we can let the king just do whatever he wants! I know Noah, Natsu and the others will stop him, but what if the king and his Royal Army have other weapons we don't know anything about? This is the only chance we have to warn them! They have the right to know their citizens could be in danger!"

"Forget it child, I'm not going back! I couldn't care less about what may happen to those horrible creaturers!"

"Carla, you know as well as I do that this has nothing to do with any of us being humans or being Exceeds. If there's something we can do as fellow living beings, then we owe it to them to at least try."

'_But to save the Exceeds…'_

"I promise you, I'm always going to be right by your side, so you don't have anything to be afraid of, okay?"

"...Alright fine, I'll go."

"Thank you."

"Yeah you do that." Noah put a hand on Wendy's head "I'm gonna go and catch up with the others, you guys do whatever you have to do." and so he promptly took off.

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Elsewhere, Happy had been quick to track down Gajeel fighting with some guards out in the open, and he quickly grabbed him and carried him up to the floating island where the giant lacrima was being kept.

However, just as Gajeel prepared to use his Iron Dragon Slayer magic to turn everyone back to normal, they were prevented from doing so as Panther Lily arrived on the scene and promptly attacked them.

Happy was left surprised by the fact that Panther Lily had wings similar to those of an Exceed, but Gajeel simply ignored this and made sure that Happy stayed out of the way, while he dealt with Panther Lily himself, and he promptly attacked using his Iron Dragon Sword, only to find that Panther Lily was able to dodge the attack with ease and revealed his Bustermarm, a sword that was ridiculously huge even considering how big he was, and he promptly used it to cut off a piece of the lacrima, taking Gajeel by surprise.

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By this point, Noah had managed to catch up with the others "So do we have any idea where this mother fucker of a king is hiding himself?"

"No idea, but considering we're dealing with a corrupt and power hungry king, I'm guessing he'll probably somewhere highy and mighty, and manly." Elfman told him "You can't forget about manliness."

"Speak for yourself you idiot, not everything is about testosterone. Forget it, we don't have time to argue about how much you're clearly compensating, we're on a time limit as it is."

"I don't get the layout of this place though." Lucy commented "The cells are located up really high and the courtyard seems really complex. I've heard about concentric castles before, but this isn't quite like those. It's just so different from anything in Earth Land that it's going to be tough to figure out."

"Be realistic for a minute Lucy, I get that the layout of this castle seems pretty weird, but it's not that crazy when you think about it. I mean this entire world is batshit crazy compared to what we're used to." Cana pointed out.

"Yeah you've got me there, this place is nothing like Earth Land. In fact, this place is so crazy that I wouldn't be surprised if they were hiding an amusement park in here or something."

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About 5 minutes of running later…

Natsu bolted into a certain room and screeched to a halt, his jaw literally dropping at what he was seeing in front of him "Oh my shit, I didn't think he would actually have one!"

"What the hell are you stalling for?" Noah caught up to them and looked up, and his expression dulled at what he was seeing: a literal amusement park "Oh you've gotta be fucking kidding me right now."

Lucy's jaw dropped along with everyone else "I was just kidding!"

"And yet here we are."

"This is… I have no idea whether or not this is manly." Elfman muttered.

"Let's go with not, I'd personally say that this is more psychotic than manly."

"I'm pretty sure you don't have room to call anyone else psychotic." Bolt pointed out.

"I can, it's my guild mates you have to worry about, cause a good chunk of them are the literal living definition of being fucking insane." this was followed by the carousel starting up.

This was when Sugarboy decided to reveal his presence "You know something, I've always loved these things. They truly are a great deal of fun, so would you like to give them a try for yourselve?"

"I would, but I can't and won't for two reasons. One, I get motion sickness. Two, every single thing you say and do creeps me the fuck out. Also, everyone get down. **Mountain Dragon Terra Shield!" **Noah blitzed behind the group and slammed his hands into the ground, causing a massive wall of earth to rise from the ground beneath them and stop the movement of a giant pirate ship.

This was when Hughes revealed himself from his place atop the pirate ship "Who would've thought that unlimited magic power could turn out to be one hell of a blast? It really sucks to know we're so close to running out of the stuff for good. Just the thought of something like that happening pisses me off, and I mean a lot. Too bad for you guys."

"You have no idea my friend." Sugarboy let out a chuckle "Our kingdom is on the verge of obtaining everlasting magic power, and we're willing to do whatever it takes in order to make that dream into a reality."

"I hate to admit it, but we're pretty desperate right now, so if anyone gets in our way then we have to cut them down!"

"So I must ask, will you behave like good animals and go back to your cages where you belong without fighting back?"

"You don't give a bunch of animals a choice, you just do whatever it takes to make them do what you want. And besides, we already took all the magic power they've got, so we don't have to worry about handling with care. Besides, if Code ETD pans out like the old man is hoping for them that means these eyesores will just turn out to be a major waste of space, and if there's one thing we excel at, it's taking out the trash. I hope you guys are ready, because you're about to meet your maker!" the pirate ship started glowing with magic energy as it surged forward, breaking through Noah's Terra Shield.

"Get down! **Mountain Dragon Terra Dome!"** Noah pushed the group out of the way before the ship could crush them, leaving the ship to crash into the carousel. When the dust settled, it was revealed that he had managed to shield the group with a dome made of earth.

'_Where the hell did that earth come from? So these freaks from Earth Land use magic in the same way the Exceeds do?'_

"How strange?" Sugarboy muttered "I thought their abilities to use magic without any sort of items were nothing but rumors, but such a thing is truly breathtaking to behold."

"That's one way to describe it, just take a look at the sucker that's combusting."

"Give me a minute and you'll be too! **Fire Dragon Talon!" **Natsu burst upwards and promptly attacked Hughes with a fire enhanced kick, sending him crashing to the ground "How do you like that assclown, are you ready to give us back our friends yet?!"

"Sorry man." Hughes pulled himself back to his feet "Hate to break it to you, but that's not my call to make, and even if it was it would take a lot more than that to make me give up on the prospect of ulimited magic power, so you'll just have to accept the fact that your friends are ancient history!" he held up his wand as it started glowing with magic energy "**Hell Coaster!"**

"If you haven't learned yet about how relentless we can be then fine, I'll just have to beat that lesson into you until it takes effect!" he failed to notice what looked like a rollercoaster coming at him from behind.

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"Natsu look out!" Lisanna tried to warn him, only for her to realize that the ground beneath them was sinking "What the- What are we standing in?"

"I'm pretty sure we won't like the answer." Mira told her flatly.

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Fortunately, Natsu was able to hear Lisanna's warning and leapt out of the way in time to avoid being hit by the rollercoaster "Hate to break it to you assclown, but you'll have to do a lot better than that!"

"I could say the same about you. **Hell Tornado!" **Hughes cast another spell.

"Hell whatnow?" Natsu looked up at the roller coaster, and his eyes nearly bulged out of his head at what he was seeing "Holy crap that's totally awesome, that coaster is making its own track as it goes, how cool is that?!"

"You're not supposed to be happy about it you moron! You know what forget it, just feast your eyes on my command baton, which allows me to control everything in this amusement park, from the roller coasters to the creepy clowns."

"I don't give a damn if your wand can make a castle to a conga line, all I have to do is wreck that coaster and you're out of puppets! **Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" **Natsu hit the coaster with a fire enhanced fist.

"Hate to break it to you dumbass, but that's one strategy you might want to rethink."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You'd have to be a major fool to think that I only had one, I have a whole symphony of Hell Coasters just waiting for me to guide them to their next victim."

"What?" before Natsu knew it, he found himself forced into the seat of one of the Hell Coasters in question "I'm telling you now, when I get out of this thing you're gonna pay for this you son of a bitch!"

"We take the safety of our guests seriously, so please keep your head and limbs intact until the ride comes to a complete stop. You see what I did there?" he received no reply from Natsu, due to his motion sickness "You know the Hell Coasters go 10 times faster when I boost their magic power, and their crushing speed defeats even the toughest opponents within 5 minutes." he was met only with the sounds of wretching "For fuck's sake man, it hasn't even been a full 10 seconds yet! Seriously, how in the hell have you survived this long when a joy ride can make you hurl?"

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Lucy was panicking at their current situation "Crap this is bad, this is really bad, we're getting deeper by the second!"

"And on top of that, Salamander isn't looking so hot right now." Noah pointed out.

"In case you didn't notice yet, we've got our own problems right now!"

"Forget about it, someone's gotta get him out of the coaster or else he's gonna be as good as dead in the next few minutes."

"But how can we do that?" asked Lisanna.

"I doubt you're going to like the answer to that."

"Why?"

"Because it involves me doing this. **Mountain Dragon Tectonic Uprising!" **Noah slammed his hands into the ground, causing two earth pillars to burst up from beneath the ground underneath both Lucy and Lisanna.

"**Take Over: Animal Soul: Hawk!" **Lisanna summoned a pair of hawk wings on both of her arms and grabbed Lucy using her newly summoned talons "Natsu are you okay?"

"Please… get me off this thing…" Natsu tried to suppress the urge to vomit.

"Lucy?"

"I'm way ahead of you, let me go." Lucy was promptly released, and with quick reflexes she grabbed onto the coaster that Natsu was trapped on.

Hughes let out a low whistle "Well I've gotta give both of them this, those two are as busty as they are gutsy."

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Back on the ground…

"Okay, now that that's done I'd better get you guys out of there." Bolt grabbed onto Cana and prepared her off the ground first "Sorry guys but let's face it, she and Luke are gonna hook up at some point."

"Don't bother, get the others first. I've got more than a few tricks up my sleeve. **Magic Card: Summoning: Grapple hook!"** and so in order to prove her point, Cana used her Card Magic to summon two grappling hooks and pulled herself, Elfman and Mira out of the sinking ground.

"Not too shabby, busty and has brains too, looks like Thunderclap has decent taste. **Mountain Dragon Tectonic Pillar!" **Noah summoned an earth pillar to push himself above ground along with the others "You guys need any backup?"

"Go help Natsu and the others, we've got this."

"Suit yourself, hey Bolt let's move." so Noah was picked up by Bolt as they soared off to join the fight with Hughes.

"Alright pretty boy, it's just us now."

"It's Sugarboy actually." Sugarboy told her "And if you were capable of something like that, couldn't you have just freed the other Dragon Slayer in the first place?"

"Yeah of course I could've, but someone has to do something about that face of yours, and now you've got three people willing to do the job for you."

"You seem quite sure of yourself don't you?"

"A real man needs confidence to get anywhere in life! **Beast Arm: Iron Bull!" **Elfman promptly summoned some iron onto his arm and attempted to land a smash attack.

Sugarboy stopped the attack using his sword, causing the iron on his arm to turn into liquid and melt away "So you enhance your physical attacks by coating your arms in metal? Quite an impressive style of fighting, it seems magic from Earth Land really is quite unique and versatile isn't it?"

'_How the hell did he stop my attack?'_

"But now the three of you should behold the power of my gloarious magic weapon, I call it the Rosa Espada. It doesn't matter what it is you throw at me, the magic power of this sword will turn it as soft as the fur on the backside of an Exceed."

"I think we'll see about that." Cana and Elfman promptly braced themselves for a fight.

However, what neither of them or Sugarboy noticed was that Mira was slipping away from the battlefield and heading off in another direction '_I'm sorry guys, I know that I shouldn't be bailing on you during a time like this, but this is something that I have to do. Luke's been burdened with guilt since that mission two years ago, and even in another world, the burden he bears hasn't changed, only it's so much darker. I may not be able to free my world's Luke from the burden he carries, but I'll be damned if I can't do it for the one here. Besides, if there's anyone in this world or ours that can beat the crap out of those two, it's them.'_

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By now, Lisanna and Lucy were trying to free Natsu from the Hell Coaster, though they weren't having much luck "Come on Natsu we need your help, these things are hard to move!" she was met with groaning.

"How about we speed things up a little bit." Hughes promptly increased the speed of his Hell Coaster, sending them rolling along the coaster at full speed, two of them screaming in pure unholy terror, only for him to be met with a kick to the back that sent him tumbling across the room "Ow…"

"**Mountain Dragon Terra Shield!" **as it turns out, that surprise attack came from Noah, which was followed by him summoning an earth wall in front of the coaster, which promptly crashed into it, sending it crashing into a nearby water dock.

Lucy rose up from beneath the water first and rounded on Noah in a rage "Are you out of your freaking mind?!"

"You're welcome for saving your lives from that idiot by the way, and don't miss the best part either." he jerked a thumb over at the screen that showed an image of Lucy screaming in comical terror.

"Are you sure that this is the time to mess around?" Lisanna rose up and promptly pulled the sluggish form of Natsu of the water '_Wait a second, water?'_

"To be completely honest, you people are exhausting as fuck, so this is more of a coping mechanism for me than anything else right now. Still though, this is what magic from Edolas is capable of."

"Yeah yeah I know, you guys think it's awesome." Hughes pulled himself out of the water and gave a smirk "Just imagine it, if we hadn't turned your friends into a giant lacrima then one day it would've all vanished. That's something none of us even want to think about."

"So that's it…" Natsu pulled himself back to his feet, his eyes blazing with rage "That's the reason why you took all of our friends away… You're gonna sacrifice our friends and destroy all the Exceeds just so you can keep your little toys around?"

"That about sums it up yeah, their demise is going to be what brings our salvation in the form of everlasting magic power."

"Shut up, I've heard enough of your bullshit!" Natsu's body started radiating flames "All of our friends are still alive inside that thing. You bastards had no right to take them! You care so much about losing your precious power so what, that means you're willing to kill innocent people just to get what you want? We're talking about lives here dammit!"

"Dial it back Salamander." Noah told him dryly "I think we both know damn well that trying to talk some sense into them isn't going to work."

"Does it look like I care?"

"Hold it you guys, get out of the way!" Lucy motioned for them to move as she pulled out a golden Zodiac key "**Now open, Gate of the Water Bearer: Aquarius!" **she opened the gate and promptly summoned Aquarius "Now do your thing!"

"Yeah yeah, I got it!" Aquarius promptly started summoning as much water as she was able to into her urn.

"Yeah sorry about this, but I wouldn't be too sure about that." Hughes started manipulating the water himself so it surrounded the group.

"What the hell is this, why the hell can't I control the water?"

"Have none of you been listening until now? There isn't a single damn thing in this entire amusement park I can't use to utterly destroy all of you!" and he promptly started to launch an attack with the water.

"Lucy you idiot, get out of the way!"

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Meanwhile in the Royal City, Faust was informed by Byro that they had reached the final stage of Code ETD, and upon hearing this, he took a moment to bid farewell to the Exceeds, or as he referred to them, the false Gods.

Byro took the opportunity to narrate the process of Code ETD as they began to ram the giant lacrima from Earth Land into Extalia, which would cause magic power to rain down upon the kingdom. The two of them stood in front of the Dragon Chain Cannon, the weapon that was supposed to be used for the operation.

However, as Byro prepared to hand over the key, Coco burst into the room and informed both of them that Panther Lily was on the island in the middle of a battle against Gajeel, begging them to stop. Unfortunately, they just ignored this and decided to proceed regardless.

In response to this, Coco promptly stole the key to the Dragon Chain Cannon in an effort on her part to save Panther Lily, and despite being injured by Faust, she continued to run away with the key in tow.

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Meanwhile, with a certain Salamander…

Natsu slowly opened his eyes and found himself in a strange setting, that being what looked like a classroom full of monster characters "Holy crap… Did I somehow get sucked into the world of Assassination Classroom while I was unconscious? No wait, it just looks like some high school haunted house sort of thing." and then priorities kicked in "Oh crap! Lisanna! Lucy! You're not dead are you, tell me you're dead!"

This was followed by a banging sound coming from the coffin on the ground, along with a certain familiar voice "Natsu is that you? Help us, we're trapped in this thing!"

"Lisanna! How the hell did you end up in there?"

"I don't know, we just came to and we were already in here! It's dark in here and we're running out of air! Help us!"

"Alright alright, just hang on." Natsu opened the coffin, and what he saw made some blood trickle down from his nose.

"Um, why are you looking at us like that?"

"Um…" he pointed down at them "Why are you two dressed like some kind of genie chick straight out of Aladdin?"

"What do you-" Lucy looked down at her considerably revealing genie outfit, and she promptly let out a shriek of terror "Who the hell put us in these?"

"Check this out guys." Lisanna pointed to a label on the side of the coffin "The Complete Actor's Transformation Box, come with us and enjoy the land of fairy tales with fun and exciting transformations that everyone will enjoy."

"Fun and exciting? You've gotta be freaking kidding me."

"Tell me about it, this is really embarassing. I just hope there's something on there that can change us back into our normal clothes."

"Tell me about it, there's no way I'm fighting in this."

"Hey check this out." Natsu gestured to a dial on the side of the coffin "I think this thing is what controls the costume changes."

"Yeah well, our real clothes better in here!" Lucy promptly shut herself and Lisanna back inside the coffin "There isn't a chance in hell that I'm fighting like this!"

"Alright alright, chill out a little why don't you. I'm only turninng a little nob, this won't even take a minute." so Natsu turned the nob, causing the coffin to glow purple, and when it opened again, it revealed Lucy and Lisanna in bunny girl outfits, then skin tight devil suits, fancy kimonos, and even matching swimsuits, which promptly caused him to burst out laughing at the sight.

"Oh is that how you wanna do it? Well fine!" Lucy promptly shoved Natsu into the coffin and turned the nob, sticking him in the various outfits in question, ending with him in the swimsuit outfit.

"Hey, what the hell was that about not screwing around anymore?!"

"Come out come out wherever you are, Earth Land trash!" the voice of Hughes echoed from outside the classroom.

"Looks like he found us."

"You can't make that sound cool when you're dressed like a pervert." Lucy pointed out "And why the hell am I still in this stupid swimsuit?!"

"You tell me, you're the one who's dressed like you're in a porno."

"Whatever, just change me back before that creep gets a peek!"

"Yeah yeah… wait a second." Natsu looked between Lucy and Lisanna a few times, and then he gave an unnerving grin "Oh yeah."

"Um Natsu, why are you looking at us like that?"

"I just figured out how we're gonna beat this guy. And for the record, if Elfman or Mira ask, this never happened."

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5 minutes later…

Hughes finally made his way into the room and looked around a little bit "I must be weaker than I thought if I made them fly this far away, either that or they're trying to lure me into some kind of lame ambush. Either way, I'm not wasting another second of my time looking for-"

"Hey there." this was when two seductive voices got his attention, courtesy of Lucy and Lisanna, the two of them dressed in revealing swimsuits and posing for him "Hey there, how you doing stud muffin? What do you say you come up here, and the two of us can help you to relax a little bit."

"...Get them." Hughes dryly held up his wand and sent the various monsters in the room hurtling towards them, sending them running away screaming.

"That is so not what I was going for, I knew this was a bad idea!"

"Oh come on!" Natsu poked his head out of his hiding space with his jaw dropped "I would've figured that they would think Lisanna was cute, and Lucy… well maybe the monsters would've at least."

"HEY! I can't believe you talked both of us into this, and what the hell is the deal with all of those cheesy monsters in uniform?!"

"I don't know, I thought we were in the setting of Assassination Classroom!"

Hughes let out a chuckle "These are the students of the Monster Academy, in this attraction you're able to get a peek in the academic lives of every demon, goblin and bloodsucker that's ever existed up until now. A lot of inspiration from this came from-"

"Assassination Classroom?"

"My Hero Academia actually."

"Oh. Yeah that actually makes a lot more sense."

"Why the hell does this always happen to me?!" Lucy and Lisanna were still running for their lives in a comical fashion "The least you could do is let us change back into our normal clothes you know!"

"What are you two doing?!"

"Running for our lives in bikinis, now help us!"

'_Dammit this is the complete opposite of cuteness! Okay it's almost the complete opposite of cuteness, I mean I thought those guys always went for the damsel in distress! _Well too bad, I guess I'll just have to deal with this the old fashioned way."

"Oh that's fucking rich." Hughes let out a chuckle "Oh get real Earth Land sucker, you really want to throw down with me inside of my Monster Academy? If you're that ready to take your final breath, then I'm more than happy to oblige you."

"How kind of you. But you don't want to get too cocky, I'm nowhere near ready to check out of life yet. **Mummy Bandage!" **Hughes summoned a mummy student and had it shoot its bandages forward, trapping Natsu with them "Every single monster inside this academy is like a perfect soldier that will follow any order I give them, pretty sweet isn't it?"

"You'll have to do a lot better than that!" Natsu's body started surging with flames, which was enough to burn the mummy to a crisp.

"What the hell how is your entire body on fire?"

"Like this asshole! **Fire Dragon Talon!" **Natsu blitzed forward and dealt Hughes a fire enhanced kick that sent him tumbling backwards.

"**Franken Knuckle!" **as he was sent flying, Hughes controlled his Frankenstein monster and had it deal Natsu a smash attack barrage from its fists.

With considerable strain, Natsu was able to stop the assault and threw the monster straight to the ground, leaving Hughes stunned at the sight.

"You've gotta be kidding me, he's strong enough to beat Frank?! No, it doesn't matter. Come to me now my monster army, defend your master with your lives!"

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Lisanna looked back and screeched to a halt when she noticed the monster army stop chasing them and turn back "That's weird. Hey Lucy, they're not-" she was ignored as Lucy kept running away screaming "Uh… okay… _But why would they turn back?'_

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By this point, Hughes had summoned all of his monsters back to his side "How about we see how you handle yourself when the entire student body wants to see you in a coffin!"

"Yeah well bring it on, I say it's my turn!" Natsu's body started radiating a massive amount of flames, the look on his face and the tone of his voice leaving the monsters all petrified.

"Why the hell are you all just standing around?! Destroy this piece of trash, do it now!" he looked forward and was left as stunned as the monsters he commanded "What?"

As it turns out, what they were seeing was Natsu radiating so much fire and malice, that he gave the silhouette of a dragon.

"I'm freaking out here, I'm freaking the fuck out! He's a monster, a real monster!"

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Meanwhile, with a certain demon and Dragon Slayer…

Mira was bolting through the halls of the castle, her mind racing '_He keeps saying that he's more powerful than the king himself… that can only mean…' _she screeched to a halt when a wall of earth suddenly burst up in front of her.

"You wanna elaborate on where the hell you're going?"

Mira looked back to see Noah standing a fair distance away from her, with Bolt hanging onto his shoulder "I know that what I'm doing right now comes off as ridiculously hypocritical, but believe me when I tell you that what I'm doing is gonna make the fight a hell of a lot easier."

"Like I said, elaborate."

"Don't you remember what the Thunderer said to us? Each time we've encountered him, he's said to us the exact same phrase."

"That he's more powerful than even the king of Edolas himself."

"That can and does only mean one thing. Noah was it? There's something that myself and your counterpart haven't mentioned yet, because if we did, it would've resulted in _her _life being forfeited in an instant."

"Who?"

"I'll explain on the way, but for now I have to get moving."

"...You mean we."

"You're coming with me?"

"I won't pretend I'm doing this for purely altruistic reasons. Thunderclap is going to owe me big time for this."

"...Fair enough. Let's move."

"Right." and so the three of them took off.

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Meanwhile, with Lucy and Lisanna…

"No no no no no!" Lucy was still running for her life, unaware of the lack of danger actually following her "Leave me alone you stupid monsters, go back to your awkward as hell lives of homework and boyfriends!"

"Lucy stop it!" Lisanna finally got her attention "Lucy it's okay, they all stopped chasing us like 20 minutes ago."

"Wait what?" she wipped around and saw confirmation of that statement "Oh wow you're right, but where did they go?"

"I don't know, maybe we just got lucky."

"Finally, at least now we can catch a break." less than a second went by before she was promptly met with Coco tripping over her and knocking her over "Ow, that really hurt!"

"I think she's hurt too." Lisanna knelt down beside Coco "Hey are you okay? You look pretty badly hurt, what happened?"

"Please help me, I can't run anymore." Coco pleaded with them.

"What happened?"

"Coco come back here you little brat!" this was when Byro came charging onto the scene in a clear rage "You give me that key back this instant if you value your life!"

"Please I need you two to help me, take this." Coco held up the key to Lisanna and Lucy, but then she froze when she recognized them '_Wait a minute, these two are some of the Earth Land wizards that we captured! This is bad, I can't give it to them, but I can't let Byro get the key back either, so what do I do?'_

"I shall warn you only one more time child, hand over the key or I'm going to make sure you regret it for what little life you have left!"

"What you mean my keys?" Lucy misinterpreted the situation and rounded on Byro in a clear rage "You bastards want to steal my keys and enslave my spirits don't you? Like there's any chance in hell I'd let you lay a finger on them!"

"Lucy I don't think you understand what's going on." Lisanna told her "But I think that key the girl is holding is part of the king's plan, and I'll be the old man knows something about it."

"...Oh. Well that makes more sense."

"Yeah." the two of them stepped forward and prepared to fight "I'm not sure I get what's going on, but there's no way either of us are going to let you lay a finger on this girl!"

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In the Royal City, Edolas Gajeel himself out of the view of the soldiers guarding the massive cat lacrima, and took notes on the details of Code ETD.

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Gajeel continued his battle with Panther Lily, and it was at this moment that he finally decided to get serious.

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"_Great people of Edolas, hello and welcome to E-Land! We hope all of you are going to have the time of your lives! Whether you've dared to ride the death-defying Hell Coaster or you're brave enough to enter the Monster Academy, we know your stay here will be an experience you're not likely to forget anytime soon! King Faust himself designed this park to give you thrills, and to showcase the limitless possibilities of unlimited magic power!"_

Byro stared down Lucy and Lisanna, his eyes blazing with rage "What is the meaning of this, and what has become of Hughes, Sugarboy and the Thunderer?"

Lucy and Lisanna glanced between each other "I know Natsu and the others will be able to handle themselves, but this girl needs our help."

"And I get bad feeling from this guy." Lisanna told her "But what about the giant key she has with her? Do you think that's part of the king's plan for the lacrima?"

"Maybe, but what is that plan exactly?"

"Enough of your chatter!" Byro spat out at them "I demand you hand over that key to me immediately!"

"Forget it you creepy old geezer, if you want to lay a hand on this girl then you're going to have to go through us!" Lucy whipped out a Zodiac key "**Open gate of the Golden Bull: Taurus!"**

The gate opened, and Taurus came forth in all of his glory "Moo to the moo! Loving the outfit you've got on Miss Lucy, I've gotta say that I approove!"

"...You can't come through without coming on even once can you?"

"Is he always like this?" asked Lisanna.

"Yes, yes he is, and it's irritating as hell."

Needless to say, Byro was taken aback by what he was seeing "What in blazes is that, a magic cow at her beck and call? It seems magic from Earth Land is far more capable and versatile than I had anticipated."

"It's got its ups and downs to be honest."

Taurus promptly whipped out his axe "Tell me something Miss Lucy, if I do this for you then will you finally give me that smooch?"

"Make him see stars and I promise I'll think about it, now get to it!"

"Yes ma'am, stars coming right up!" Taurus slammed his axe into the ground, resulting in a tremor that blew Byro clean off his feet.

"Hell yeah, that's my Taurus!"

"Well this ain't my first rodeo."

"Now it's my turn. **Animal Soul: Rabbit!" **Lisanna activated her rabbit soul, giving her the appearance of a bunny girl, then blitzed forward and dealt Byro a kick to the face that sent him tumbling backwards "It's not my first rodeo either."

"Alright, you go girl!" Lucy dealt her a high five.

"I try my best, spend enough time with Natsu and you get some good training in."

Byro pulled himself back to his feet, his mind racing '_One of them was able to produce a bovine from thin air, and the other one can change her appearanc to resemble animals. How could this be possible?'_

"Now I say it's lights out!" Taurus pounced at Byro with his axe in hand.

"Actually it's more like lights on! **Flame Liquid!" **Byro splashed Taurus with some orange liquid that suddenly set him ablaze.

Lisanna was forced to leap back a short distance "I don't get it, how could make fire from liquid that quickly?"

"You need to be careful." Coco told her "He's really dangerous, and he has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. Don't let him drink his Demon Control liquid, when he uses that0

"He's not the only one with a few surprises! **Animal Soul: Cat!" **Lisanna summoned her cat form and promptly charged towards Byro with her claws ready.

"**Storm Liquid!" **Byro unleashed a blue liquid that attacked Lisanna with a quick barrage of small cyclones, sending her tumbling backwards.

"Okay that's it!" Lucy whipped out another key "**Open, Gate of the Maiden: Virgo!" **she promptly summoned Virgo, which prompted her to burst out from beneath the ground and quickly deal Byro an uppercut to the jaw that sent him flying.

"Another creature appearing out of nowhere, is it possible that she's using a spell similar to the Anima?"

This was when Virgo's arms started glowing "It's punishment time!"

"Wait what?"

"**Spica Hole!" **Virgo used her magic to create a hole in the ground and sent Byro falling down it before he was able to react.

"Oh yeah!" Lucy dealt Lisanna a high five "Now that's how we do it in Earth Land!"

"So will you punish me now princess?"

"You are way too weird!"

"Is that a yes or a no?"

'_Oh wow, they're so cool!' _Coco had hearts in her eyes from her place on the ground '_And to think one of them is a princess too? Maybe I should give them the key after all, I mean I would love to have all of that magic power, but I know that if the king gets it then he's going to end up hurting Lily.' _this was followed by the ground beneath them starting to shake violently.

"Oh my."

"What the heck is that?" asked Lucy.

"It seems something is coming at us from underground Princess."

"Yeah, thanks for stating the obvious Virgo."

This was when a massive tentacle suddenly burst up from beneath the ground and quickly grabbed onto Coco "**You'll never be able to run now Coco!"**

"What the hell is that thing?!"

"It looks like a giant octopus." Lisanna commented.

"Yeah I can see that, thanks for the commentary!"

"**You are correct!" **this was when a giant octopus burst up from beneath the ground with a very familiar face "**I have ingested my octopus liquid! Go ahead and scream in terror and agony to your heart's desire, no amount of strange magic from another world will be able to save you now!"**

"Um… so he's wrong about that isn't he?"

"Sorry Princess, but I'm afraid I can't help you." Virgo told her.

"Wait, you mean you're seriously just going to give up like that?!" this was when the three of them were forced to go on the run from the massive hulking form of Byro-pus (Byro in his octopus form).

"**It doesn't matter even if I do have Coco now, because I won't be truly satisfied until I dispose of the three of you once and for all!"**

"Isn't that a little bit much?!"

"You always seem to have such bad luck with men." Virgo pointed out.

"How the hell can you call that a man?!"

"**Animal Soul: Harpy!" **Lisanna used her Animal Soul to summon a pair of wings and used them to catch Lucy while she was still in mid air.

"Thanks for the save, but what do we do now?"

"Princess catch, perhaps this may help." Virgo threw something to Lucy, which looked like a red rod, which she caught.

"What the heck is this?"

"It's a gift from the Celestial Spirit King himself, a versatile weapon you can use should you find yourself unable to summon any of us Celestial Spirits, or if we cannot help you at any certain point in time. It's known as the Fleuve D'etoiles, and it comes from the River of the Stars."

"From the River of the Stars you said?"

"Simply imagine the type of weapon you wish for it to make, then transfer your magic power into it and let it do the rest. You can use it if you like princess, but I doubt it's going to be very much help."

"You're not really much for looking on the bright side are you? Well whatever, right now it's the only hope I've got."

"Goodbye and best of luck to you princess." and so Virgo promptly disappeared.

"Lisanna get me in closer, and then I'll put this thing to work."

"Right." Lisanna started flying her in closer "You sure you know how to make it work?"

"Yeah I think so, and I think in this case, the best weapon choice would be… a giant magical whip!" she promptly summoned a blue and gold magic whip "Now I'll take care of you!"

"**More strange magic to demonstrate? I'm afraid it's not going to help you against the likes of me."**

"We'll see about that!" Lucy leapt forward from Lisanna's grip towards Byro, slashing him across his body repeatedly using the whip.

"**As I thougt, you're completely useless, but if you would like to trade lashes then I'd be happy to oblige you!" **he promptly swatted her towards the ground using one of his tentacles, sending both her and Lisanna crashing into separate towers "**I must admit that I'm rather confused Earth Land wizard, I heard you say before that you were going to take care of me, so is this how you intend to make good on your word?"**

"God dammit Virgo was right, this weapon isn't doing anything!"

"**What's the matter, has your bizarre magic from your world failed you?"**

'_My magic?' _and then Lucy felt the realization hit her '_Yeah that's right, whenver I summon multiple spirits it totally drains my magic power. That's why she gave this to me, so that I wouldn't run into this problem.' _she promptly pulled herself to her feet, her eyes blazing with newfound determination "I love knowing that my spirits care for me, and knowing that they believe in me gives me the strength I need, not physically, but mentally."

"**I hope you've made your peace with yourself!"**

"I could say the same to you! Now then, I just have to channel my magic power and let it do the rest. Now let's see, what would Luke do? I know!" she summoned the blue and gold colored blade of a sword from the rod, and in one swift movement she cut off one of his tentacles with ease "Now you get your grubby tentacles off of her!"

"**Why should I? She's part of the Edolas Royal Army, and as such that makes her one of your enemies! Her fate should not be of any concern to Earth Land scum like you!"**

"Can't you see that she's in pain?"

"**What I'm giving her now is just a taste of what's to come!" **he promptly squeezed harder, causing Coco to cry out in pain.

"That does it!" Lucy promptly cut through another tentacle as she leapt across one of them after another.

"**Stop jumping around on me like some kind of parasite!"**

"Somebody has to care about her, because it's obvious that you don't!"

"She's right, because if someone like you feels that way about your own comrades, then you can't be allowed to win!" Lisanna took this opportunity to fly Lucy closer as she summoned a whip from the rod, binding Byro and his remaining tentacles together "That's one thing we have in common, we're both members of Fairy Tail!"

"And one thing that Fairy Tail wizards know all too well, aside from destroying everything and anything they can, as sad and true as that might be, is to show compassion to people who truly need it."

"And to put our friends above all else!"

"**Be silent wenches, how dare you lecture me!" **and before Byro knew it, he suddenly found himself on fire "**What- What's happening? What is this?!"**

Lisanna let out a sigh "That would be my husband." she was met with a raised eyebrown courtesy of Lucy "What, they don't need to know the details."

Sure enough, it actually was Natsu, slamming his fiery fist into Hughes's face, sending him flying into Byro as a result "So you assclowns think I'm a monster do ya?! Well let me go ahead and tell you now, you haven't seen a damn thing yet!" and it turns out, the flames he had been generating were enough to leave at least one of them in an unconscious heaps "Oh and by the way, what the hell was that huge octopus?"

"Well you alwasy know how to make an entrance Natsu."

"It's part of the Dragon Slayer charm. But in all seriousness, what's up with the giant squid monster? Are we in Toriko now?"

With his strength fading, Byro was forced to regress back to his normal form, and he let out a snarl '_With this many enemies, not to mention my wounds I suppose a tactical retreat would be the best option for now. _Don't think this is over, I'm far from being finished as of yet. **Flame Liquid!" **he consumed some of his orange liquid and summoned a torrent of flames, and when they were gone, so was he.

"Damn coward, but he can't hide forever."

Coco was left in awe by what she had seen in the battle '_They were able to take down Hughes, and they forced Byro to retreat? These Earth Land wizards are just amazing!'_

"So who's the kid on the ground?"

"I don't know, but I hope she's okay." Lisanna told him.

"You know this kid?"

"I can't say that I really know her, we literally bumped into her awhile ago." she knelt down in front of Coco "But in all seriousness, are you okay?"

"Y-Yes, I'll be fine." Coco looked up at them somewhat nervously "Thank you, thank you so much for saving me."

"You're welcome, but why was that guy after you anyway?"

"Because of this." she held up the key to them "This key is what he wanted, it's what they'll use to turn on a machine that's going to kill all of your friends!"

"Wait a minute, are you talking about the thing that's going to make the giant lacrima crash into the city of Extalia? But why were you running around the castle with it?"

"They told us that we would be able to get everlasting magic power, but I decided that I wanted everlasting peace for Edolas a lot more. So please, I'm begging you, please help me to destroy this instead!"

"Tell me something." Natsu knelt down in front of Coco "So you're telling me that all we have to do to stop them from destroying our friends is destroy this key? No problem, just hand it over and I'll turn that thing into a pile of ash." he reached for the key, but in a flash he found himself holding a pink frog "What the-?!"

"Where did it-?"

"Hmm hmm!" as it turns out, it was Sugarboy who had the key, sliding acrpss the floor away from the group "Stop right there Coco, even you should have better sense than to hand something as important as this to an enemy of the kingdom! The fact is that this key belongs to his majesty, hmm hmm!" and he slid away.

"Sugarboy, he took the key! Give it back!"

"I think not!"

"Stop right there assclown!" this was when a magic motorcycle suddenly roared onto the scene, with none other than Cana and Elfman riding it "I said stop, you hear me?!"

"Of course I hear you, I just don't care."

"You're only gonna end up making this worse for yourself!" Cana looked down at Natsu and the others "Listen up you guys, you don't need to worry about dealing with pretty boy over there because Elfman and I can handle it, everything else is up to you!" and so they roared off into the distance.

"Come on you guys, we've gotta try and catch up to him too, whatever it takes for us to get that key back!" Natsu promptly tried to bolt off, with Lucy and Lisanna following not too far behind him, only to stop when they felt the ground beneath them liquifying and pulling the three of them in again.

"This stuff again?" Lucy let out a groan "I'm sick of getting stuck in this crap."

"This sucks, I can't move my legs!"

"Just hang on you two, I know what we have to do! **Animal Soul: Wings!" **Lisanna sprouted a pair of wings and prepared to grab onto them, only for her expression to dull at the sight of a nearby wall about to collapse in on them "Oh no."

"What's the matter?" Natsu looked up and his expression grew deadpanned "Oh you've gotta be fucking kidding me."

"I would get mad at you for your bad language, but Happy's not here and we're about to be crushed." and then it caved in on them.

"_Attention guests, all of the attractions in E-Land are now closed. We are truly grateful you came, and we do hope to see you again soon."_

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Sugarboy looked back to see Cana and Elfman still gaining on him "You Earth Land wizards are like a persistent rash, you just keep coming back over and over again don't you?"

"Come over here and say that to my face like a real man!" Elfman barked at him.

"I'd rather not if it's all the same to you, I need to deal with the two of you quickly, and I shall do so with my Rosa Espada." he dragged his blade along the ground, liquifying a portion of it and forcing them to veer to the right.

"Dammit man, how in the hell are you still sliding on the floor like that?" asked Cana "I know friction should've either stopped you by now or ripped you apart."

"What can I say?" Sugarboy promptly winked at them "I just do it."

"That's so unmanly it hurts." Elfman commented dryly "How about you come clean like a real man would, and tell us what that key is for instead."

"This key is used to activate the Dragon Chain Cannon."

"And what the hell is that?" asked Cana.

"Sorry, but the rest is highly classified."

"Of course it is." Cana shared a look with Elfman "Judging by the name, I'm guessing it has something to do with the Dragon Slayer magic they sucked out of the others before we saved them. When we saw her earlier, she did say something about the Royal Army planning to hit that giant lacrima somehow, and that would force it into colliding with Extalia, destroying both of them in one go."

Sugarboy looked back and shot them a smirk "Well well my dear, it seems you have quite the impressive intuition. But the fact remains that I can't let you have this key, it belongs to the kingdom of Edolas."

"And what you're saying is that the two of us can't let you get away with it either. **Beast Arm: Iron Bull: Projectile Form!" **Elfman summoned some iron onto his arm and promptly pounced

forward towards Sugarboy, and even after the initial pounced missed, he fired a barrage of iron spikes from his arm.

"Are some metal projectiles truly the best you can come up with? I can make anything softer, you can thank my Rosa Espada for that." he promptly used his sword to liquify each of the projectiles, causing them to melt onto the floor, but then it backfired when he started sliding across the floor as a result, ending with him crashing into the wall.

"Melt it to your heart's content, it doesn't make it any less slippery!" Elfman was quick to take action as he threw Cana through the air and leapt off the magic motorcycle, hurling it straight forward at Sugarboy.

"Just watch and I'll show you again." Sugarboy rebounded and promptly used his Rosa Espada to to liquify the magic motorcycle "A valiant effort, but far from being enough."

"You wanna bet?" Cana suddenly pounced at him from behind.

"Wait, the key!"

"**Magic Card: Freeze & Shatter!" **Cana slapped a magic card onto the surface of the key, encasing it in ice, only for nothing to happen beyond that "Uh… okay, what the hell gives with this?"

"I will admit this is cold, a fair attempt but ultimately fruitless."

"No seriously what the hell gives, why isn't this thing even cracking?"

"Be realistic my dear, this key is far from your typical run of the mill piece of junk that can be broken so easily, though this is very cold. But in all seriousness, you're not my type so would you mind letting go of me before we end up frozen together?"

"Speaking of hands, I don't think you've realized that the two of us have the upper one right about now." Elfman told him, leaving Cana looking rather confused.

"I don't believe I follow, would you care to elaborae Beast Boy?"

"So many copyright issues there. Listen up pretty boy, the way I see this, as much as your people need this key, myself and the rest of the men and women from my guild actually don't."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that if we can't break it then we'll just make it unusable. Cana freeze it all the way, I know what I'm doing so trust me!"

"Wait what?"

"Elfman you'd better be right about this, now **freeze!" **Cana slapped the key with another freeze card, freezing it further, but this didn't take away Sugarboy's confidence.

"Don't forget my dear, it may in fact freeze, but the fact is that my Rosa Espada can soften and liquify anything it touches."

"Don't be so sure about that, one wrong move and this key of hours is going to end up being turned into a pretzel."

"...I see. Well finely tuned is my middle name."

"Are we supposed to know what the hell that means?"

"Precision, it means that I'll simply have to cut you away." and on that note, he stared trying to hack away at the ice like a lunatic "Your Earth Land magic isn't going to help you now!"

"So it's a fight you want, like a real man am I right?" this was when Elfman got his attention back as he caught Sugarboy in a full nelson "She could probably just freeze you along with it, but she'd never let it go, the same for anyone from our guild."

"Not if I just cut you both down instead, now both of you let go!"

"I'm thinking no, now **freeze!" **Cana slapped on another Freeze card, and this one proved to be enough to make a crack in the key.

"What the- There's no way, you actually cracked the key!"

"Yeah you bet I did, now give me a minute and this thing will shatter faster than Spongebob's reputation did with the later seasons. Elfman, hold him still while I take care of this."

"No no no no, stop it right now! You're really gonna break the thing!"

"And you call yourself a man?" Elfman held him still as Cana poured more magic into the key, causing it to cack further.

"Wait no, you don't understand! You and your comrades need this key, you need it just as much as we do! Why don't the three of us call a quick truce for now, before it's too late!"

"And why the hell would we do that?" Cana took the opportunity to pin Sugarboy to the wall behind her.

"Because you need it too, it's the only way you'll ever be able to turn your friends back to their normal selves!"

"You really expect me to believe that? You're just full of it aren't you?"

"It's the truth, the Dragon Chain Cannon is used for firing condensed Dragon Slayer Magic upon activation. If you knew what that kind of magic could do in our world, then you would see why you needed that key?"

"You mean…"

"The way that Luke and Gajeel saved us before." Elfman muttered.

"They used their Dragon Slayer magic to turn us back to normal. So then…"

"That is the case my dear." Sugarboy shot them a smirk "You blast that lacrima with the Dragon Chain Cannon, and you'll turn all of your little friends back to how they were. So now do you finally understand? That's why none of us can afford to let this key break, the fact is that you may need it even more than I do."

"You don't know anything dude, we have four Dragon Slayers in our guild, and we have five already here in Edolas. Why would we need to use your weapon that stole their magic when we have the real thing? So sorry about your key, but the way both of us see it, that thing is as good as gone."

"Oh please, by the time it would take for them to shatter that lacrima, it would already be far too late. As early as tomorrow the lacrima will begin transforming into pure magic power, our plan was to drive it into Extalia before that happened. With five Dragon Slayers at your disposal, you could probably save a few more of your friends, but there's no way you're going to be able to save all of them. In fact most of them are not going to survive, and what's more is neither will those scores of innocent civilians that were absorbed by the Anima along with your precious guild mates. What are you going to do about them? Now let go of the key."

"...So that's it." Elfman shared a look with Cana and gave her a subtle nod.

"So you finally get it do you?" but then Sugarboy felt his blood run cold at the sight of the key cracking even further.

"Yeah, you just told us everything we need to know." and so Cana gave her cards one final surge of magic power, causing it to shatter into pieces "And that's done."

"You… You actually broke the key!" Sugarboy was left to desperately try and scrounge the pieces back together "Are you out of your minds?! I wasn't bluffing you know, do you realize that you just doomed your friends to be lost forever?!"

"...Hey Elfman you wanna do the honors?"

"I thought you'd never ask, I was hoping to put my training to good use eventually. **Full Body Takeover: Beast Soul!" **with a massive surge of magic power, Elfman activated his Full Body Takeover, then grabbed Sugarboy by the leg and repeatedly slammed him into the ground before finally leaving him embedded in a nearby wall "**Puny Knight."**

"Nice." Cana dealt him a simple fist bump "Not on the same tier as Hulk beating the ever loving crap out of Loki, but still not bad."

" **Thanks. And you're wrong, because we're taking all of our friends back with us, and then we're going back to our world." **Elfman promptly transformed back "All of us."

"You…" Sugarboy barely had the strength to lift his head and look at them "You've made a horrible mistake… both of you have… One that you'll surely regret… for as long as you both live… That key was the only way… you could've saved them… and like a pack of fools… you went and demolished it anyway…"

"That's where you're wrong, a real man always has a backup plan." Elfman activated his stone arm, only for it to crumble away, and when it stopped he held up the end result: a stone copy of the key to the Dragon Chain Cannon "You know why I'm not fond exactly of being called Beast Boy? Well aside from the copyright issues, this beast actually has brains."

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Meanwhile, in Extalia…

Wendy and Carla made their way into Extalia, surprising the Exceeds, and they asked to see the Queen because Extalia was in grave danger.

Nabi arrived on the scene and asked about what happened to Nichiya and the rest of the Royal Guard, and was informed about them being turned into a giant lacrima by the Edolas Royal Army, and Nabi was the only one who didn't laugh at such a proclomation.

The Exceeds didn't believe a word they were hearing from Wendy and Carla, and claimed that the humans couldn't harm them as long as they had the Queen, and then they started throwing stones at Wendy and Carla and yelled for them to get out of Extalia.

Wendy continued trying to plead with them to listen to Carla, but they continued to refuse to do so and only continued throwing stones at them, with Nabi being the only one to obstain from doing this, looking speechless and horrified.

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Meanwhile, the battle between Gajeel and Panther Lily on the lacrima island raged on, and when asked by Gajeel about being an Exceed, Panther Lily informed him that he had foresaken his own homeland, a fake country as he put it, and continued his assault.

Gajeel found himself recalling how he was an outcast like Panther Lily, which led him to decide that he liked his style, and then he proceeded to destroy Panther Lily's Bustermarm sword, swear that he would make Lily his cat, and then proceeded to overwhelm him with a barrage of Iron Dragon Slayer magic.

Panther Lily took a moment to recover, then took off his cloak as he decided to start fighting seriously, which led to him and Gajeel switching to hand to hand combat.

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Meanwhile, in the castle…

Elfman handed the stone key to Cana and shot a look down towards the unconscious and mostly naked form of Sugarboy "Now you see, this beast actually has brains going for him, like any real man."

"HEY GUYS!"

Cana glanced back to see Natsu charging at them in a rage "And there goes the ability to hear myself think."

"You assclowns can't run from me forever can you?"

"We weren't running you idiot, we were busy taking out this guy."

"...Oh. Well in that case…" Natsu yanked Sugarboy to his feet and started shaking him like a ragdoll "Alright you ugly creep, give me the stupid key! Come on blondie, I'm so not taking any more of this Edolas shit, now come on!"

"You know this would be a lot easier if you just looked over here." Cana gestured to the stone key she was holding "Well things are starting to go our way, but don't think we're totally in the clear just yet."

"Oh. Nice work then."

"You got two people working together when they can actually use their brains and you get the job done a lot faster, like a real man. So what happened to Lucy and Lisanna?" asked Elfman.

"Oh yeah, they're kind of stuck under a crapload of rubble right now, but they said they'll catch up soon. They're mostly stuck cause they can't get Lucy's cleavage out from under some of the debris. In all honesty I figured it would happen at some point, Gray did too, we just figured that it would happen to Erza.

"...Okay then. But putting your weird and very unusually manly problems, we can use this key to save the others." Elfman told him "We still have a shot at saving our friends."

"What are you talking about?"

"The king of Edolas wants to fire his Dragon Chain Cannon at the floating island with the giant lacrima so it will crash into Extalia. That's bad, because it will kill all our friends." Cana told him "But if we can use the Dragon Chain Cannon to hit the lacrima directly with the Dragon Slayer magic it fires, then we'll be able to turn everyone back to normal."

"I don't really get it, but it sounds like a plan to me. So where's this cannon thing supposed to be at anyway?"

"I think it's just up ahead of us."

"Alright then, so let's get to it."

"Hold that thought, there's still one problem. We can't get inside the chamber where we're keeping the thing."

"What's the big deal, all we have to do is use our magic to blow the door down and barge right in, they did it in Avatar: the Last Airbender, so why not here?"

"That's not going to work, from what I can tell it's made of some kind of wizard cancelling anti-magic lacrima, so it's not going to be that easy."

"Well I think we should give it a try anyway."

"And if it doesn't work then what do we do?"

"Well we could- Hold that thought, someone's coming."

Sure enough, the one approaching them from the shadowy hallway appeared to be none other than Luke Tempesta, covered in minor wounds "So it looks like my initial hunch was correct after all, not only are all of you here, but you defeated the others and you have the key to the Dragon Chain Cannon."

"Holy crap, it's Luke!"

"Hold on a second, something isn't right." Elfman let out a low growl "He's the version from Edolas! No way, that's not possible!"

"You've gotta be kidding me… our version of Luke lost?" and that was all Natsu could say before everything went black.

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About 10 minutes later…

_Tempesta _slowly and calmly made his way to the chamber where the Dragon Chain Cannon was located, with the tied up forms of Natsu and Elfman, with Cana slung over his shoulder "At ease soldiers."

The soldiers promptly dropped their salutes "I'm so glad to see that you've returned from the battlefield unharmed Captain Tempesta."

"Being completely realistic here, do I look unharmed to you?"

"O-Of course sir, my deepest apologies? Do you require assistance captain?"

"Not at the moment, so don't trouble yourselves."

"Very well sir, may we ask who these men are?"

"These men and the woman are keys to the Dragon Chain Cannon."

"I don't understand."

"You will soon enough. I take it his Majesty is inside?"

"Of course captain." the soldiers promptly opened the door to the chamber.

"Brace yourselves men, we're very close to our ultimate goal. Everylasting magic power is very nearly within our grasp."

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Meanwhile, in some random desert area…

Edo-Noah stood atop a large cliffside, staring out at the desert in the distance '_I can sense it, there's a great change on the horizon. _You guys know I know you're back there, whatever you want just come out and say it."

Sure enough, Edo-Lucy was suddenly shoved out into the open from behind some rocks a short distance away, with Edo-Cana standing right behind her "Look I'm gonna make this blunt, the others are getting angsty and they want to know what we're doing out here in the middle of nowhere like this."

"It's not that complicated, I'm waiting for someone."

"I take it you have a plan in the works."

"I do, but if I want to get the others to go along with it then I have to get all of the credible info that I can."

"Convince them of what exactly?"

"Well for starters, you know of our man on the inside against his will."

"Yeah of course I do."

"With any luck, we might finally have an opportunity to bring him back over." he was looking directly at Edo-Cana when he said this "So what's the deal with the others right now?"

"I told them you wanted to talk about some kind of plan, but right now they're coming off as pretty angsty."

"Probably because you're the one that told them about it, it's no secret you scare the shit out of them."

"Yeah well you're not very far off, you've been brooding and irritable since you and Mira went to help those freaks from that other world."

"They might have their quirks, but I can't deny that they know how to get someone thinking about what's important. Now look sharp, we've got incoming."

Sure enough, at that moment a large rock came flying at them from the distance, and as it got closer it revealed the forms of Noah, Bolt and Mira, who promptly leapt off and landed right in front of them "I never got to punch you in the dick for bailing on us like that."

"Punch me in the dick later, we have other things to worry about. We're getting a so-called traitor back in our ranks, but we need to know how to go about it. If things go awry, we'll end up losing not only him, but another one of our own."

"I have my magic power back now." Mira told him "Just tell me what I can do and I'll go from there."

"We have to wait until either we can go to him or he can come to us."

"Any idea when that will be?"

"Sometime tonight would be my guess." Edo-Noah turned to his counterpart "In the meantime I think the rest of us can handle this, go help your comrades out."

"All I need to hear, someone has to stop them from doing something stupid until Thunderclap can take up the reigns of them again." Noah shot a glance over at Mira, but said nothing more, and and Bolt promptly disappeared in a flash.

"Some kind of teleportation magic? Huh, looks like Earth Land does have some interesting stuff going for it after all."

While this discussion was going on, Edo-Cana stepped back a short distance and stared at a golden-colored locket hanging around her neck '_I know that we'll be reunited soon, regardless of this outcome… Please, just don't give up on yourself, my beloved.'_

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Meanwhile, in the Royal City…

Faust was waiting in the chambers of the Dragon Chain Cannon when he saw Tempesta enter the chamber with the bound forms of Natsu and the others "I heard that you were successful in retrieving the key. Is this true?"

"Unfortunately that's not the case your majesty." Tempesta told him "The key was destroyed before I could retrieve it."

"Explain yourself, now!"

"Gladly." he threw them to the floor and pushed Elfman to the front "This one has the magic necessary to fabricate an identical copy of the key."

"Like hell I will!" Elfman spat out "A real man never turns against his friends to help out bastards like you!"

"Spare me the morality lessons."

"Who is this one?" asked Faust.

"He's one of the wizards from Earth Land, and one of the comrades of the Dragon Slayers."

"Is that so? Tell me, is he connected to the lacrima that vanished from the plaza?"

"He is, as is the woman I captured as well."

"I see. Free him now, and have him produce this key immediately."

"Understood." Tempesta cut Elfman's bonds and held a blade to Natsu's throat "Alright get up Earth Land wizard, and don't do anything rash."

Elfman pulled himself to his feet and looked up at what stood in front of them "Is that the Dragon Chain Cannon?"

"It is, and you're going to activate it."

'_So this is it huh? It's not quite what I imagined it was going to look like. Looks like this is going to be a lot more complicated than we thought.'_

"Stop stalling, we both know that the lives of your comrades hang in the balance."

"Yeah I know, you're holding a blade at their throats. I guess I don't have a choice in the matter, so fine. **Beast Arm: Stone Bull!" **he activated his stone arm, and the stone crumbled away until he was left with an identical copy of the key, earning looks of awe from the various soldiers in the room "Yeah yeah I got it, a real man, the power of Earth Land magic, yada yada."

"Stop staring at him, he's not some sideshow attraction and you have work to do. Now stay on task." that made the men stop whispering right away "Now do it."

"I know." Elfman stepped forward and pushed the key into the keyhole, and he slowly turned it all the way '_This is going to be the only chance I have. I have to use this thing to score a direct hit on the lacrima, because if I don't then it's going to be over for everyone in Fairy Tail, not to mention the rest of the people of Magnolia.' _this was followed by the Dragon Chain Cannon glowing a bright crimson color.

Faust was quick to rejoice at the sight of this "Yes, this is a glorious day for our kingdom of Edolas!"

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By this point, Lisanna and Lucy were running alongside Coco through the castle, when they noticed the magic energy surging as the entire Royal City began to shift "Oh man, everything is moving! That's crazy! What the heck is going on?"

"This is bad, this is really really bad." Coco told her "This means they're preparing to fire the Dragon Chain Cannon."

"That's definitely bad, we have to hurry!"

"You know now that I think about, this reminds me of the Gilardts Shift that Magnolia did beforehand." Lucy pointed out "Is this because of some destructive moron too?"

"I wouldn't say the king is a moron, more like a lunatic with a superiority complex."

"...Yeah okay, that makes more sense."

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Elfman looked around at the controls of the Dragon Chain Cannon, his mind racing '_I don't get it, how the hell do I aim this thing? Where the hell are the controls?!'_

"YES!" Faust screamed at the top of his lungs with joy "At long last, the Dragon Chain Cannon is being activated! The event we've spent so many years preparing for is finally about to come to pass! Unlimited magic power is within our grasp! Prepare to fire!"

"Yes, the moment is here." Tempesta slowly stepped forward towards the Dragon Chain Cannon as he drew his sword and pushed Elfman aside "Now is our time. Now Natsu, start wrecking their shit!"

"As if you had to ask! **Fire Dragon WING ATTACK!" **in a split second, Natsu burned through his ropes and unleashed a two handed fire-based attack, burning through a number of soldiers in a single move.

"Gotta give it to you Natsu, when you put on a show, you kick it into high gear."

"What is going on here?!" Faust rounded on them in a rage "What is the meaning of this? I demand an explanation this instant!" he suddenly found himself beind held with a blame aimed at his throat.

"The explanation is simple, we're calling off the launch."

"You traitorous wretch, how dare you do this!"

"Spare me you Royal Nutcase, in this world or any other, there's no way I'd be loyal to a power mad monster like you."

"You're playing with fire Luke."

"I do on a daily basis, but I'm not the Luke you know." he gestured to his sword Raiden "My name is Luke Drako, a wizard from Earth Land, the Thunderclap of the Fairy Tail guild."

"And thank god for it." Cana used one of her cards to cut herself free and shot a smirk in his direction "Nice work, things got pretty hairy there, but it looks like we're gonna be able to save them after all."

"Tell me about it, but all things considered I'm kind of surprised they fell for this. Now listen up guys, I want you to aim the cannon directly at the lacrima."

"And I want you to fire it at the original target now!" Faust barked at his soldiers, leaving them cleary confused about what to do.

"Which one do you guys value more, the prospect of unlimited power or the life of your so-called great ruler?"

One soldier had the nerve to speak up against him "You guys have a lot of nerve pulling a low move like that, taking hostages."

"Yeah well, desperate times call for desperate measures. I'm doing whatever it takes to protect those I hold dear, now enough wasting time. So what's it going to be, unlimited power or the life of the king?"

"Don't listen to him, fire it now!" Faust barked at them "Forget about saving me, just eliminate the Exceeds!"

"...Change the target, aim for the giant lacrima." the soldiers finally saw sense and decided to give in to Luke's demands.

"You cowardly fools, you're throwing away our chances at everlasting magic power! What are you thinking?"

"They're thinking they value life more than power." Luke told him flatly "Something that you clearly don't understand."

"I wouldn't be so arrogant if I were you." a voice told him, followed by a disgusting sounding chuckle.

Luke glanced back to see Byro approaching the group looking as cocky and disgusting as he ever did "Arrogance isn't very becoming of me as I've been told, but that's a piece of advice you should take upon yourself."

"Of far from it my friend, I believe my confidence is very well justified, considering we still have one knight more than capable of defeating you in the name of the kingdom."

"I already know damn well what you mean, so he might as well show himself."

"**STORM FORCE!" **this was when Tempesta burst onto the scene and attacked Luke with a massive blast of wind from Shatterstorm in its trident form.

"**Dragon Sword Style: Thunderclap Strike!" **Luke released Faust from his hold and unleashed a blast of lightning to counter the blast of wind.

"Captain Tempesta!" Faust broke away from Luke's grip and rounded on his soldiers "There now I'm free from him, now change the course back to the original target!"

"I thought I left you behind Tempesta."

"You're not the only one who has things to protect, and as long as I do I can't afford to fall by your hand!" Tempesta charged forward as he turned shatterstrom back into an axe and started clashing against Luke and his sword.

"FIRE!" Faust finally gave the order, laughing maniacally as he did so, which prompted a massive dragon-skull projectile to be shot out of the cannon on the outside.

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Meanwhile, on the lacrima island…

Gajeel was forced to halt his next attack on Panther Lily as he felt the lacrima island shaking violently for a moment "Okay, what the hell was that?"

"It's quite simple actually." Panther Lily told him "That was the Dragon Chain Cannon attaching to the island."

"So they didn't make it in time. Dammit!"

Happy flew down to get a closer look, but he didn't like what he found "Oh man he's right, there's some big thing stuck to it!" this was followed by the cannon digging further into the rock of the island.

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Faust waited eagerly for the results of the activation "Status report, now!"

"The attachment is complete your majesty." one soldier reported.

"Excellent, now smash it into the kingdom of the Exceeds at once!"

"We can't let this happen!" Natsu tried to make a mad dash forward, only to be cut off by a massive crashing in the wall in front of them.

"Hey you guys!" that was when Lisanna and Lucy revealed themselves on the back of a massive flying creature "You'd better get on, we need to get moving!"

"Lisanna, Lucy, is that you guys? Holy crap, they turned you into a monster!"

"We're on top of the monster Natsu, now we need to get moving!"

Faust's scowl deepened at the sight before him "That's one of the Legions, what would it be doing here? I don't understand, how could they be in control of it!"

"It's actually pretty simple your majesty!" Coco called out to him from her place atop the creature with the others "This one happens to be mine!"

"Coco…" his scowl deepened even further.

"Come on guys, get moving!" Luke threw Natsu and the others onto to the back of the beast before he climbed on himself "So be real with me, are we gonna be able to stop them with this thing?"

"We'll never know until we try." Lucy told him flatly.

"Good enough for me." this was followed by the beast letting out a roar loud enough to scare a good number of the soldiers, and Luke locked eyes with Tempesta as they left '_He has that same look in his eyes… a look of shame and guilt, mixed with the resolve to do whatever it takes to protect the one he loves. You're not doing this of your own free will are you? I'll have to find out more.'_

Tempesta watched him go, his expression unreadable '_He has that same look in his eyes… a look of shame and guilt, mixed with the resolve to do whatever it takes to protect the one he loves.'_

"Don't just stand there you fool!" Byro rounded on him in a rage "You know all too well what will happen if you don't act in service of the kingdom! Remember that her life depends on your actions."

"...I know that, even after three years you haven't let me forget it." Tempesta promptly removed his glasses, threw them on the ground, and then crushed them underneath his boodt, before turning to the various soldiers present "Time is of the essence, prepare the Seconc Magic Warfare Unit Legion Platoon at once."

"Yes sir!" was the simultaneous chorus.

"If you'll excuse me your majesty, I must make sure to uphold our insurance policy." and on that cryptic note, Byro promptly took his leave.

"Do what you must Byro, but I will be going as well." Faust was met with various looks of shock and disbelief "All of you prepare to deploy the Dorma Anim."

One soldier had the courage to speak against him "With all due respect your majesty, that's a forbidden spell. Article 23 of the Royal Charter claims that the Dorma Anim isn't supposed to be used under any circumstances."

"SILENCE! I gave you an order, and you will do what I say!"

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Meanwhile, on the lacrima island…

Gajeel was quick to notice something very wrong with the island "Okay what the fuck is going on, is this thing moving?"

"As a matter of fact, it is." Panther Lily told him "This is in accordance to the plan of our military, this is the final phase of Code ETD."

"Which is what exactly?"

"Code ETD stands for Code Exceed Total Destruction, we will crash into Extalia, which will eliminate the entire kingdom and harvest unlimited magic power."

"You've gotta be kidding me, you're out of your fucking gourd!"

"You're lying… you have to be…" Happy had tears streaming down his face "You're going to use our friends to kill innocent people… Why would you ever want to do something as horrible as this?"

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Meanwhile, with our heroes…

Luke stood at the head of the Legion, his sword raised high into the air "This is it guys, if we're going to save our friends then we need to do it now. But it's not just about saving our friends anymore, it's about standing up and fighting for what's right. I for one am not just going to let go of everyone I hold dear. There's no way I'm backing down, and I don't think you oughta back down either. Today we fight, we fight for our guild! Now are you with me?"

"Every step of the way." Cana stood and took her hand in his, and the two of them shared a small smile, which was mirrored by everyone else.

"Now let's go, we've got work to do."

The final stand to save Fairy Tail, not to mention all of Magnolia and Extalia, was about to begin at last.

**A/N:**

**And with this chapter, we move into Act V of the Edolas arc out of, well in all honestly, I don't know how many. It was originally going to be a total of 7 chapters, but that was before I realized how ridiculously high the word count was going to be and now I have no idea. This is the 31st chapter of this fic (counting the prologue), and if all goes to my new plan, it should be over by the time we reach chapter 35 in the next few weeks or so. With any luck, we'll be done with this arc before we get halfway through May.**

**Now we've seen the efforts to stop the king and save everyone go into overdrive, and we see a semi-shocking revelation: the Mira that was travelling with the group was really the Mira from Earth Land all along. Let's face it, we all knew that was going to happen the moment I had Mira get "killed" in place of Lisanna, but if I were to just copy and paste that plotline exactly how it was in canon, we'd have a super boring, cliche and predictable story on our hands, and I can assure you that's not the case with this one, nor do I have any intention of it becoming that.**

**One thing worth noting is that this chapter marks the debut of Lucy's own signature weapon, the Fleuve D'etoiles. Looking back, I'm pretty sure this weapon is the only ability that Lucy has that doesn't require her to use her keys, and yes I'm including her Star Dresses. Also, I think this weapon has a lot of unused potential**

**So just to sum up, here's how the fights are going to be:**

**Luke Drako vs Luke Tempesta**

**Cana and Elfman vs Sugarboy. Side note: I know Elfman can't really manipulate stone to create a key like that, but I had to come up with a substitute for that ice key Gray created in canon.**

**Natsu, Lucy and Lisanna vs Hughes and Byro**

**Noah and Mira break away during the battle, the former following the latter to complete a different objective to be revealed later on. It'll make sense in the next few chapters or so, so bear with it until then. But remember that phrase: "I am now more powerful than the king of Edoals himself." If there's anyone out there that gets what he's referencing, or at least if they think they do, sound off in the reviews. I want to see if you get it. Also, it's partly to do with one thing I realized when I went back to watch this arc again: I fucking hate that creepy old guy Byro.**

**Anyway, I won't try to drag this on for too long. I just want to let you guys know that this story is going to be going on hiatus again after I finish the Edolas arc. I'll say what I said the last time I made this decision: No, I haven't lost my drive for this story and I'm not burnt out. I just want to take some time and work on a few of my other stories, but if you want to check them out, you're more than welcome to. The one that comes to mind first right now would be a DBGT fic I've been working on since February titled Piccolo's Counterattack.**


	32. Edolas VI

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**Guest: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. Yep, the war in Edolas is reaching its climax, and it's gonna be one hell of a fight.

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Nightfall came, and the skies of Edolas had turned from a pale green to a dark shade of blue, similar to what one would experience in Earth Land, but the situation was growing more grim by the moment.

With the lacrima island getting closer to crushing Extalia, the Exceed Imperial Guards inform the Queen and the elders about the situation, revealing that Nichiya and most of the other guards had been turned into a lacrima and were being held captive, and while the elders expressed surprise and outrage about the news, the guards also informed them about the riot being caused in Extalia by the arrival of Wendy and Carla.

Upon hearing this, the queen Shagotte stood up and decided to face the wizards from Earth Land herself.

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The lacrima island was hurtling towards Extalia, getting faster by the second.

Happy was particularly freaked out by what was happening "Hurry Gajeel, use your Dragon Slayer magic to shatter the lacrima and turn everyone back, do it now!"

"I can't do it cat, there's no time for that now." Gajeel told him flatly "This thing is getting faster by the second."

"What? Oh man this is bad, this is really really bad!"

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Meanwhile, with our heroes…

"Come on guys, let's go!" Luke and the others continued their charge towards the giant lacrima island "Don't forget that if we can't stop this then everyone we know in Fairy Tail, not to mention the rest of Magnolia, is as good as dead. Give this thing everything you've got!" and so the Legion creatrue slammed straight into the floating island, but it only seemed to be slowing it down somewhat.

"You have to give it everything you've got!" Coco told it, which prompted it to push harder, though it didn't make much of a difference.

"Dammit this is bad, we're barely slowing it down. It has too much mass and momentum going for it."

"So what do we do then?" asked Lucy.

"I have one idea, but it's pretty risky. If I use my Thunder Drive then maybe I can hit it with a blast of lightning strong enough then I might be able to stop it."

"But wouldn't that risk damaging the lacrima? Wouldn't that hurt everyone?"

"Maybe it will, but I don't think we have another choice in the matter. The way I see it, all I can do is aim low and hope for the best. **Thunder Drive!" **with a surge of power, Luke activated his Thunder Drive and charged at the island at full speed, unleashing two simultaneous surges of electricity from both hands to try and stop its momentum, but he only managed to slow it down a little bit.

"Hold on Luke, real man never lets his friends take on such a huge burden alone! **Full Body Takeover: BEAST SOUL!" **Elfman activated his Full Body Takeover and promptly joined the stuggle.

"Hang tight Luke, you're not the only one that's fired up!" Natsu let his flames surge wildly as he did likewise, the three of them combining their strength to push back on the island and slow its descent, but nowhere near enough.

"NATSU!" that was when Happy soared down towards them, but stopped in his tracks when he met up with Natsu face to face "Natsu… I'm sorry… I didn't…" he was met with a certain trademark smirk.

"Come on buddy, quit it with the waterworks and just come and give us a hand."

"...Aye sir!"

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Gajeel heard this little exchange from his place atop the island and gave a smirk "Sorry about this furball, but we're gonna have to take a raincheck on the fight for now." and he started making a beeline.

"Hey!" Lily rounded on him in a rage "Don't you dare run from me!"

"Just hang tight, we'll finish this. I just need to stop this thing first, then I'll beat the crap out of ya soon enough!"

"You're such a fool, once it's begun there's no way to stop it! This is the end, Edolas is about to change forever, and none of us are going to live to see the aftermath of such a change!"

"That's where you're wrong, none of us are dying. You're coming with me to Fairy Tail when this is over, cause you're gonna be my cat even if I have to drag you there!" and so he promptly leapt off the edge of the island.

Lily could only watch him go in silence.

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Luke and the others continued struggling against the island "We're getting closer to collision, if any of you are holding back for whatever reason, push it to the max and do it NOW!" his magic power began surging wildly just as a crash could be heard. When the dust settled, Luke was pushing further than all of the others combined, given the fact that, based on the dragon scales covering his body, he had activated his Dragon Force "Don't give up, none of you fucking dare give up! We can still push this thing back!"

"Leave it to you to act as the moral booster." Gajeel suddenly leapt down and started pushing along with them.

"What the hell are you doing here Gajeel, you're supposed to be turning the others in the lacrima back to normal! Get the hell back up there!"

"Hey shut the hell up Thunderclap, if you wanna deal with the angry black cat then go ahead and do it!"

"You know what fuck it, we don't have time to worry about that! If you're gonna push then just fucking push already!"

"What the fuck do you think I'm doing?!"

"Dragging on this conversation longer than necessary, now shut the hell up and push!"

This was when Lily looked down to see Coco joining in on the effort to stop the lacrima from colliding with Extalia "Coco what the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Lily! Oh thank goodness, you're still in one piece!" Coco gave a smile of relief "That's such a relief, who needs eternal magic power when you can have eternal smiles?"

"What sort of nonsense is that?! You have to get out of here right now Coco, these people will never be able to stop the destruction of Extalia!"

"Don't push yourself you goddamn cat!" Luke suddenly let out a massive surge of electricity from his body "If there's one thing I've learned in the past two years, it's that when you have something you need to protect, nothing stands in your way, no matter who or whatever it might be!" this left Lily somewhat taken aback.

'_Such conviction in determination… it seems he and his counterpart are more similar than I had anticipated, and it appears I've underestimated these Earth Land wizards.'_

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Meanwhile, in Extalia…

The Exceeds in Extalia finally took note of the lacrima crashing into their island, but they were still confident that their queen would save them. Realizing what was happening, Wendy promptly apologized to Carla, only for her to claim that it was too early to give up and try to warn the Exceeds again. Growing annoyed with her, one of the Exceeds suddenly threw another rock at her, only for Nabi to shield her, claiming that throwing rocks can be dangerous, and because they refused to listen to Wendy and Carla, Extalia was about to be destroyed. The Exceeds promptly started arguing with him, claiming that they still had the Queen to save them. Nabi was about to reply, only to be interrupted by the arrival of the Queen, much to the clear surprise of everyone present. Shagotte was quick to explain to everyone that Extalia was in danger and that they could not escape their fate, which was why she decided to tell everyone the truth. As she removed her robes and jewelry, Shagotte revealed to everyone that she was a mere Exceed, not actually a queen or a god, and that she only had one wing, before she apologized to the rest of her fellow Exceeds, as well as Wendy and Carla, for deceiving them, and along with the elders, she began to explain her story.

The Exceeds, in reality, were weak and fragile creatures who were treated very poorly by the humans, which caused the elders to make up the story that their queen was a God, a story that would plant fear into humans and self-confidence to the Exceeds. At first the humans didn't believe them, but using Shagotte's unique power of precognition, the Exceeds were able to tell when a human was going to die, causing the humans to fear the power of their god. Upon hearing this story from the elders, most of the Exceeds began to cry in disbelief, while Carla simply dismissed this new information and confronted the queen, mainly because she was angered by the fact she was ordered to kill her friends. Nabi tried to explain, but Shagotte interrupted him by throwing a dagger in front of Carla, claiming that she was the cause for Carla's pain and bowed down in front of her, ready to accept whatever punishment Carla saw fit.

Carla picked up the dagger, and the Exceeds began to cry over the potential loss of their beloved queen. Shagotte told the Exceeds to go, claiming that Extalia was going to die, and that she was going to die with it. Carla then began to approach Shagotte, just as the Exceeds expressed their desire not to leave the side of their queen. Carla arrived in front of Shagotte, but rather than strike her down, she just thrusted her dagger into the ground. With tears freely streaming down her face, Carla began to encourage her race to stand up and fight for their country, and with the determination needed to protect her homeland, she unleashed her Aera and blasted off towards the lacrima.

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The struggle against the force of the giant lacrima continued, though it didn't seem to be going very well.

"Come on, come on, COME ON!" Luke and the others continued pushing against the lacrima with all the strength they had "Do whatever it takes you guys, use every ounce of magic power you can muster! _I can't give up, I gained the power I have no to protect all of them, and there's no way I'm going to let it go to waste!'_

"Need a little bit of backup?"

Luke glanced back to see Noah flash onto the scene a few feet away, with Bolt climbing off his shoulder "Nice to see you guys gave enough of a damn to stick around, now can you give us a hand?"

"You already know why I'm here Thunderclap, don't be coy with me."

"Right right, just grab on."

"Not a chance, we both know that pushing against this thing isn't gonna do much more than wear you out. I came prepared though, but I'm not gonna crush you guys to do it. When I make the call, I want you guys to break away from that thing and take the beast lower. Got it?"

"Alright, I'm trusting you on this."

"Good." Noah raised his hands into the air, and suddenly an absolutely massive makeshift meteor the size of the island itself rose up from the ground "NOW!"

"GET BACK!" Luke broke away from the island and dragged the others away as well, being sure to deactivate his Dragon Force as well "DO IT NOW!"

"RIGHT! **Dragon Slayer Secret Art: PLANETARY DEVASTATION!" **less than a second later, with a massive surge of magic power, Noah hurtled the massive meteor towards the lacrima island, slamming into it and stopping it from advancing, though he seemed to be under great strain as he did so.

"So… you basically copied that move from Naruto?"

"Other anime have a hell of a lot of potential for creating new Dragon Slayer spells, give this a try once we get back home and I swear to god you don't be disappointed." Bolt told him.

"We'll talk about that after we survive."

"Which isn't looking as likely as I had hoped, I'm slipping on this thing! Help a brother out for fuck's sake!" Noah barked at them.

"Hold on, I'm coming to help!" this was when Carla soared onto the scene and started pushing forward on Noah's meteor.

"You actually came back?"

"I don't care what anyone says and I'm not giving up, I'm going to do whatever it takes to protect Fairy Tail and Extalia! I can't just watch my homes be destroyed!"

'_...Huh, looks like this cat has some guts going for her after all.'_

"I won't just sit by and do nothing!"

"Looks like you've got something going for you after all." Bolt promptly joined in on the struggle, with Natsu, Happy and the rest following right behind him.

Luke glanced down at him and gave a small smile "Good to have you back with me little buddy."

"Good to be back lightweight."

"LOOK OUT BELOW!" this was when Nabi charged onto the scene and slammed into the meteor headfirst.

"Why are you here?" Carla shot him a look.

"I want to protect my home as well, your courage was what inspired me! And I'm not alone in that regard either!" this was followed by all of the other Exceeds, as well as Wendy, suddenly bursting forth from Exalia to join the fray.

'_They came… all of them…'_

"Exceeds aren't afraid of protecting our land with our own paws, our beloved queen was more than willing to give her life for the sake of protecting the kingdom of Extalia and all of the citizens of it! But on top of that, you and your friend went out of your way to risk your lives to try and save us from ourselves."

'_Nabi…'_

"Here it goes!" Wendy called out to all of the Exceeds "Everyone get ready to push with all your might!"

'_Wendy…'_

"Now let's go!" and so Wendy and every single Exceed joined in the struggle, pushing forward on Noah's meteor with all their strength. Well, all but one Exceed that is.

Lily watched the struggle progress, his expression unreadable '_To think the day at last came where all the people of Extalia came together as one. If this were them on the day that I was exiled for saving a human child, such a thing might only remain a dream.'_

"Your majesty!" the elders looked on in horror as Shagotte suddenly gave out and started falling towards the ground.

"Hold on!" Lily rushed into the fray and caught her before she hit the ground, shocking the other Exceeds and earning a smirk from Gajeel "I have to ask your majesty, has the day come where you've grown weary of lying?"

"Yes, I suppose you could say that." Shagotte looked away "I'm sorry I hurt you." she looked up as she felt his tears fall down onto her.

"You know, no matter how much I tried to convince myself to hate it, the fact is that Extalia is still my homeland."

"Lily…"

"But it doesn't matter now, even with all of the Exceeds working together there's no way of stopping it. Please forgive me, this is all my fault. It didn't have to happen, I could've stopped the humans, but I didn't do anything!"

"Listen to me Lily, you don't have to worry. I'm quite certain that your words are going to reach them."

"Your majesty…"

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"PUSH IT!" Luke and the others, along with all of the Exceeds, continued pushing on the massive meteor, forcing the island back bit by bit "JUST KEEP PUSHING! We can do this as long as we all stand as one united front! We're not going to let this be the end of us, and there's no way any of us are giving up! Giving up isn't an option, not in Fairy Tail!"

"Thunderclap is right on the money!" Noah poured some more of his magic power into his makeshift meteor "If there's one thing you can count on from Fairy Tail, it's to stand even when the entire fucking planet says that it's impossible!"

"About time someone got it, Fairy Tail knows how to find a way no matter how high the cost might be. Now PUSH!" this was followed by a sudden surge of green magic energy erupting from the island with the lacrima, allowing them to push it back even further "This is it! Come on everyone, GIVE IT YOUR ALL! ONE FINAL PUSH!" they gave it one last push, and before they knew it, they had pushed the lacrima away from Extalia. Once it was done, Luke breathed a sigh of relief as he powered down "Well that was fun."

"I've gotta give it to you Thunderclap, I didn't think we'd actually be able to do it. I mean stopping an island with a huge-ass crystal the size of a fucking mountain with just ten people and an army of cats?"

"We probably wouldn't have been able to if you hadn't shown up, not without some serious plot armor anyway." this was followed by a massive green light shining down from the skies above them, blinding everyone present.

"Oh you've gotta be fucking kidding me, what now?!"

"Brace yourselves!" Luke and the others were forced to shield their eyes, and only when the light dissipated did everyone open their eyes "Is everyone alright?"

"I'm pretty sure everything isn't supposed to look like polka dots, but other than that."

"You might want to get that checked out. There's a reason I need glasses you know."

"I'll keep that in mind- Holy shit check it out." Noah pointed at the island, only for everyone to see that the lacrima had vanished without a trace, and the Dragon Chain Cannon.

"It just up and vanished. But what happened to everyone inside it? Does that mean they… you know?"

"I don't have a clue."

"You don't have to worry, everyone inside the lacrima is safe and sound."

Luke and the others glanced up, and their jaws all dropped "Mystogan?"

Sure enough, Mystogan stood above the rest of them on top of a Legion "I'm sorry I took so long to come here, but I needed time to recover, and finding an adequate Anima vestige in order to restore everything took longer than I was hoping for. I never would have been able to make it in time without all of your efforts, and for that you have my gratitude."

"So that means everyone inside the lacrima is back to normal?"

"Yes they are, by passing back through the Anima again the lacrima will return to its original form in Earth Land. At long last, it's finally over."

"So we did it, after all the struggles and hardships, it's finally over."

"Yeah, and thank fucking god for it." Noah fell flat on his back on top of the Legion with a huge sigh of relief, earning a few odd looks "What? Physically I'm fine, but spending three whole days with the likes of Salamander, the kid, the Animal Girl, the She Devil and the three talking cats? That gives a whole new meaning to the word draining."

"Uh huh. Going back for a second, what the hell did you mean by She Devil?"

"Oh. That. Right. Shit. Okay here's the thing, you're probably not gonna be to thrilled about hearing this, but you remember that chick you were telling me about?"

"Yeah…?" Luke felt a sharp chill go through his spine

"Yeah, you're not going to be thrilled about this. I know I'm not, I mean I smacked your shit hard enough to knock some sense into you."

"Quit beating aroudn the bush, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Well…"

While that awkward as hell discussion was going on, Mystogan turned his attention to one of the Exceeds as he removed his hood and revealed his face "Lily, you once saved my life long ago, and now I'm glad I could return the favor to you today."

"Yes." Lily wiped away his tears and gave a small smile "And I cannot begin to thank you enough for that… my prince."

"The thing is that she's- Wait a second, I'm gonna stop right there." Noah cut off what may have earned an angry rant on Luke's part and turned to Lily "What the hell do you mean prince?"

"I mean the long lost prince of Edolas has at last come home, and now-" Lily was unfortunately cut off by a sudden blast of lightning through his chest from behind "Prince…" and then he was left falling towards the ground.

"What the fu-"

"Lily no!" Mystogan could only look on in horror.

"Okay seriously, what the fuck was that?"

"I have a horrible feeling I know where that came from." Luke told him grimly "Just take a look and see for yourself."

Sure enough, at that moment, Tempesta came flying up to the group with Shatterstorm in hand, with Byro right beside him with a sinister smirk, both of them riding a Legion a single tear flowing down the cheek of the former '_I'm sorry Lily. _Take them all down, use any force you deem necessary."

"...Aftershock, I think we'll have to table this discussion for now. I think I have some unfinished business to attend to."

"Good enough for me." Noah shot a glance over at him "Hey just out of curiosity, can you use teleportation magic?"

"I dabble in it a little bit but I'm not that skilled with it. Why?"

"Apparently the Fairy Tail of this world has some kind of plan to bring him down, but in order to do it we're gonna have to get him close to it."

"...Oh, I think I get it."

Tempesta looked down at Lily as he hurtled towards the ground, his expression stoic and unreadable "To think you would forget your debt to the king and betray his orders so easily. I almost made the same mistake once, and if I had gone through it then it would've cost me dearly."

"Sounds like he's got one hell of a backstory."

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"Lily no!" Shagotte tried to rush down to help Lily, only to find herself being held back by one of the elders "No let me go, we have to do something to help Lily!"

"We can't Shagotte, it's too dangerous." the elder told her.

"Please!"

"Don't worry your majesty, I'll go down there and take care of him for you!" one of the Exceeds promptly rushed down to aid Lily.

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"Thunderclap." Tempesta looked up at where Luke was being carried by Bolt, his expression unreadable "It must be fate for us to meet like this, and I say that because I lack any other legitimate reasons."

"No arguments here." Luke drew Raiden from its sheath "So what do you say we just skip the witty banter and get down to business?"

"On that we can agree."

"That's enough Luke, allow me to handle this." Mystogan held out a hand to Luke to stop him, then turned face Tempesta "I've had enough of this pointless bloodshed Captain Tempesta. I order you to stand down immediately, by order of the prince of Edolas."

"You claim to be the prince?" Tempesta dropped his weapon, earning a glare from Byro.

"I am."

"**Silence!" **a voice full of malice echoed through the air, followed by a maniacal laugh "**You claim to be the prince? Don't make me laugh! You don't deserve the title, because I never thought of you as my son."**

"So it's you."

"That's the voice of the king." Byro gave a sinister smirk "The true ruler of this world, a right you don't have."

"**You have some nerve boy! You can't just run off for 7 years and then expect to be welcomed back as if nothing happened. Do you think you could ever fool me? I know you've been in Earth Land sealing all of the Anima portals. You're a traitor to the kingdom of Edolas, and as such you must be punished for your actions."**

"And apparently this is happening now." Noah commented dryly "Anybody know where the hell he's coming from?"

"I want to say he's close, but the echo effect makes it hard to tell." Luke pointed out "Enough beating around the bush, come out and face us like a man."

"**Silence Earth Land wretch, how dare you speak to the king of Edolas in such a way?"**

"Enough." Mystogan turned to face the Royal troops "Your Anima plan has failed, I must ask that you surrender peacefully. You have no reason to fight anymore."

"**What a ridiculous notion, who said I need a reason to fight?" **this was followed by a surge of green energy from within an ancient colosseum beneath them.

Luke and the others were forced to brace themselves for the shockwaves '_This is bad, I can already feel the magic power building up in the air.'_

"**But this is not just some simple fight, no this is retribution, this is the extermination of all would dare to oppose their king!" **a metallic sphere rose up from beneath the ground.

"Looks like some kind of magic weapon, and judging from how he's acting, I'd say we're in for one hell of a fight." Luke promptly raised Raiden in front of him.

"Really, cause it looks more like an egg to me." Noah pointed out "And I think it's about to hatch or something."

"Come on man, it doesn't look like- Holy crap it totally does."

"**Since you and your meddlesome friends insist on standing in my way, I have no choice but to wipe each and every one of you from this plain of existence, regardless of who or what you may be!" **the mysterious device began to rise up from the ground.

"Father, please." Mystogan tried to plead with him, though to no avail, as his cries ended up falling on deaf ears.

"**Silence! I am not your father, I am the king of Edolas! All I have to do is dispose of all of you here and now, and then I will no longer have to worry about you sealing my Animas in Earth Land! I'll be free to create another giant lacrima and fuse it with the Exceeds, and then limitless magic power will belong to me!" **the device finished unravelling, revealing its true form: a massive mechanical dragon that Faust commanded "**Try as you might, you haven't a hope in hell of stopping me! I am the king, and my power is absolute!" **the dragon's roar echoed for miles around.

Luke suppressed a cold sweat dripping down the side of his face "Can you guys feel that, all of that magic power that thing is radiating?"

"We all can, and we recognize that form." Shagotte told him grimly "It's something we had hoped would we would never have to see again."

"Dorma Anim?"

"The Dorma Anim." Mystogan was quick to elaborate "From the ancient language of Edolas, it mean Dragon Knight. It's enhanced dragon armor."

"That thing is supposed to be a dragon? Well it definitely looks like a dragon, I have to give him credit for that."

"What are you kidding?" Noah let out a snort "As far as I can tell, it looks a hell of a lot more like a Megazord reject than anything else."

"Hey it looks closer to the real deal than any of the dragons from Game of Thrones."

"Have you ever even watched that?"

"I've seen pictures, but I've never tried watching it. I mean maybe if they had it on Netflix or something."

"They've got it on HBO NOW, give it a shot when we get back to our world. But stop after you finish season 7, season 8 is an absolute shit show."

"I'll keep that in mind, at least if I ever subscribe to HBO NOW. But anyway we'll deal with pop culture TV featuring incest later, what area we dealing with here?"

"Like the prince said, that's the Dorma Anim." explained Coco "It's an enhanced armor made from a special anti-magic lacrima known as Wizard Canceller, and it's bad news for us because our attacks won't have any effect on it!"

"Yeah okay, that sounds pretty bad."

"It is. The king must be inside the Dorma Anim."

"Which also he's controlling its every move."

"Huh, looks like a one man Megazord." Noah was met with a dry glance from Luke "Hey come on, we all know they're a thing."

"Yeah but I thought we shelved the pop culture references."

"**Enough of this worthless prattling! As your king, I order you to capture the Exceeds at once!"**

"Yes sir!" the soldiers on their various Legion beasts advanced forward.

"There's little time, fly for your lives!" Mystogan called out to the Exceeds, causing almost all of them to flee in a panic.

"Forget it, there's no way you flying furballs are getting away! Magicalizing cannon is charged and ready!" one of the soldiers aimed a cannon at the Exceeds.

"Now FIRE!" Byro hissed at them, which prompted them to fire their cannons, causing every single Exceed hit by the cannons to be turned into cat-shaped lacrima that fell to the ground with various loud thuds.

Shagotte was horrified by this, and had to be held back by one of the elders "Hurry, you have to fly away before it's too late!"

"No my queen, we have to flee from here. It's too dangerous." the elder told her.

"Everyone please, you must try to stay strong!"

"After them, do whatever it takes!" Byro gave the order.

"...You heard the man, do whatever he wants, the usual." Tempesta gave a sigh as he charged forward.

"Yes sir!" was the simultaneous chorus from the soldiers.

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Luke and the others were quick to regroup on the back of Coco's legion "Okay guys, so let's sum up the situation "Alright then, I think it's safe to say that shit just turned sideways in the most colossol way."

"Not the most colossol." Noah pointed out.

"Solid reference." the two of them fist bumped.

"But in all seriousness, do we have any sort of gameplan right now?" asked Cana.

"More or less. You guys focus on protecting the remaining Exceeds from the Royal Army for the time being."

"What about you?"

"I'm gonna give it a shot at taking down Tempesta."

"Word of advice though, don't let your guard down with that one. He's definitely been able to hold his own against you so far."

"I'll keep that in mind." Luke glanced over at where Natsu hanging onto the side of the Legion in obvious agony, being comforted by Lisanna "I've gotta hand it to you Natsu, I though you would've given out from riding this thing but you're hanging in there. Nice work. I've gotta ask though, did you have Wendy cast that Troia spell to help you with your motion sicnkess?"

"For fuck's sake…" Natsu's cheeks bulged slightly "Why would I get nautious when I'm not even riding on a vehicle? This guy is lending us a hand, how can you be so cruel?"

"Because I can see you're about to upchuck and spew all over us like some kind of busted fountain. Good lord, I've been spending too much time with Gajeel and his new BFF. But in the meantime, we still need to focus on finding a way to take down the Dorma Anim, so frankly I'm open to suggestions."

"I wouldn't go near that thing if I were you." Coco told him "Your magic is useless against that thing."

"Yeah I know, maybe if we can find a weak spot on that thing or something."

"For now all we can do is dodge its attacks." Mystogan told him "We must do what we can to protect the Exceeds since they're completely defenseless right now."

"I guess it's all we can do now, let's get moving." and so the Legion set off.

"**You think you'll be able to dodge me? We'll see about that, for I intend to obliterate anyone and everyone who dares to stand in my way! I won't allow a single human to escape from my wrath! Now BEGONE! DRAGON RIDER'S ROAR!" **Faust let out a massive roar of magic power from the mouth of the Dorma Anim.

"Oh crap."

"Everyone get back!" Mystogan flew in front of them on his own Legion and used his magic staves to protect them from the blast.

"Well that's convenient, thanks for the save Mystogan."

"**Mystogan? Don't tell me that's the name you chose for people to call you in Earth Land, your name is Jellal."**

"...Your father isn't much of a people person is he?"

"No time for wisecracks Luke, you need to get out of here while you still can." Mystogna told him firmly.

"What about you, you gonna be okay on your own like this?"

"Forget about me, I'll be fine. **Three Layer Magic Circle: Mirror Water!" **Mystogan promptly performed a number of hand signs and created three magic circles that reflected the Dragon Rider's Roar back at the Dorma Anim.

"Nice work."

"I can see why this guy earned the title of an S-class wizard." Noah commented "You think that got him?"

"I think we'll know once the smoke clears."

Sure enough, when the smoke cleared, both Faust and the Dorma Anim were still standing like nothing had even happened "**Goodness, that actually tickled."**

"Yeah that figures, it's not even scrathed. I shouldn't be surprised, nothing is ever supposed to be that easy."

"**Of course it's not that easy, for now you're beholding the unrivalled power of the great Wizard-Canceller! You can attack with every ounce of strength you may possess but it won't do any good, the Dorma Anim is impervious to all forms of magic! Dragon Rider's Roar!" **Faust unleashed another Dragon Rider's Roar, hitting Mystogan dead on before he could react and blowing him clear off his Legion "**And just like that, the mighty prince has fallen so easily! I'm sure he'll very easily feel right at home, being forced to crawl around with the other pests!" **and this was followed by the Royal Army continuing to.

"**Beast Arm: Stone Bull!" **Elfman activated his stone arm and tried to fire off some stone projectiles, only for the Legion to swerve to avoid another attack from the Dorma Anim, screwing up his aim "God dammit, a real man can't work under these conditions. What the hell am I supposed to do?" this was followed by several more Exceeds being turned into lacrima by use of the Dragon Rider's Roar.

"**Yes, such a beautiful sight before my very eyes! Just you wait, I'm going to turn every last Exceed in existence into a sparkling lacrima!"**

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As a result of the chaos being caused, a good number of Exceeds were resorting to trying to hide out of sight, though a good number of them were considerably biased "I say leave it to those wretched humans, only they would dare to come up with such a horrible contraption!"

"The one who turns the heavens to black and brings destruction with it." Shagotte muttered loud enough to get their attention "The creature of nightmares known as the Dorma Anim, or the Dragon Knight. Legend has it that long ago the Dorma Anim was used to attack Extalia, and it nearly resulted in the destruction of all of Edolas in the process. The humans were horrified by the results, and as such they chose to ban the usage of it and seal it away forever, and yet here it is again after all this time."

"But I don't think I understand, how did that thing nearly destroy all of Edolas?"

"I don't know all of the detais, and I doubt any of the Elders do either. However, the legend does say that the moment this world lost the majority of its magic was when the skies were first turned black as night by the Dorma Anim."

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Tempesta looked down at where Lily had fallen, a single tear falling down his cheek '_Forgive me my friend, for you were one of the few who understood the situation I find myself in, as I've been for the past two years. Whether you're an Exceed or Fallen, you deserved a much better fate than this.'_

"Just pathetic, to think I expected more from him." Byro let out a loud scoff, his tone filled with malice "To think that he had fallen from a single attack, but I think it's safe to say you're quite different in that regard. You would make a worthy knight in the world that's yet to come."

"What do you mean by the world that's yet to come?"

"Oh come now Captain Tempesta, I mean the utopia of everlasting magic power that we've been striving for all this time. Whether they be commoners from various towns and villages or citizens of the Royal City, it won't matter. Only those deserving will survive and be able to obtain what we all desire."

"And yet I can't help but wonder, will Edolas survive what's yet to come?"

"What's the matter? Come now, you're usually overflowing with that unwavering resolve of yours. This isn't like you."

"All I did was ask an honest question."

"You have nothing to worry about. After all, if you're being possessed by a fear of death then I would be more than willing to accomodate you."

"That's what I'm counting on."

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Meanwhile, with our heroes…

Cana and the others were forced on the evasive by the attacks of the Dorma Anim "Dammit this isn't getting us anywhere, how the hell are we supposed to fight him if he keeps forcing us to dodge his attacks?"

"I don't know, but I don't think we can keep it up for very long at the rate we're going with right now." Lisanna told her.

"Yeah I kind of figured that out, anybody got any ideas?"

"I did figure we could use someone as a decoy to distract the dragon, but unfortunately the cat version of Ichiya isn't here." Bolt was met with a few odd looks "Yeah I know, he's got a counterpart here too. It's as fucked up as it sounds. Also, you know we're missing about five of ours right?"

"Wait what?" Cana and the others looked around and noticed the absence of five certain members of their party, specifically the five Dragon Slayers "Oh. Oh crap."

Faust let out a mainiacal laugh from within the Dorma Anim "**Now do you see, this is what happens to all who dare to defy their king!"**

"We'll see about that you lunatic! **Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Indra's Wrath: Divine Thunderclap!" **this was when Luke blitzed in front of him and raised up a hand, which he used to guide a massive bolt of lightning down and struck the Dorma Anim, obviously having an effect as a result "Now how do you like that?"

"**No it can't be, this shouldn't be possible! The Dorma Anim shouldn't be affected by their magic attacks!"**

"Yeah well here's the thing, we're the exception. NOW!" this was followed by him being joined by Noah and the others, all readying simultaneous attacks "Do it!"

"**Mountain Dragon…"**

"**Fire Dragon…"**

"**Iron Dragon…"**

"**Sky Dragon…"**

"**ROAR!" **the quartet of Noah, Natsu, Gajeel and Wendy all let out four simultaneous Dragon Roars, the force sending the Dorma Anim skidding backwards a great distance.

"**You wretched little filth, how dare you do this to me!"**

"Yeah yeah, whatever lets you sleep at night." Noah leapt down into the remains of the colosseum, with Natsu and the others joining him "Not too shabby guys, though extra props to the kid."

"Thank you for that Noah, but I'm pretty sure the three of you can cause a whole lot more damage than I am."

"I don't doubt that."

"I know I'm gonna give him a good beating." Gajeel cracked his kunckles "That old fart is going to pay for what he did to my cat."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself Black Steel."

"**So it was you responsible, I should've figured as much."**

"Yeah you really should, I mean if Dragon Slayer magic can turn the lacrima back then why shouldn't it be able to hurt the giant Megazord too?"

"That was my theory too." Luke dropped down next to him "I figured Dragon Slayer magic would do something to him, but I had to try a spell in order to confirm my hypothesis. Nice work on coordinating the simultaneous roars though."

"I learned a lot from my guild master, even if he is a fucking psychopath. So what now, do we all attack him five on one for shits and giggles?"

"Tempting as that sounds that's not the plan, I'm gonna have to leave it up to you and the other three. I'm gonna have a little heart to heart beatdown with my counterpart."

"And the furballs?"

"Cana and the others are making sure that they're gonna be alright. As for dealing with this thing, I think it's safe to say that there's no one better to fight a dragon than those who were trained from birth to defeat one. The fact is that the Dragon Slayers are the only chance we have of standing against the Dorma Anim. Until then, I leave it to you." and with that, Luke suddenly disappeared in a flash.

"Cheesy as that might be, Thunderclap was right on the money." Noah shot a look at the others, then turned to face their objective with a confident smirk "So how about it, who's ready to wreck some shit?"

"Might as well." Natsu muttered "I'm not too thrilled about teaming up with Gajeel, I hated teaming up with Gray before and that was like a year ago."

"No time for whining, you two can beat each other to bloody pulps after we rip that old bastard out of his cockpit and put him in his place. Sound good to you?"

"Works for me, I'm all fired up now."

"I'll take that as a yes."

"**Do you truly believe that? I would love to see you try."**

"Trust me you old fucker, you will."

"And I'll be lending all of you a hand. **Oh swift wind that speeds through the Heavens, Vernier!" **Wendy cast an enchantment that summoned three blue magic circles underneath the feet of Noah and the others.

"And just like that my body feels like as a feather, weightless as a jellyfish swimming in the ocean, all the DBZ Kai references and all the good shit. Salamander, Black Steel, go with the frontal assault!"

"Right!" so with their bodies glowing from the Vernier spell, Natsu and Gajeel both burst forward at full speed, the two of them easily dodging a Dragon Rider's Roar "Oh hells to the yeah, we're really flying now!"

"**Mountain Dragon Terra Shield!" **Noah summoned a large wall of earth to defend himself from the Dragon Rider's Roar.

"**How could they be moving so quickly? Dammit, I can't lock my targets on them!"**

"NOW!"

"**Fire Dragon BRILLIANT FLAME!" **Natsu attacked the Dorma Anim using a two-handed blast of fire.

"**Iron Dragon Lance: DEMON LOGS!" **Gajeel fired off a barrage of spears made of iron.

"**Fire Dragon IRON FIST!"**

"**Iron Dragon CLUB!"**

"**Mountain Dragon Molten Spears!" **Noah summoned forth a barrage of spikes from within the ground, colliding with the Dorma Anim and exploding on impact, the force causing it to stumble back slightly "So much for the ultimate weapon and all that bullshit."

"**Dammit, I don't understand what's happening here! Their attacks shouldn't have any effect on me! Why is the Dorma Anim taking damage?"**

"Maybe it's just not as tough as you make it out to be. _But in all seriousness, the fact that this thing is taking so many attacks proves its durability. _Hey kid!"

"I know what you're thinking, just hang on! **I call upon the, the skyward claw to claim the heavens! Arms!" **Wendy cast another enchantment on Noah and the others, engulfing them in blue magic circles.

"So what are we looking at now?"

"This enchantment is meant to enhance the attack power of whoever it's used on."

"Good to know, I was wondering how long it would take to crush the old guy. Who's ready to wreck some shit?"

"**Nonsense, how is it their attack power has increased all of a sudden?"**

"Are you not listening? Guys, wreck his shit. **Mountain Dragon ROAR!" **Noah hit the Dorma Anim with a Dragon Roar.

"**Fire Dragon Talon!" **Natsu attacked the Dorma Anim with a fire enhanced kick.

"Black Steel!"

"I'm on it! **Iron Dragon Sword!" **Gajeel turned his arm into a sword and slammed it into the side of the Dorma Anim, the force of all three attacks damaging the Dorma to the point where it was actually noticeable.

"**How can this be? It's her, it must be! You're done for you little brat! Launching Dragon Rider Missles!" **Faust promptly set his sights on Wendy and fired a barrage of seeker-missiles aimed at her.

"Dammit, kid get out of the way!"

"Don't worry, I can handle this! **Vernier!" **Wendy was quick to cast Vernier on herself, increasing her speed and allowing her to run, only to find that they were tracking her, and then she suddenly tripped on a piece of debris.

'_So they're tracking missles, and apparently when she face-plants, she does it from three different angles. Good to know. _Kid get down! **Mountain Dragon Terra Dome!" **Noah slammed his hands into the ground, causing an earth dome to cover Wendy, protecting her from the explosions that followed as a result of the missiles colliding with the dome.

"You saved me, thank you Noah."

"In all honesty kid, out of the three of you Dragon Slayers, you annoy me the least, so at the very least I'll make sure you don't get hurt. The other two, while I don't think they can afford to lose any brain cells, especially Salamander, what's a little more brain damage going to do to them that hasn't already been done. Take what you can get from me."

"**And you try and stop me you little bastard!"**

"I think we'll see about that. **Mountain Dragon Uprising!" **Noah summoned two earth pillars from the ground beneath the Dorma Anim and blowing it off its feet "If anyone is getting shot in the head it's going to be you old geezer."

"**You're grading on my nerves you little pest!"**

"Yeah yeah, you're not the first tyrant I've pissed off." Noah glanced back, only to see two more missiles closing in on Wendy "Dammit, I missed two of them. Salamander hurry up, take them out!"

"I'm on it!" Natsu charged at the last two missiles, only for them to stop in mid-air and suddenly burst into flames, earning a maniacal laughter from Faust.

"**There, now do you see? It's long past the time you lowly wizards learned your place on the pecking order, you couldn't slay a dragon if it lay down before you!" **but then he actually opened his eyes, and his jaw dropped at what he saw "**What?! That's impossible! He's eating the flames from the Dragon Rider Missiles?" **then he looked back to see Gajeel munching on his tail "**And why is that one eating the tail of the Dorma Anim? Are these two out of their minds?!"**

"That's kind of subjective when you think about it." Noah pointed out dryly.

"So is eating that stuff." Natsu let out a cough "I'm gonna be honest, those were some of the worst flames I've ever tasted."

"I know the feeling, all of the earth in this world is so fucking dry."

"Same with the iron too." Gajeel leapt down next to them "Nasty stuff all around, but all things considered…"

"Now I've got one hell of a fire in my gut."

"Hey!" Natsu shot him a smirk "You trying to copy me or something dude?"

"Well it does have a catchy ring to it, not as catchy as pretty much every song in Phineas and Ferb but still."

"**This is ridiculous, am I supposed to believe that all wizards in Earth Land are as powerful as this?"**

"More or less, we're the exception though."

"No wonder they call that thing a dragon." Natsu muttered, earning a two simultaneous scoffs from Noah and Gajeel.

"Pull your head out of your ass Salamander. That thing's not a dragon, it's just an old man hiding inside a tin can that shoots missiles. And fires explosions from its mouth. Either way, most powerful weapon in Edolas my ass."

"He's out here alone." Wendy pointed out "That means he doesn't have any of his guards around to protect him, so all we have to do is take that thing down."

"You're not gonna hear any arguments from me."

"**So these are the Dragon Slayers… such power… I will not rest until I have all of that power for myself!" **and then the Dorma Anim started surging with magic power, causing a black aura to engulf it.

"Okay, wasn't expecting that. It's summoning more magic power and pulling it into the armor, it must be pulling it from the atmosphere."

"**All I have to do is capture the Dragon Slayers, and then I'll be able to start my Anima plan all over again. No, what am I thinking? They're weapons, I should simply secure them and their magic power for myself! If they happen to get damaged in the process, then so be it!"**

"You know we can hear everythin you're saying right?"

"**Silence! I shall rob the four of you of the will to fight, and you'll be begging me for the mercy that you'll never receive! Witness the power of Dorma Anim: Black Heaven!" **the Dorma Anima suddenly changed from a silver color to a black color, and the blades on its arms grew in numbers and in length "**I've got all of you now!" **the Dorma Anim burst forward and thrusted one of its blades into the ground, the force enough to send the four of them flying in different directions.

"**Moutain Dragon TALON!" **Noah burst forward, his leg hardening until it was like rock, and he slammed a kick into the side of the Dorma Anim, the force sending it skidding back a great distance.

"**Not bad, but you'll have to do better than that!" **the Dorma Anim smacked Noah away and sent him flying into the colosseum wall.

"Ow."

"Dammit, that's not good." Gajeel muttered "He hit that thing with a full force attack and didn't even scratch it."

"**Now you can all feel it can't you? This absolute magic power, there's no word to decribe it other than spectacular! Don't bother falling to your knees and begging for your worthless lives, stay right where you are so I can watch you tremble in fear and agony! You have no chance of stopping me, I'm the one dragon you cannot slay!" **he thrusted his sword into the ground, sending out a shockwave that sent Natsu, Gajeel and Wendy flying and screaming in agony."

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Meanwhile, Mystogan was quick to reunite with Panther Lily, claiming that the Dorma Anim would have to be left up to Natsu and the others since there was something else that he had to do, and he would need Panther Lily's help to get it done.

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Meanwhile, with the B-team…

Bolt and the others looked up at the sight of more and more Exceeds being caught and turned into lacrima by the Royal Army "This is bad, they're getting more of them every minute, and the Royal Army has almost caught up with them."

"I can't believe there's so many of them." Cana muttered "What the hell are we supposed to do about this?"

"How the hell should I know?"

"I know the answer to that." Luke blitzed onto the back of the Legion "There's only one thing we can do and that's stop them before it's too late."

"You're not going in alone Luke, I'm gonna fight beside you and do whatever you can, and I'm willing to bet the others will do the same."

"Yeah, here's the thing about that. I've got a prior engagement."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I'm what that means Exceed." this was when Tempesta floated up in front of them on top of his own Legion, with Byro right behind him "I've been waiting for you all this time, and now we're face to face once again Thunderclap."

"Call it a hunch, but I think I know what this is about Tempesta." Luke glanced around to see several other Legions surrounding them while he leapt onto Tempesta's "You're trying to land an ambush the others while you go for me, is that about right?"

"That's one way of looking at it."

"Fair enough. Hey Coco, have your Legion take us the hell out off here!" so the Legion promptly took off, only for it to be hit by a stray blast of magic energy, sending the beast hurtling towards the ground "Guys! Dammit, Bolt you and the others get them! I've got business to attend to."

"Way ahead of you, leave it to cats with wings to save the day!" so Bolt promptly soared down to save the others, with Happy and Carla following his lead.

"Lisanna, you too!"

"Right! **Take Over: Animal Soul: Wings!" **Lisanna promptly summoned some wings and quickly caught Elfman before he hit the ground "I've got you big brother."

"Good thing for variety, but I think it's safe to say I don't have the time or patience to dwell on that at the mometn." Luke levelled his gaze on Tempesta as he drew Raiden from the sheath at his side "So how about you and I go ahead and pick up where we left off?"

"Don't think I'm doing this for fun." Tempesta promptly morphed his Shatterstorm into the form of a katana, then turned his attention to Byro and the other soldiers "You get clear of this so we can fight without having to hold back, and have the men head to the surface."

"But of course." Byro gave his usual disgusting laugh, then departed onto the back of a different Legion, leaving Tempesta and Luke alone.

"Now then, it's just the two of us."

"Let me go ahead and warn you now, I have no intention of holding back against you." Luke told him flatly.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from someone with my face." and so the two of them charged at each other, their swords clashing violently and producing shockwaves and small surges of electricity.

"I think it's high time for us to finish this once and for all."

"On that we can agree. **Storm Force!" **Tempesta summoned the trident form of Shatterstorm and unleashed a powerful blast of wind, sending Luke flying off of the back of the Legion, and he promptly leapt off after him "Hurry up and get to the surface men, I'm going to take care of this one myself!"

"Yes captain!" and so the soldiers and the other Legions promptly flew off to follow his orders, but not without Byro giving him a rather menacing smirk.

Tempesta landed on the ground a short distance away from Luke, and he looked around at their new surroundings "It seems as if we've landed in the ruins of one of the ancient cities of the Exceeds. Seems like a fitting place for a duel to the death."

"On that much we can agree at least. **Thunder Drive!" **Luke promptly activated his Thunder Drive, his body surging with electricity "Until this whole ordeal started, the thought of someone with my name and my face causing suffering to Fairy Tail was unbearable and absolutely unthinkable."

"I don't intend to explain myself to you, and I don't expect you to understand my reasons either way. All you need to know is that I have a mission, and I've come way too far to give up on that now." Tempesta morphed Shatterstorm into its katana form and charged at Luke, the two of them meeting in the middle, their blades clashing in a violent confrontation.

'_I have people to protect…'_

'_...and that's why I can't afford to lose under any circumtances, even if I end up dying because of it!'_

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Meanwhile, with the fallen heroes…

The group had crashed with their Legion somewhere in the desert outside the Royal City, and it was far from painless.

Cana was the first one to actually vocalize the pain "Okay… that hurts… I'm pretty sure I broke something… in every part… of my body…"

"No objections here…" Bolt let out a groan of agony "It could've been worse though, we could've dog piled on Elfman like everyone else did."

"Yeah that is true, but in the meantime where the hell did Luke end up?"

"Take a look for yourself." Bolt pointed up at the floating island above them "Last I saw, he was going toe to toe with Tempesta up there."

"Huh. Good to know."

"Yep. Also, get the hell down!" Bolt tackled Cana and pushed her out of the wat just as a barrage of energy blasts started raining down "Yeah, I guess it didn't take as long for them to find us as I had been hoping, but I guess a guy can dream."

"Yeah well not in this case, for crying out loud it's like these guys are coming out out the woodwork. How many of them are there?"

"Enough to have us surrounded, I guess the only thing we can do is fight them. And also run for our fucking lives!" Bolt was quickly forced on the evasive, along with Happy and Carla, in order to avoid the magicalization cannon wielded by several of the soldiers.

"All of you get behind me! **Magic Card: Wind Barrier!" **Cana fired off a barrage of magic cards that formed a barrier of wind, surrounding herself and the others.

"**Beast Arm: Iron Bull!" **Elfman charged forward and started firing off a barrage of iron projectiles, blowing a number of soldiers backwards "Start answering us like real men, why are you after Bolt and the others?"

"All of the escaping Exceeds have been captured and turned into lacrima." one of the soldiers told him, earning various horrified looks as a result "The three of them are the only exception at the moment, now make our jobs easier by surrenduring and becoming magic power for the rest of the kingdom!"

"Back off! The Exceeds are living beings just like the rest of us, are you so obsessed with gaining power that you don't care about something like that? **Animal Soul: Cat!" **Lisanna then activated her cat form and started clawing her way through various soldiers "You people need to learn how to respect the value of life and all living creatures! You can't kill someone just because you want what they have, not while Fairy Tail is protecting them!"

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Meanwhile, on the ruined island…

The battle between Luke and Tempesta raged on ferociously.

"**Dragon Sword Style: Thunderous Purge!" **Luke slashed through the air with Raiden and pressed his hands to the blade, causing a bolt of lightning to rain down on Tempesta.

"**Shatterbolt!" **Tempesta leapt out of the way of the lightning bolt and fired forward a large orb of electricity.

Luke leapt out of the way of the attack, though still received some minor burn marks across his left arm as a result '_He's getting more agitated and eratic, it's as if he's starting to lose his composure, but why?'_

"**Thunderous Tempest!" **Tempesta morphed Shatterstorm into a dual-bladed spear and fired a bolt of lightning from one blade, followed by a stream of water from the other blade.

'_So he's using both lightning and water in this state? Well in that case… no, I'd better save that for when I really need it. _**Lightning Dragon DEMOLITION FIST!" **Luke fired a massive fist made of pure lightning at Tempesta.

"**Thunder Burst!" **Tempesta summoned his axe, and with one clean stroke he cut right through the Dragon Slayer spell.

'_So that axe is able to cut through my attack?'_

"You have an impressive skill set, but it's nowhere near enough! **Storm Force!" **summoning his trident, Tempesta struck Luke with a massive blast of wind and sent him flying through several ruined buildings "I've got you now!" and so he charged after him.

"**Thunder Drive! Lightning Dragon TALON!" **Luke activated his Thunder Drive, and then immediately after he dealt Tempesta a lightning-enhanced kick.

"How did you-?!"

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Meanwhile, in the Edolas Fairy Tail…

The members of the Edolas Fairy Tail had gathered for a meeting in their guild hall, in the same random desert it was located in.

Mira was quick to kick things off, with Edo-Noah standing by her side "We have to hurry and save the Exceeds, I met with the Gajeel of this world on my way back and he told me that the Royal Army is capturing all of them and turning them into lacrimas."

"Are you sure about this?" asked Edo-Wendy "I mean that sounds like a pretty ballsy move, even by their standards. Can we trust Gajeel?"

"You can think whatever you want about him, but you can't deny that his information is always accurate. But seriously listen, we have to help them. The Exceeds and the Fairy Tail wizards from Earth Land are in serious danger, the Royal Army wants to wipe them out and take over this entire world! Are you really willing to just stand around and do nothing while that happens around you?"

"Well no, but…" Edo-Natsu looked up at her nervously "I mean the Royal Army has all kinds of magic power at their disposal now, I mean we don't stand a chance against them when you think about it."

"But-"

"He's right." Edo-Erza told her "We already have a hard enough time dealing with them without any added power. I don't want to be the source of any negativity here, but we wouldn't stand a chance against them."

"Guys… _Dammit this is getting us nowhere, how the hell am I going to get them to work with me on this?'_

This was when Edo-Droy decided to open his mouth "I know, why don't we just wait until the Exceeds and the Royal Army are don fighting. That's gonna be the perfect time to attack since they'll be so exhausted from fighting already, and then we can swoop in and give them the thrashing in the way that only Fairy Tail can."

"I have to admit Droy, by your standards that's actually not a bad idea." Edo-Juvia shot a glance in his direction "They do say to strike while the iron's hot, but at the same time perhaps we should consider trying to cozy up to the Royal Army. This is our only chance, if we side with them they'll be indebted to us and they'll no longer see us as their enemies. Think about it, it would be nice to not have to live in constant fear of them."

"Yes that's absolutely brilliant!" Edo-Gray suddenly popped up in front of her "You're so smart my beloved Juvia, and you have the face of an angel!"

"Stay the hell away from me you creep, and would it kill you to give a girl a little bit of space for crying out loud?"

"Forget it, that's out of the question." Edo-Noah stepped forward, his tone firm "The fact is that the king is drunk with power to dangerous proportions, so even if we were to side with the Royal Army, what actual guarantee is there that we would be in his good graces?"

"He's right about this and you know it." Mira stepped back up to the plate "We can't try to make peace with them, the fact is that they can't be trusted. Even if we were to side with them, what would stop them from turning on us at any second? Droy's suggestion isn't going to work in this situation either. The king isn't going to wait around either, as soon as he finishes with wiping out the Exceeds he'll move onto his next goal. He's going to usher in a horrific age of darkness and tyrannize all of those who oppose him. I'm telling you that this is the only chance we have to save ourselves. If we're going to survive this then we have to take him down once and for all, and the only way to do that is for humans and Exceeds to work together."

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Dragon Slayers vs Dorma Anim…

The battle against the Dorma Anim had taken a turn for the worst, seeing how Faust had been able to send Noah and the others crashing to the ground in bruised and battered heaps "**You're all absolutely pathetic, you don't stand a chance of defeating me!"**

"Oh for fuck's sake, will you shut up already?" Noah promptly swallowed the rubble in his mouth and pulled himself back to his feet "During my time here in Edolas, I've seen a lot of people suffering because there's no magic power, but now I want to know why their lunatic of a ruler seems to be more than capable of stuffing himself with the stuff until he bursts."

"**Oh come now, you would be hard pressed to find a king who hasn't imposed a tax on his people at some point, because that's how monarchy works my boy. The Dorma Anima always requires a constant influx of magic power, so as such that power is gathered from all over the world. That's why it was sealed away, it's considered a forbidden weapon. Now that I've activated it, this entire world is depending on my victory!"**

"And we're supposed to believe a word that comes out of your hole because? Just admit it you miserable old fucker, you don't give a shit about what happens to this world and that's why you're so cool with stealing all of its magic power."

"He's right…" Natsu pulled himself back to his feet, his flames burning bright "One of the reasons I joined Fairy Tail was to help others. Just how many people did you have to kill and make suffer to get the power you've got now? People like you make me sick!"

"No arguments here Salamander. But if we're gonna be real here then I'm just gonna say, this entire fucking planet is a massive pile of shit, the same level as Teen Titans go in my eyes, but the people here still deserve better than to live under the thumb of someone like you. You're nothing more than a mad dog that deserves to be put down, and you're looking at just the guys to do it."

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Meanwhile, with Edolas Fairy Tail…

Edo-Natsu shived with hys typical level of fear "Maybe this whole thing isn't such a good idea after all, I mean don't you think it's for the best to just mind our own business and let the rest of them duke it out?"

This was when Edo-Alzack decided to speak up "You know he's got a point, going to war is the last thing I want. Personally I'd rather stay here and cuddle with Bisca."

"Yeah I agree myself." Edo-Bisca started grinding against him "I don't think we should get involved in this, it doesn't have anything to do with us."

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me." Edo-Noah rounded on them in disgust "When the hell did all of you turn into such cowards? It doesn't matter how fine things are right now, once the king is done wiping out the Exceeds he's going to come for us next."

"Trust me Noah, we all know that's a possibility." Edo-Erza told him gently "We know all too well of that possibility, but there's no way we'd be able to take on the king of this world and his entire army."

"Fuck… Levy give me some details."

"Here's the thing about that boss, we're running low on magic power right now, and in fact we're almost out." Edo-Levy told him flatly "We've only got enough left in this thing to make the warp one more time, so if we do decide to join the battle…"

"Then that means there won't be any turning back." Edo-Noah glanced back at Mira, the two of them locking eyes but saying nothing.

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Earth Land wizards vs the Royal Army…

"**Open, Gate of the Lion, Loke!" **Lucy whipped out a certain Zodiac key and promptly opened the gate.

The gate opened, and Loke appeared before them "How's it going Lucy, you miss me? Actually I think the small talk can wait, hold that thought. **Regulus!" **and with his body glowing with golden magic power, he started blitzing through the soldiers with ease.

"**Beast Arm: Stone Bull!" **Elfman activated his Beast Arm and started firing a barrage of stone spikes from it, hitting several soldiers.

"**Animal Soul: Rabbit!" **Lisanna activated her rabbit form and used her enhanced speed to blitz through several soldiers of her own.

"**Magic Card: Summoned Lightning!" **Cana hit a number of soldiers with a barrage of lightning from her magic cards, electrocuting them severely.

Unfortunately, just as it seemed their numbers were starting to dwindle, the second wave of soldiers came onto the scene "Ready your weapons men, and FIRE!" and they promptly started firing a barrage of magic bullets.

"You've gotta be kidding me, now they've got magic bullets."

"Cana get down!" Bolt swooped in and shoved Cana to the ground before a magic bullet could hit her from behind, and he ended up taking the bullet himself.

"Bolt no!" Cana caught him before he hit the ground '_Okay good, he's still alive.'_

"Oh shit, I accidentally hit one of them." one of the soldiers swore "I've gotta be more careful, we need them in order to turn them into magic power." now _that _was enough to earn him the wratch of a pissed off Cana.

"You sons of bitches value power more than you do like? That's it, Luke may not prefer violence, but shit is about to be wrecked. **Magic Card: Scorch Storm!" **Cana threw four cards, hitting four of the soldiers, which caused them to suddenly be evaporated in simultaneous columns of flames.

"**Regulus Impact!" **Loke blew through half a dozen soldiers in one shot, then knelt down and picked up Bolt, then handed him over to Cana "I've got these bastards covered, hurry and get him to safety."

"Way ahead of you Loke, I owe you one." Cana clutched Bolt close to her chest and quickly ducked behind a large boulder "Just hang tight, we'll get Wendy over here to heal you up as soon as we can okay?" she was met with a groan "Good enough for me." but then she looked up to see two massive Legion creatures looking over them "You've gotta be kidding me, you've gotta be fucking kidding me!"

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Meanwhile, with Edolas Fairy Tail…

Edo-Noah stepped up to the plate and spoke out to everyone in the guild hall "It's time for us to make a decision, are we going to help the Exceeds or not?" he was met with silence from everyone in the guild hall.

"Guys…" Mira let out a sigh as she stepped forward "I don't know what else there is I can say to change your minds, but… Please! The Fairy Tail wizards from Earth Land, they're out there risking their lives fighting against the Royal Army! The Earth Land versions of Natsu, Cana, Lucy, Noah, Elfman, Lisanna, all of us! Look I know this is a painful subject, but two years ago, before he left the guild Luke, the Luke of this world, told me something that's never left my mind since. He looked me in the eye and said that when you have power, you shouldn't use it for yourself, you should use it to stand up for those who can't stand up for themselves!" this caused everyone to flinch "You all used to live by this rule, but when he left, apparently your fighting spirit left too. Now answer me this, are we going to left them get slaughtered on the battleield like a pack of animals, or are we going to lend them a hand? The future of this entire fucking world is at stake! That world's version of Noah, Luke and everyone else are still in it even now, and if they can finds the strength to keep going then why shouldn't we? I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm so fucking sick of always running away from my problems! I say it's more than past the time for us to stand up to the Royal Army! We have to gather the strength to fight, we have to face our foes head on! Because that's what it means to be a wizard of the Fairy Tail guild! Now are you in, or are you out?" she was met with silence "Fine, go ahead and stay here if you want, but I'm not turning my back on the people of _my _Fairy Tail. **Satan Soul!" **with a black surge of magic power, Mira was engulfed in a black light. When it dissipated, her appearance had changed drastically, including various demonic features and even a tail "**I'm going down there to do whatever I can, the rest is up to all of you." **and she promptly burst out of the door to the guild hall, disappearing from their sight in a matter of seconds.

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The battle against the Royal Army had taken a turn for the worst.

Cana and the others found themselves pinned to the ground by the Royal Army, spears pointed at them should they try to move '_Dammit this is bad, there are too many of them! If someone is going to perform some kind of miracle, now would be the time!'_

"**Darkness STREAM!" **this was when Mirajane burst onto the scene in her Satan Soul form, her body radiating black energy, and she fired off a barrage of tendrils made of dark energy, each of them grabbing one of the Legions and throwing them away across the horizon "Looks like I made it just in the nick of time."

"Looks like you're not the only one either." Cana looked back to see what looked like a massive tree sprouting out from the ground, a tree with a very familiar symbol on the front of it "Looks like it doesn't matter the world, they always know how to crash a party in style."

"And at the last second too. I'm going to be honest, I'm surprised they actually came. But I guess even in Edolas, Fairy Tail has enough heart and spirit to go around."

Sure enough, the Edolas Fairy Tail guild hall rose up from beneath the ground, and when the smoke cleared, Edo-Noah and the rest of the Edolas Fairy Tail were standing on the scene, their magic weapons barred and the lot of them ready to fight "Hey assclowns, you recognize us? I say it's high time we earned some good old-fashioned payback."

"You're not going to make some kind of one-liner about the power of camraderie are you?"

"Me, no. The others, probably. Sorry we took so long to get here, but it's a hell of a lot better than nothing right?"

"I think that's a matter of opinion, but we'll take what we can get."

"Fair enough." Edo-Noah glanced back at the others "Just think of it this way, if a bunch of psychopaths from Earth Land can stand up to them then why can't we?" he quickly turned his attention back to Mira "So how are the others, they gonna be alright?"

"Unlike you guys I got here just in the nick of time, they're all okay so you just have the others focus on the fight."

"Duly noted."

Cana took this moment to meet her counterpart "So you're the me of Edolas?"

"Yes, I suppose I am." Edo-Cana studied her counterpart for a moment "I must admit, I'm surprised a woman such as myself could be dressed in such a scandalous fashion."

"What, you mean this? This is nothing, there are women back in my world who wear even less than this."

"Such a thought is inconceivable, but I suppose it is their choice." Edo-Cana promptly used a wand to smack a soldier behind her and blow him to the ground.

"Open minded at least, I guess it could be worse even if I am dressed as some kind of southern belle."

"Two of Cana huh?" Edo-Juvia was in the middle of strangling two soldiers, their heads being smashed violently against her cleavage "Well it could be worse, just imagine if I had to deal with two of Gray."

"Sounds ominous."

"Oh just look at those men." Edo-Gray had hearts in his eyes "I'm so jealous of them!"

"Why the hell would you say that?"

"My beloved Juvia makes me weak all over my entire body, oh what I wouldn't give to be in their position right now?"

"Wait wait wait wait wait, you mean you have the hots for Juvia here?" this proved to me more than enough to make Cana burst out laughing, firing a card at a soldier behind her as she did so, which led to him being evaporated by a bolt of lightning.

"Oh my." Edo-Cana put a hand over her mouth.

"I'm sorry, it's just…" and cue more hysterical laughing.

"Such a scandalous young lady."

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Meanwhile, with other Fairy Tail wizards…

"**Beast Arm: Black Bull!" **Elfman slammed his arm into the ground, sending a few soldiers flying in time to save Edo-Elfman "How the hell can you be me? Sitting on the ground crying is one of the most unmanly things I've ever seen!"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry…" and then Edo-Elfman started crying.

"Be a real man dammit!"

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Edo-Alzack and Edo-Bisca charged onto the scene with their guns ready "Well how about it my hot pistol, are you ready?"

"You bet I am my love gun, we can't let ourselves get outdone." Edo-Bisca told him "What do you say?"

"No arguments here, I say it's time for us to hit them hard and fast!" so they promptly started shooting at the soldiers full force "Now you're getting hit by the power of our love, so we say yee-haw!"

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Jet and Droy were standing back to back trying to look tough, but unlike their counterparts from Earth Land, they were actually succeeding "I hope you bastards are ready, you're about to see the power of the great and mighty Team Shadowgear!"

"Alright you two!" Levy suddenly popped up in front of them "Now let's make sure that we show up Lucy and shove it up her ass!"

"Oh hells to the yes, now we're gonna make them wish they had never pissed off the strongest team in Fairy Tail! You punks don't have anything on us!" they started tearing into the soldiers in front of them using plant-based and speed-based magic respectively."

Coco had leaned up against a tree to deal with her exhaustion and wounds, and she looked on in awe at Jet's prowess with roller skates "Wow, he's actually even faster than me."

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"**Soul Extinctor!" **with her Satan Soul activated and magic power surging, Mira launched a two-handed blast of dark magic power, vaporizing at least a dozen soldiers on the spot, which saved Edo-Lisanna and Edo-Elfman at the last second "Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah we're fine sis, don't worry." Lisanna assured her.

"Okay, good." Mira looked down and cringed visibly '_Oh yeah, Satan Soul, hideous demonic transformation, Earth Land magic. Shit. _Okay I actually do have a good explanation for this, you see I-"

"It's okay Mira, we've known for a long time now. We all have."

"You… You did?"

"Noah told us everything after Luke deserted the guild. I guess we just wanted to have some more time with our big sister. You're smart and strong, and your spirit has never wavered, just like our Mira. But it's okay, there's no more need for any secrets."

"I… I know I shouldn't have lied to you guys, but…"

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Bolt observed the progress of the battle from where he was leaning against a rock, trying to stop the bleeding from his wound '_Gray's head over heals in love with Juvia, Elfman is a blubbering wimp, Erza is actually sweet and friendly and not intimidating in the slightest, but to top all of that off, Jet and Droy are not only actually somewhat intimidating, but they're supposed to be the strongest members of the guild? Lord, and I thought the Fairy Tail back in Earth Land was all kinds of fucked up. But then again I guess we're lucky, if they didn't show up when they did then we'd probably be dead right about now. But I guess no matter what the world is, Fairy Tail is full of loveable dipshits that always fight for what's right.'_

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Meanwhile, in the Exceed city ruins…

Tempesta found himself skidding backwards until he stopped himself on the edge of the island, and when he looked down his eyes widened at the sight of the Edolas Fairy Tail fighting against the Royal Army '_Well I'm be damned, it actually happened. Fairy Tail finally decided to stand up and fight as one against the Royal Army.' _he looked down and he couldn't help but smile slightly at the sight '_You've done what I couldn't Mira, Noah.'_

"**Lightning Dragon Talon!" **Luke blitzed towards Tempesta and dealt him a lightning-enhanced kick to the side, sending him tubmling across the ruins of the city, and then he promptly charged at him.

Tempesta blocked the charge and Luke's sword using the katana form of Shatterstorm "I guess I let my guard down didn't I?"

"I honestly expected more from somebody with my face." the two of them unleashed two simultaneous blasts of lightning that sent both of them flying backwards, Luke finding himself on the edge of the floating island in place of his counterpart "I never expected the two of us to be this evenly matched."

"I feel the same way, but don't think that's going to last for too much longer. I can't say for certain about you, but I still have one final trump card to play." with a column of golden-colored light, Shatterstorm was transformed from its katana form to a new form, a large broadsword with a wide blade and a golden hilt "This is the ultimate form of Shatterstorm, the most powerful weapon in this world, Excalibur, forge by the greatest swordsmit in all of Edolas and granted to me by the previous master of the Fairy Tail guild, back when I was still a member."

"You really want to go there?"

"I've been there for almost half a decade. Your eyes can see through evil malice, your mouth utters only truth. Your heart is filled with passion and conviction, and your blade shall smite all evil. This is the code by which I was taught from my childhood, and since then I have yet to forget a single word of it."

"And yet here you are, turning your back on that code, betraying the Fairy Tail guild and everyone in it."

"I don't expect you to understand, but past events prompted a change. All you need to know is that with this blade in my hand, I am now more powerful than the king of Edolas himself!"

"...I see, I guess there's no use trying to talk you out of it."

"You guess correctly."

"So be it then, I think it's time for us to finish this." Luke placed Raiden back in its sheath and removed his shirt, revealing the Fairy Tail symbol on his left arm, and with a quick primal roar he engulfed himself in a golden column of light. When the light subsided, there he stood with golden-colored dragon scales covering his entire body, his magic power surging with electricity around his body "This is my most powerful ability known as Dragon Force, the final form a Dragon Slayer can take. I spent over a year training to master this for one sole reason: to protect the people of my guild. Now that you're showing me your strongest blade, it's only right that I show you my strongest form. What do you say we go ahead and decide which one of them is stronger?"

"I think there's only one way to find out."

"I suppose there is. **Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Indra's Wrath: ROARING THUNDER!" **and so with all of the magic power he could muster, Luke charged forward as a massive blast of lightning built up in one hand.

"**EXCALIBUR!" **Tempesta met the charge himself with his Excalibur sword pointed forward and unleashing a massive surge of lightning magic to match his opponent.

The force of the collision was enough to destroy the entire island they were fighting on, leaving the fate of both combatants to be determined.

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Meanwhile, on the ground…

The battle against the Royal Army continued raging on.

Edo-Noah tore through one soldier after another with his scythe, but his head snapped up along with several others at the sight of the island exploding '_So much residual power, there's only one weapon I know of that can cause that kind of destruction. Looks like Luke saw the need to bust out Excalibur. I can't wait any longer, I have to know for certain. _Mira, what's the verdict?"

"He said it at least five times whenever I've seen him." Mira told him flatly "I think it's safe to say this is for real."

"That's what I thought. Can you take her there?"

"Just hang tight, I'll get here there before either one gets killed." Mira looked around, but found that the person they were looking for wasn't there "Okay, where the hell is Cana? The one from Earth Land I mean."

'_God dammit, is she really going to do something that stupid? And Luke, what the hell did you get yourself into?'_

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**(Flashback- 2 years ago)**

Tempesta strapped Shatterstorm onto his back and was about to head out, but stopped when he noticed Edo-Noah standing in front of the doorway "Hey."

"So you're going out on another long-term job huh?" Edo-Noah guessed.

"Someone has to keep up the funds for this guild, but I know you can take care of things while I'm gone."

"But this one is going to be a long one, you'll be gone for awhile this time around."

"Yeah probably."

"Then I'm coming with you."

"Be realistic Noah, do you have any idea what you're saying? It could be up to a year before the job is done, and if you did go with me then that would mean Lucy would be put in charge of the guild, and I think we both remember what happened the last time that happened."

"...Oh yeah, that's true. But still, if you end up going out on your own then lord only knows what's going to happen to the guild. We're struggling to survive as it is, we've already lost half our members, and if you go then-" he was cut off by a smack to the face.

"Chill out a little bit, you know you really should give one of Erza's brownies a try. I don't know what's in them, but every time I have one all the tension just drains out of your body. But think about this, putting the guild aside, what's the one thing I care about doing more than anything else in all of Edolas?"

"That's an obvious one, protecting Cana."

"Exactly, and since I still have a responsibility to the guild somebody has to stick around and keep her safe right?"

"Yeah I guess."

"Look I don't trust many people with something as important as this, and I'm trusting you with it my friend."

"I know, but seriously you've gotta be careful out there yourself. The Royal Army wants your head more than most of the others in Fairy Tail, and if anything happens to you…"

"Yeah I get what you're saying. Look how about this, if anything goes wrong then I'll send you a certain code phrase."

"What, like some magic words or something?"

"If I know I can't win in a certain situation on my own and there's nobody around to give me any backup, I'll say this phrase to you exactly. You ready?"

"Go for it."

"I am now more powerful than the king of Edolas himself."

"I am now more powerful than the king of Edolas himself? Seriously dude?"

"It's over the top as hell, if anyone would ever dare to go that far then you know they're either in serious trouble or there's something seriously wrong with them."

"...Huh. That actually makes a lot of sense."

**(Flashback end)**

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The island was completely destroyed by the impact.

Tempesta was sent falling with some of the rubble, his Shatterstorm having been reverted back to its basic axe form by the blast '_Unbelievable, to think he was actually powerful enough to defeat my Excalibur.'_

Luke found himself in a similar situation as he leapt from one piece of rubble to another '_I didn't think he would be able to blow me clear out of my Dragon Force. _The shockwave from the impact must have caused the island to become unstable."

"And to make matters that much worse we're both low on magic power. But I can't afford to lose this fight or any other, not when I have so much at stake."

"Look at yourself, you're pouring blood out by the gallons. You can't keep going like this or you won't survive."

"Shut up!" Tempesta spat out some blood "I hope you're ready, because I'm about to win this fight, even if I have to die to make it happen."

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The battle against the Dorma Anim was not in the favor of the Dragon Slayers.

Faust looked down on Noah and the others and continued laughing maniacally "**Take a look at yourselves, you're just wasting energy and running yourselves into the ground! You don't have a chance of defeating myself and my Dorma Anim, I have complete control over every ounce of magic power in this world and I have every right to use it however I see fit!" **he started firing a barrage of magic energy blasts.

"**Mountain Dragon Terra Dome!" **Noah formed an earth dome around himself and the others to protect them from the onslaught "At least the lunatic I have to work for is willing to share the benefits of his delusional goals with the rest of us, that's more than you can say! If you think you can't be hurt while you're crammed inside that thing then don't even bother moving while we come in there to tear you apart! Salamander hit him now!"

"Right! **Fire Dragon ROAR!" **Natsu promptly struck the Dorma Anim with a fire-enhanced roar attack, only for it to not even scratch the shield "Fuck!"

"**How many times do I have to tell you not to waste your magic power? I hate to think how much your attacks may be affecting my own supply."**

"Don't even try to delude yourself old man, I don't belong to anyone, and neither do the rest of them! **Mountain Dragon Molten Spears!" **Noah summoned some spears from within the ground infused with molten properties, each one slamming into the Dorma Anim and exploding, sending it skidding backwards.

"**It's only a matter of time now, all of your magic power will belong to me! Your lives and your power are my spoils of war!"**

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The battle against the Royal Army was raging onwards.

A thoroughly pissed off Cana grabbed one soldier by the front of his armor "Tell me the fucking truth, do you and the rest of these soldiers honestly think you're doing the right thing here?"

"I don't know how to answer that!" the soldier was squirming in fear.

"It's not that hard a question, answer me!"

"Come on Cana, don't be so hard on him." Lisanna called her off "He and the others are just following orders, I'm sure there are plenty of soldiers who oppose the Royal Army, but they're forced to fight because they know the king will have them killed if they don't."

"You think I don't get that? Of course I do, but they don't even seem to care about who they kill as long as they get what they want."

"Looks like you and our version of Luke have a lot in common." Edo-Noah suddenly popped up next to her "Tell me something though, are you and he actually a couple or what?" he was met with the sight of Cana blushing a deep shade of red.

"Where the hell did that come from, we're just friends and guild mates!"

"Whatever lets you sleep at night. Hey by the way, where the hell is my counterpart at right now anyway?"

"Last I saw he was with Natsu, Gajeel and Wendy fighting against the king. Don't worry about him though, that lunatic doesn't stand a chance against the likes of four Dragon Slayers."

"If he's fighting my counterpart then he's as good as dead."

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The island was in ruins, battle between two counterparts was still struggling onwards.

Luke watched as Tempesta struggled back to his feet "You've put up a great fight so far, and I can see how much dedication and power you truly have going for you, but you can't keep things up like this any longer. If you keep going like this then you're going to get yourself killed for sure."

"I know…" Tempesta spat out some blood "But I can't give up… and besides… even if I do die here… I doubt anyone will miss me… At least she will live… so if I do die… then I'll have to take you with me…"

"What do you mean she, who are you talking about?"

"Don't piss me off… anymore than… you already have…" Tempesta pulled Shatterstorm back into his hand.

"You're not going to bother using one of its other forms?"

"I'm more than a match for you as I am now!" Tempesta charged forward and promptly brought down Shatterstorm repeatedly, swinging it in a wild fashion.

'_This guy doesn't have any real power behind his attacks anymore, the way things are going he might as well be running on fumes.' _Luke drew Raiden from its sheath and swatted Shatterstorm out of Tempesta's hand with ease, then dealt him a simple kick to the chest that quickly sent him tumbling backwards in a heap '_He's struggling to get up now, whatever strength he had before has all but faded away.'_

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Meanwhile, with a certain someone…

Edo-Cana slowly and carefully made her way through the rubble of the ruined city, her mind drifting with every step she took '_Luke… For as long as I've known you, you were always so gentle and kind, brimming with optimism, conviction and compassion. When we first met you made a vow to me that you would protect me for as long as you lived, but back then you hadn't realized that your vow would become a curse, one that brought you so much suffering. For two years, you've lied to yourself and to this entire world for my sake, and you wounded your own heart beyond repair. And now you've even resorted to fighting yourself and so many innocent people. Please I beg of you my beloved, free yourself of me.' _she continued to make her way forwrd, her every move being watched by a small lizard creature '_Please don't betray everything you believe in!'_

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"I'm not done… I can't be done…" Tempesta grabbed onto a piece of rubble and used it to force himself back to his feet "This world… will survive… and so will she…"

'_To think he was able to withstand all of that.' _Luke's eyes narrowed slightly as he returned his sword to its sheath '_He's running on sheer willpower now.'_

"I still have… fight in my… you never cell short… a wizard from Fairy Tail…" he ripped off his shirt, revealing the Fairy Tail guild mark on his chest "One kick like that… it was lucky to even tickle me…" he let a few fists fly forward, only to be sent flying by a kick, but he forced himself back to his feet again "I'm not finished… not yet… not by a long shot…"

"You have to stop this, you may have the will to fight but your body can't keep up. What could be so important that you have to throw your life away like it's nothing?"

"You said it before… you got as strong as you did… to protect someone you hold dear… I get that… a lot better than you think… As long as that person survives… then I'll die with a smile on my face…" he grabbed Luke by the arm, only to be blown away by a quick surge of lightning magic "Not yet… I can't lose… not yet…"

"Luke please, you have to stop this before it's too late!" as it turns out, Edo-Cana had made her way to the battlefield, watching in horror and anguish from atop a small plateau, much to the clear horror of Tempesta. "You don't have to kill yourself like this anymore!"

"It's too late, this fight is over. He said he was willing to die in this battle, and I can assure you blood will be shed." Luke drew Raiden from its sheath again, and he slowly pressed two fingers along the blade of the sword "At the very least, I can let you die in battle like any warrior of great honor. **Dragon Sword Style…"**

'_So this is it…' _Tempesta closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable '_As long as I know she'll be safe… At least I could keep my promise… but the things I did to do so… I've always hated myself for that… In the end, I'm just one more failure… another broken fool… I'm sorry Cana, I'm sorry Fairy Tail… I'm sorry to everyone I've hurt… Perhaps with my death I can atone for all the sins I've comitted…'_

"**Thunderous PURGE!" **Luke rained down a blast of lightning from the skies above… but not on the expected target.

Tempesta whipped around very slowly (given his condition) to see Edo-Cana throwing herself from a cliff, a shadow looming over her '_Is that it… Does that mean?'_

"Yeah, I could smell the thing all along." Luke jerked a thumb to the side, and a massive bolt of lightning rained down on the shadowy figure, striking it and causing it to screech in agony, revealing its true form of a hideous lizard creature.

'_So that means it's over… she's safe…' _Tempesta shed a single tear of joy '_It's over… _It's finally over…"

"I'm afraid that's not the case my boy?"

Tempesta looked over, and his relief instantly turned to rage "Byro…"

Sure enough, Byro floated down onto the scene on top of a legion, his disgusting smirk never leaving his face "So it would seem you saw through my little deception. Tell me, how did you figure it out?"

"Dragon Slayers have heightened sense." Luke told him flatly "When she got within a mile of our battle I could smell that creature looming over her, I was able to piece it together pretty quickly that she was being held hostage and that forced my counterpart to act."

"I see. Well it doesn't matter now, Tempesta failed miserably so that means she's outlived her usefulness. A nice round of flame liquid should do the trick." Byro pulled out the flame liquid and prepared to incinerate Cana's unconscious form with it, only to find himself bleeding profusely from the stump where his arm used to be "Wh-What the-?!"

As it turns out, it was Tempesta who did that deed, holding the katana form and standing on the severed hand in question, holding Cana's form in his arm "Not going to lie, that felt way better than it should've."

"But… But you were lying on the ground in a heap!"

"Funny thing about that, rage can make you forget all about that stuff, if only temporarily, and as long as you have a decent goal, and right now mine is making you suffer." he turned his attention over to Luke and gave him a grateful smile "In all honesty, part of me never thought this day would come. You freed us both from the curse that bound us."

"You wretch, you dare to stand against me like this you traitor!"

"Shut up you worthless sack of shit, I'm no traitor because my loyalty was never with you in the first place." Tempesta turned back to Luke "Hey listen Thunderclap, as grateful as I am, I have to ask you to let me handle this. Now I can finally take revenge on the man responsible for murdering my parents, the master of Fairy Tail, and my tormenter."

"Normally I frown upon killing of any kind." Luke stepped back a fair distance and promptly took Edo-Cana into his arms protectively "But then again, this isn't my world so I don't think I have a say in it. Do what you think you need to."

"Good enough for me, I can't tell you how long I needed this!" on that note, Tempesta blitzed out of view and underneath Byro, and with a quick surge of lightning he sent him flying right into the air, and then he took to the air and started blitzing through Byro left and right in a zigzag formation back and forth until he was high in the air "This is for my parents, my master and for every single person I've had to kill because of you! **Double Lightning QUAKE!" **he finally drove his blade into Byro's chest, sending him hurtling towards the ground in a very explosive fashion "And just like that, you can accept every ouce of my rage. And now, it's over…" and as if a switch were flipped, he fell to his knees and coughed up a large amount of blood before he started to fall over.

This was when Luke blitzed onto the scene and caught Tempesta, then gently sat him on the ground next to Edo-Cana "So how about it, we're both still alive after all."

"And I barely have the strength left to move. I fought with every ounce of power I had, but in the end it wasn't enough. I guess you win over me Thunderclap."

"I don't really think it's fair to say either of us won, the fact is that you and I are the same, whether it be in face, in power or in heart."

"Yes… Yes I guess that's true." he looked over at the sound of a soft moan.

Edo-Cana slowly opened her eyes, and she began tearing up at the sight before her "Luke…"

"Hey Cana, I'm back. Sorry I took so long."

"It's you… Luke… my beloved…" she immediately buried her face in his chest.

With the happy couple finally reunited, Luke glanced over to see Edo-Noah rushing towards the scene "Don't worry it's over, he's back on our side and that creepy old guy from the Royal Army with the horrible laugh is dead."

"So how did you figure it out?" asked Edo-Noah "Did Mira ever tell you about it?"

"No I'm a little bit shaky on the details, but I could tell during our fights that his heart just wasn't in it. Plus he kept saying that he was more powerful than the king himself, so that meant he was either mad with power, or he was being forced to act like this against his will."

"You knew it all from the beginning?" Mira let out a sigh "But you were fighting with everything you've got."

"Yeah well he was literally killing himself both physically and emotionally for the woman that he loves, so I figured it was the least he could do to help him out and give him a fight worth remembering."

"...Why the hell am I not surpirsed?"

"Because it's me we're talking about. And for the record, you and I need to have a good long talk when this is over."

"Yeah, I already had a fairly awkward one with Elfman and Lisanna. Speaking of which, what are you going to do now that that's wrapped up with?"

"I'm leaving the rest of these stooges up to you and the others, for now I'll go and join my fellow Dragon Slayers in the fight against the king. After all, if you cut off the head of the snake then the rest should easily fall as well."

"Right, we can take it from here."

"Good, now give them hell and show them why not to piss off Fairy Tail." and so Luke promptly disappeared in a flash.

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In the meantime, Mystogan lead Panther Lily to the chambe that created the Anima portals in the first place, and once there he revealed his plan to Panther Lily: his intention was to put the Anima in reverse and rid Edolas of any and all magic remaining, in order to stop the war once and for all.

**A/N:**

**And with this chapter, we see the sixth act of the Edolas arc, and the final battle is finally underway. Looking back, I actually might be able to finish it with the next chapter after all, completing my original plan of having the Edolas arc only cover 7 chapters.**

**So yes, the reason Luke Tempesta was aligned with the army in the first place was because Byro had been threatening Cana. I know this might seem like I'm sort of defanging a major antagonist of the arc, but at least it gives him a good reason for why he does what he does, which is more than could be said for Knightwalker. Don't get me wrong, she was badass, but in terms of personality, she was honestly kind of one-dimensional.**

**For those who caught that, yes Noah's Planetary Devastation Dragon slayer spell was meant to be a reference to Naruto. Personally, I grew up with Naruto since it was the first anime I ever saw, before even the likes of Dragon Ball. Even if I sort of grew out of it and got bored with it (which also explains the lack of updates on my Rise of a Warrior: Naruto: Shippuden fic), it still holds a special place in my heart, and it always will.**


	33. Edolas VII

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**Guest: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. Yeah, Tempesta's reasons may have been somewhat expected, but I think I did well with it either way.

**Guest: **Interesting idea, I think I'll take you up on that at some point. That will definitely make for a nice little subplot.

**Ragnas Bredvolts: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it so much. Yeah, I tried to make some noticeable differences from canon. I don't know if I would say that Tempesta as a higher level of skill than Luke, but with his mastery over that weapon, he's definitely a formidable enemy. I'm glad to see that you enjoyed Lucy and Lisanna's fight with Byro, though a Unison Raid betweenn the two of them is actually not a bad idea. Yes, Lucy's Celestial Whip does have a lot of potential, and maybe her whip will allow her to call upon more power. I just haven't decided on how that's going to work yet. But yes, Elfman tearing into Sugarboy was fun to write. It was actually meant to be a reference to Hulk smacking down Loke in the 2012 Avengers movie. I'm also quite glad to see that there's someone else out there that shares my burning hatred for Teen Titans Go. As for Cana's frequent use of her lightning-based Card Magic, I haven't really given any thought to a pattern in that regard, but yeah I could mention something along those lines later on. Anyway, that's all I have to say, and I hope you have a nice day as well my friend.

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The battle with the Dorma Anim was at least nearing its climax.

Faust looked down on Noah and the others lying in various heaps with a crazed malicious look in his eyes "**Wizards of your world are quite the fortunate lot indeed, they possess truly unimaginable power because they are born into an eternal spring of magic power. Then there are the Dragon Slayers, your power surpasses even the most absurd concepts of limitations. I intend to make that power into my own, for with it I can replenish the supply of this world!" **and cue the maniacal cackle "**Although it appears you couldn't live up to your own namesakes! As long as I possess the Dorma Anim I am God, my army will pave an inexorable path of conquest in both this world and Earth Land! I will reign supreme for as long as I live!"**

"Quit your whining already would ya?" Noah pulled himself back to his feet and swallowed some of the rubble and debris in his mouth, with Natsu and the others rising short after.

"**I see, yes it looks like you still have some fight left in you! Your power is truly something to behold and I shall saver every ounce of it! Prepare yourselves Dragon Slayers! Dragon Blast Eruption!" **and so with the swing of the Dorma Anim's sword, Faust promptly engulfed the four of them in simultaneous explosions, but his maniacal laughter died down at the sight of only three of them being sent flying by the explosion "**Where's the other one?"**

"Right here! **Mountain Dragon Molten Spears!" **a barrage of earth spears infused with molten properties burst forward and attempted to pierce through the Dorma Anim, but instead they simply exploded upon contact, and the smoke cleared to reveal Noah slowly emerging from an earth dome surrounding him "Yeah yeah I know, I only had time to shield myself from that last blast of yours. Sorry guys." he was met with various groans.

"**More… I must have more…"**

"Oh crap, what the hell is he doing now?"

"**I call to thee oh Heaven and Earth, I ask that you relinquish every last ounce of your magic power to the might of the Dorma Anim!" **this was followed by dark colored energy rising from the ground and everywhere else flowing into the Dorma Anim's sword "**Yes, I can feel it! The last remnants of magic power in Edolas are vanishing! That means your time has come to an end, I must harvest your power immediately!"**

'_This guy is even more out of his fucking gourd than I thought, is he really so deseprate and petty to win this fight that he'd screw over his entire world? Oh who the fuck am I kidding, I just described him to a T' _Noah whipped around to Natsu and the others "I don't suppose any of you have any more magic power going for you?"

"More or less." Gajeel spat out some blood "I still got some excess energy from when I at that thing's tail, I know Salamander got some power from those explosives he ate and the kid can eat the air."

"That's all I need to hear, now listen up and listen good. I need the three of you to start roaring right fucking now."

"You mean all of us at the same time?" asked Wendy.

"We can't drag this out any longer than we have to, you guys are on your last legs as it is and I don't know how much longer I'm gonna be able to hold out."

"Aftershock has a point, we've gotta bring down this walking piece of scrap." Gajeel pulled himself to his feet.

"Okay, so are you guys ready?"

"Yeah you bet I am!" Natsu bolted to his feet, with Wendy quickly following "Now let's wreck some shit!"

"Good enough for me, now show this bastard why you don't want to piss off a Dragon Slayer on a bad day!"

"**Mountain Dragon…"**

"**Fire Dragon…"**

"**Iron Dragon…"**

"**Sky Dragon…"**

"**ROAR!" **the four of them unleashed four simultaneous roars, engulfing the Dorma Anim in the explosion that followed as a result.

After about a minute went by with no action, Gajeel gave a smirk "Oh yeah it's over, we got the old bastard."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Noah jerked a thumb upwards towards where the maniacal laughter was coming from, courtesy of Faust and the Dorma Anim floating thousands of feet in their."

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me, a four-way combination attack like that didn't even touch that thing."

"Okay, this is going to be fun, and yes I'm being sarcastic."

"**You wretched fools! Dragon Knight Diffusion Cannon!" **the Dorma Anim unleased a barrage of fireballs down at the group, resulting in various explosions throughout the ruined colosseum, as well as bombarding the others.

"**Mountain Dragon Terra Dome!" **Noah slammed his hands into the ground and summoned a dome made of earth to protect himself, Gajeel and Wendy "Alright Salamander listen up, I need you to start eating as many as you can! These things are combustion-based, which means they're edible for you!"

"I'm on it!" Natsu blitzed around the scene and started consuming one small explosion after another "You're just adding fuel to my fire, and you're gonna go down soon enough!"

"**SILENCE! Everything I do is for my world, for my beloved Edolas! You pathetic wretches could never possibly hope to understand the situation we deal with! You have an endless abundance of the one thing we desire the most! The citizens of Edolas have no need for wizard guilds, for they would serve no purpose here. What they need is everlasting magic power, and I am determined to do whatever it takes to give it to my people! I want for all of Edolas to experience the bliss you trash from Earth Land experience for yourselves!"**

"Oh shut up already." Noah swallowed some rubble and got back to his feet again "Do you not hear the ridiculous levels of hypocrisy you're spewing out right now?"

"**What's that supposed to mean?"**

"Are you so delusional because of your greed and pride you can't see what's going on right in front of you? The problem here isn't the lack of magic power, it's idiots like you who are so wasteful with it that you think you need it to wipe your own ass! If you actually valued magic power as much as you claim to then you wouldn't be so wasteful with it, and more importantly you wouldn't have pulled out a fucking Megazord that rips away whatever magic power your world has left. The problem isn't you losing your power, the problem is you and all of the blind idiots who serve you."

"**...Well so what?! Even if this world is finished, all I have to do is conquer your world in its place! No one can stop me, not as long as I have the power of the Dorma Anim at my command! Besides, it's clear to me that the four of you have exhausted whatever magic power you do possess, and I imagine it takes time for you to recover it. If you would ever wish to surrender then this would be the time for you to do so, agree to supply this world and myself with magic power and you will be compensated accordingly."**

"Yeah, let me think about it. Thinking, thinking, thinking, shove it up your ass. I'm not bowing down to you or anyone else. **Mountain Dragon Terra Shield!" **Noah slammed his hands into the ground behind the Dorma Anim, cutting off a piece of its tail in the process, causing it to fly off and land near Gajeel "Alright Black Steel eat up, and kid you make sure to suck down some of that air too. Now listen up and listen good, because I'm only going to say this once. You all need to realize that if we don't win this fight, the Anima Girl is going to die, the blue Exceed with the stupid sense of humor are going to die." he was referring to Happy and Lisanna, and this was enough to make Natsu's head snap up "All of the Exceeds are going to die." that proved to be enough to have the same effect on Gajeel and Wendy "But before all of that, if we don't do this then you two are going to die. And you're better than that, you're better than him, you're better than… well you're not better than me or Thunderclap, but you guys do have a hell of a lot of potential. You're more than just wizards of Fairy Tail, you're also Dragon Slayers! Now all of you plant your feet, grit your teeth, and you eat that mother fucking horse!" with the TFS reference out of the way, Noah whipped around and faced the Dorma Anim "You go ahead and hit me with your best shot you old fucker cause I'm standing right here!"

"**As if you had to ask!" **the Dorma Anim attempted to step down on him, only for the foot to be caught by Noah in a surprising display of strength.

"I may not be a wizard of Fairy Tail but I don't need to be, because I'm just as much of a Dragon Slayer as the rest of them! Now it's time to eat! That! HORSE!" with a sudden burst of strength, he threw the Dorma Anim clear off his feet.

"**I've had enough of your insolence you piece of filth, it's time for you and the others to learn your place! I am the king of Edolas, bow down before my majesty!" **the Dorma Anima attacked Noah with another Dragon Blast Eruption, causing him to cry out in pain, but as he prepared a follow up attack, he noticed something in mid air "**What's this?"**

"You're the one who's gonna have to learn his place old man, because in the end it's going to be on your knees! **Iron Dragon CLUB!" **Gajeel hurled his arm forward as it transformed into an iron club, impaling the right foot of the Dorma Anim "There!"

"**What did you do?"**

"I'll tell you what happened, I locked your foot down old man! You pull any of that bullshit with jumping again, and you just might lose it!"

"**Damn you insignificant wretch, let go of me!"**

"Not a chance you fucking geezer, we're ending this! Now somebody just hurry the fuck up and rip his head off, I can only hold this bastard for so long!"

"Right!" Noah raised his hands into the air, rubble rising up from the ground to form a boulder that kept growing larger and larger by the second "Kid listen up, you have to roar at the Salamander with all the magic power you've got left! We don't have any time just do it while you still can1"

"Okay Noah, I'll do it because I believe in you! **Sky Dragon ROAR!" **Wendy let out a roar with all of the magic power she could muster, sending Natsu hurtling forward at full speed.

"Now Salamander, find the attack's rotation and ride it home, then use the wind properties to make your flames stronger!"

"Hang tight, I'm on it! **Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Flame Lotus: EXPLODING FLAME BLADE!" **with all of the energy he had left, Natsu unleashed a spirally torrent of flames that were enhanced by Wendy's wind-based roar, allowing him to rip Faust out of the cockpit and blowing the Dorma Anim clean off its feet, and without the pilot it was left unable to defend itself against what would come next "Now Noah, FINISH IT!"

"That's my plan! **Dragon Slayey Secret Art: Planetary Devastation!" **Noah hurled his massive boulder, now an artificial meteorite, down at the Dorma Anim at unimaginable speeds.

"No it can't be, it can't end this way!" Faust could only look on in horror at the sight of the Dorma Anim being destroyed in an explosive collision, while he himself was hurled to the ground.

With the battle finally over, Noah let out some considerably loud wheezing from the exhaustion he was feeling, but then he ate some nearby rubble and bolted upright "Well that was fun, but now it's time to finish this."

"No… No no no, stay away from me!" Faust started stumbling away in terror at the intimidating sight of Noah calmly making his way towards him '_This power, it's unheard of! I can't believe I was so desperate to possess something so terrifying! _Someone help me, anyone please, I beg of you!" but as he started seeing silhouettes of dragons behind him, and that was enough to make him faint in pure terror.

"Well it's about fucking time, I was wondering how much damage we would have to do before he finally shut the fuck up." Noah fell to one knee in exhaustion "But on the bright side, we took down the king just like that. Now if only we could do that with the king from Rising of the Shield Hero."

"Yay…" Natsu fell flat on his face and spat out some debris "So this is the part where one of us gets to yell checkmate right?"

"As surprised as I am you actually know something like that, you're actually supposed to say it before you take the king. Fuck, I totally should've said that."

"Looks like I missed the party."

Noah looked up to see Luke drop down onto the scene "Oh yeah that fucking figures, you show up after the giant dragon monster goes down."

"Hey unlike most of the idiots who show up at the last minute, I actually do have a good reason for showing up late. I was beating the ever loving crap out of myself."

"And how did that work out by the way?"

"Well it turns out his most powerful weapon was good enough to blast me clear out of my Dragon Force." Luke helped Noah back to his feet "All things considered though, as annoyed as you claim to be by them, you and the others made a great team back there."

"Don't expect it to become a regular thing, but putting that aside I think it's high time for us to get the fuck out of here. I need a breather and a panini personally."

"That actually does sound pretty good right now." that was when the ground beneath them began shaking all of a sudden "Okay, I wasn't expecting that. Should we be expecting enemy reinforcements at any point?"

"If that does turn out to be the case then you and I will be the only ones that can actually fight them off. Salamander and the others are all drained dry right about now."

"And I don't have much left in me as it is, Dragon Force drains a guy pretty fast."

"No you guys, it's up there! Look!" a horrified Wendy pointed upwards to where the floating islands above them were starting to hurtle towards the ground.

"And now the floating islands are falling, what the hell is going on?"

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The battle against the Royal Army had come to an abrupt halt.

A battered and exhausted Lucy looked up from her place on the ground at the sight of the floating islands hurtling to the ground "The islands… they're falling…"

"And just like that, the world is about to end." Cana noted dryly "You know, part of me isn't surprised that Fairy Tail is responsible for the end of the world."

"Seriously?"

"Am I wrong to think that?"

"...No."

"And there you go. But in all seriousness, this can't be good."

"Trust me, it's not." Mira told her flatly "From what I've learned about this world over the years, the islands above Edolas like Extalia are dependent on magic power in order to stay up there, but if they're falling then it can only mean one thing."

"Which is what exactly?"

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Edo-Noah looked up at the sight of the floating islands falling "Okay, I think it's safe to say that's bad." he looked down at Tempesta and Edo-Cana "I don't suppose you can get back up as of yet?"

"It depends on whether or not you want me to be able to move without the excruciating pain I feel every time I move from this position" Tempesta told him flatly, the position in question being him lying in a crater with Edo-Cana pressed against his chest "But in all seriousness, you see it too right? I think that's all of the magic power left in Edolas."

"But what's causing it?" asked Edo-Cana.

"I don't know, but I guess I was right before when I said that after today, Edolas would never be the same again." Tempesta struggled to get to his feet, though he did, but not without the sound of a sickening crack from one of his legs "I'll deal with that later, right now I think the rest of our guild needs to regroup."

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True to what Tempesta was saying, the Royal Army was freaking out at the sight of the magic power being drained from their weapons:

"My weapon isn't doing what I'm telling it to do!"

"What the hell is going on?!"

"Our weapons aren't working!"

"Now what the hell are we supposed to do?!"

"Everyone's freaking out…" Lucy pulled herself to her feet "And it looks like Fairy Tail isn't that much better off."

"Considering everyone is freaking out about their weapons losing their magic power, I'd say you're right." Cana told her flatly "But whatever is gonna happen now, we've just gotta keep our cool for the time being."

"RETREAT!" this was when the Royal Army decided to abandon their now useless weapons and run away screaming like a bunch of cowards.

"So yeah, basically do the exact opposite of what they just did. I can't believe they just gave up like that."

"Yeah well they're not the only ones." Bolt pointed at the Edolas Fairy Tail.

"...Oh wow."

As it turns out, the other members of the Edolas Fairy Tail were freaking out just as bad as the soldiers, maybe even worse:

"The soldiers had the right idea, we're all as good as dead!"

"We can't use magic again? How are we supposed to survive without it?"

"This will be a day of mourning for the rest of time, or at least until we die."

"Maybe we'd be better off dead. Without magic power we're totally screwed, it's completely game over for all of us!"

"Now we'll have to disband, what good is a wizard guild without magic power?!"

"Come on you guys, just chill out a little bit. Everything is going to be okay, but you can't just start to panick." Lucy tried to calm everyone down, though she had little success.

"How the hell would you know?!" Edo-Lucy suddenly rounded on her counterpart in a frustrated rage "I don't think that you get that our magic power is disappearing, every last fucking ounce of the stuff! Don't you get what that means for Fairy Tail?!"

"Hey cool it!" Cana tried to call her off "Freaking out and throwing a massive shitfit isn't going to change what's happening."

"What the hell are we supposed to do dammit?! We're losing our magic power, we're nothing without it!"

"If you're nothing without it then you don't deserve it."

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Tempesta stumbled slightly from the weakness in his legs, but after a moment he finally managed to regain his balance "You know it's strange, despite all of the chaos this sight is oddly sooting."

"To you at least." Edo-Noah pointed out dryly "I never thought I would actually live to see the end of the world like this. Will our strength be enough for us to endure? I highly doubt that personally."

"Well I believe that we will endure, as long as we're able to stick together." Tempesta promptly took Edo-Cana's hand in his, and the two of them exchanged a small smile.

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All over the Edolas, the magic power was disappearing into the skies above, and the people were starting to panick as a result.

Contrary to the mindset of the majority of the population, Edo-Gajeel was surprisingly calm and just taking notes on the entire situation.

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Meanwhile, with the Dragon Slayers…

Luke and the others could only look around in awe at the sight of the magic being sucked into the heavens "You guys seeing what I'm seeing? This is pure magic power that we're witnessing here."

"Well that's shit hitting the metaphorical fan big time." Noah muttered dryly "The only question is, what the fuck gives?"

"What about that gigantic dragon the king was using?"

"You mean the Dorma Anim? No I doubt it, I mean the king said he was absorbing all of the magic in Edolas in order to use it, but we destroyed it."

"Which means that logically, it shouldn't be able to absorb any more magic power. It must be coming from another source."

"But what though?"

"I can't say for certain but it will have to wait, for the time being we'd better head back to the Royal City. Given everything that's happening right now I wouldn't be surprised if they started panicking."

"Oh yeah that's actually a fair point, I've seen enough stuff like that to know that when it happens it gets ugly really fast. If I had to guess as to what's going on I'd say they're taking the time to connect with loved ones, get their affairs in order, or maybe just kill their boss, get a purge going, live a little!"

"...Dude."

"Yeah?"

"Are you seriously quoting TFS right now?"

"How could I not? They're way too quotable not to."

"...Yeah okay fair enough. But in all seriousness, we should head back over there and see how we can help. Plus we'd better meet up with the others too, chances are they'll be trying to do the same thing. But for now we're wasting too much time talking, let's move."

"Right." and so the five of them promptly moved out.

'_I never thought I would be seeing the end of the world, especially in another world.'_

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Meanwhile, with the Edolas Fairy Tail and others…

Edo-Lucy and the others looked on at the sight of their magic power disappearing "I never thought I would see the end of the world in my lifetime."

"Don't assume the end actually comes until it actually happens." a very familiar voice told her and the others, causing them to freeze.

Edo-Lucy and the others looked over to the source of the voice, and scowled at the sight before the lot of them "What the hell are you doing here?"

As it turns out, it was none other than Luke Tempesta, followed by Edo-Noa and Edo-Cana right behind him, and he calmly made his way forward despite the hateful glares and whispering he was receiving "I can see none of you have changed a bit, especially you Lucy."

"You've got a lot of nerve showing your face again after all this time."

"Spare me your typical aggressive malice Lucy, I think it's safe to say we've got a lot of other things to worry about right now, as in this world losing all of its magic power."

"Don't think you can make excuses you little-"

"Lucy, enough." Edo-Noah promptly cut her off with a firm glare "Like he said, we have bigger things to deal with."

"...Fine." Edo-Lucy put away her whip and crossed her arms, her scowl still ever present.

"Go ahead."

"Thanks." Tempesta stepped forward, his gaze unflinching "I don't expect you to change your opinions of me like the flip of a switch, and I don't expect you to forgive me for doing the things that I've done over the past two years, but for now we should all have the same goal, as in heading to the Royal City and determine the situation, then go from there."

"But what exactly are we going to see?"

"If there's one thing that I've learned in my lifetime, regardless of the side I've been on, it's that we don't need magic power in order to survive. Look at me, I'm tapped dry of it because of my battle with my counterpart from Earth Land, and yet I'm still alive. Even if I have lost about 60% of feeling in my body and I'm not sure I'm ever going to get it back, but that's besides the point. My point is that having magic power is convenient, but it's far from vital for humans, and the only difference is that I understand that, and I don't let anxiety and despair get the better of me. And that's why I'm heading back to the Royal City to assess the situation and see it for myself."

"See what exactly?"

"The future of this guild and the rest of our world, I'm going to look it straight in the eye without even flinching. If I'm the only one then so be it, but I'm willing to bet I'm not." and so on that note, Tempesta tightened his grip on Shatterstorm and started walking his way in the direction of the Royal City.

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Inside the Anima control room, Mystogan explained to Panther Lily that he intended to rid Edolas of all of its magic power in order to stop the war, and knowing that the people were panicking because of this decision, claimed that the people would need a new leader, a new king who would help them adapt to the new world full of changes.

Panther Lily was quick to assume that Mystogan would be the new king, only for him to refuse and tell Panther Lily that there was a need for someone to play the role of a villain who took the magic away from Edolas, and for a hero who would stand triumphant over the villain and unite the people of their world. Mystogan then went on to reveal that he intended to play the role of the villain, and that Panther Lily should play the role of the hero, since he would be able to unite the humans along with the Exceeds. However, Panther Lily refused to go along with this plan.

Mystogan went on to explain his plan to Panther Lily, telling him to execute him (Mystogan) in front of the panicking citizens and be the new king of Edolas, but Panter Lily still refused to go along with this plan, and all the while Nabi was watching the two of them, but neither of them were aware of his presence.

While the citizens were continuing to panick, Mystogan and Panther Lily continued arguing over the plan, both wanting the other to be the new king of Edolas and both wanting to be the villain that would be executed in front of the people.

As panic outside continued to intensify, a guard rushed into the Anima chamber in order to inform Panther Lily about how people were wreaking havoc. Both of them agreed to put their argument on hold for the time being.

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About 5 minutes later, outside…

Lily and Mystogan rushed outside to find absolute chaos erupting within the city, and the former whipped around to face a few soldiers "Tell me, how many of them are there?"

"Sir!" the soldiers snapped to attention "There are five of them sir."

"And you haven't dealt with them yet? Explain the reasoning behind this."

"Yes sir, you see the thing is… they're very strong."

"Oh for the love of-" Lily was cut off by the sound of a very familiar laugh "What's going on down there?"

"Oh dear lord no…" Mystogan just pinched the bridge of his nose "I have a really bad feeling about this."

"What do you mean, you know who's behind this?"

"I have a hunch if nothing else."

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Meanwhile, down on the streets…

As it turns out, Luke was standing on a rooftop in the city wearing a cape and with horns attached to his head, laughing maniacally as his lightning magic surged "Citizens of Edolas, hear my words! I am the Demon Lord Drako, and I have travelled to this world for one singular reason: To steal every ounce of magic power in your possession!"

"What the hell?" this was when Edo-Noah and the rest of the Edolas Fairy Tail rushed onto the scene to see Luke acting like a would-be conqueror '_Okay, clearly I'm going to need some context for this. Why the hell would he be acting like this?'_

"Faust has sacrificed his poistion as your ruler, and that is the only reason why I chose to spare his life after utterly decimating him in battle!" Luke pointed to where Faust was tied to a nearby post, still unconscious "So he shall live, only for the time being that is."

Fortunately, the citizens seemed to be buying this "You mean you hurt our king? Please your majesty, you have to rise! How dare you hurt our king!"

"SILENCE!" Luke unleashed a surge of electricity "Aftershock, Salamander, Black Steel and Sky Maiden, come and stand at my side my noble and loyal heralds! The time has come for us to show these wretched worms why the Dragon Slayers are to be feared!"

"As you wish my lord! **Iron Dragon Sword!" **Gajeel used his iron sword arm to cut through an entire building, leaving it to crumble into rubble, much to the horror of the citizens "Fear the might of the Dragon Slayers, your magic power belongs to all of us now!"

Edo-Gajeel studied Gajeel intently for a moment, and then it clicked in his mind '_So that's it, they're trying to make themselves look like the villains to the people. _These villains won't stop until they've destroyed anything and everything in sight! The city is under attack by an army of demons from another world!"

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Meanwhile, with two of our other Dragon Slayers…

"You'd beter run!" Wendy popped up in front of some random kid and tried to scare him into running away, the key word being tried, and by that I mean she failed.

"Run or die." Noah popped up in front of Wendy and cast the kid a terrifying glare "It's your pick kid." that sent him running away screaming "See that's how you get it done."

"Was it really necessary for you to scare him like that?"

"Hey don't blame me for that kid, it's not my fault you're about as intimidating as a cocker spaniel."

"Just look at all of them, they're an unstoppable force of evil!" Edo-Gajeel shared a look with his counterpart, and they gave each other small smirks '_Maybe I have a career in acting.'_

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Luke looked down at the horrified reactions he was receiving from the citizens '_Looks to me like everything is going well so far.'_

"Just what do you think you're doing you fools?!" Mystogan rounded on Luke from his place at the balcony "Stop this at once!"

"Now hear me my loyal heralds of the elements, continue wreaking havoc until the wretches of this world understand why we are to be feared!"

"Okay I'm just gonna say it." Noah dropped down next to him "I still say it would've been a hell of a lot more convincing if I was the one doing it."

"Yeah well you drew the short straw, now quit whining and do as I say!"

"Alright fine… my lord." and so Noah dropped down to the streets.

'_Then again, maybe he would've been more convincing of a bad guy. But still, this is actually pretty fun.'_

"They're to blame for all of this!" the citizens of Edolas started turning on Luke and the other Dragon Slayers "They're the ones who stole all of the magic power from Edolas! It's all because of that Drako monster!"

"Yes that's right!" Edo-Gajeel went along with the shame and kept convincing people about the ruse "That Dark Lord Drako is the brains behind this entire operation!"

"What?! That's unforgivable, you give us back our magic right now!"

"SILENCE!" Luke unleashed Lightning Dragon Roar into the skies above, scaring the citizens into silence "You humans often say not to play with fire, but playing with lightning can be that much more dangerous."

"Luke that's enough!" Mystogan rounded on Luke and yelled at him at the top of his lungs from his place in the castle "You need to stop this at once!"

"Well what do we have here? It would seem that I have a challenger, a brave man who would actually dare to oppose me. I should commend you for your bravery."

"You need to stop with this foolishness, the king has been defeated! There's no need to attack innocent people!"

"I think we'll see about that!" Luke unleashed another roar of lightning and demolished a building across from him.

"I told you to stop it!"

"If you think that simply raising your voice will be enough to intimidate me is going to be enough, then you're in for a rude awakening. It doesn't matter if you are the prince of this kingdom."

'_The prince he said, as in the son of the king? But the prince vanished under unknown circumstances 7 years ago.' _then Edo-Gajeel added fuel to the fire they were building "At long last, Prince Jellal has returned! He's returned to us just in time to save us from these other worldly demons!"

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Lily frowned at the sight of what Luke and the others were doing "What the hell are they doing here?"

"I have to admit sir, I am responsible for this."

Lily looked around and found Nabi standing there pumping his arm "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"I happened to overhear your conversation, and then I told the five Dragon Slayers of your plan and then they sort of came up with their own iteration."

"And that led to what we're seeing now."

This was when Luke called out to Mystogan "Come and face me in battle prince, and you had best pray that you stand victorious, because if you don't, then this entire city and everyone in it will be reduced to a pile of smoldering ash."

"And it would also seem that we have our villain. It looks like it's working so far, though from the sound of it I think it's safe to say the citizens don't believe in you as the prince yet. _It's obvious that he and the others want to make Jellal play the role of the hero, but if he throws the fight and the public finds out then the consequences could be tragic. Is he willing to pay the ultimate price?'_

"So what's your decision prince?"

"That's enough Luke, stay right there!" Mystogan leapt off the ledge of the balcony and started running towards him through the streets, for all of the people to see.

"Were you not listening to me before prince? I told you that I am the Demon Lord Drako, now come and face your inevitable defeat."

Lily just watched him go '_I hope he knows what he's doing.'_

"If I may sir, I would advise you to be ready for some major surprises." Nabi told him "There's quite a bit more still in store for all of us tonight to say the least."

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At the same time, Nichiya and the other Exceeds trapped in the giant cat lacrima were promptly reverted back to their normal forms, though they were highly confused as to what the hell was going on.

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As he watched Mystogan running through the streets of the Royal City, Edo-Gajeel was quick to go along with the act and try and rally the people "There goes our long lost prince, is he really going to face all five of those monsters all by himself? What unbelievable courage and spirit he's displaying!"

Mystogan didn't give that thought as he charged through the streets, his mind racing '_These damn fools, what the hell are all of you thinking? I understand what you're trying to do, but all this will do is end up making things that much worse for everyone!'_

"So you decided to come?" Luke shot him a fake smirk full of malice "I suppose I should commend you for your bravery. Aftershock, you and the others let him through. I'm going to deal with him myself." he leapt down to meet Mystogan at eye level and waved his hand to the side to motion for Noah and the others to step back.

"**Now sleep!" **Mystogan tried to cast a spell using one of his magic staves, only for the magic power to be sucked right out of it '_The Reverse Anima must have sucked out all of my magic power.'_

"Come now prince, don't tell me that you're as pathetic as the other wrecthes of this world without any traces of magic power. Pathetic, they act as if they can't even dress themselves without using magic. Not that you don't have reason to fear me, because I can assure you that you most certainly do. Observe!" with a wave of his hand, Luke unleashed a blast of lightning that.

"I told you to stop!"

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Wendy was looking horrified by what was happening "Luke you have to stop, you're going way too far with this!"

"No he's not, he knows exactly what he has to do." Noah gave a smirk "Thunderclap understands all too well that the more powerful the villain looks to everyone watching, the stronger the hero will look to all of them when he eventually comes out on top, with or without any actual magic power. And here I thought Titania was the only one from your guild that had any sort of skill in acting."

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Mystogan leapt over the rubble and finally met with Luke face to face "Luke I need you to listen to me, you and the others are making a big mistake by doing this, with this whole show you and the others are putting on. You can't really expect you'll be able to fool all of these people."

"Spare me the attempts to appeal to whatever humanity you believe me to have, because it's a waste of time!" Luke blitzed forward and dealt Mystogan a swift kick to the jaw that sent him crashing to the ground.

Mystogan pulled himself back to his feet and wiped the blood from his lip "Dammit you fool, you can't bring the people together like this, through simple minded evil!" he let a fist fly forward.

Luke caught the fist with ease and lowered his voice so only Mystogan could hear "I need you to fight me for real, if you pull your punches then it won't fool anybody."

"Fine!" Mystogan dealt Luke a roundhouse kick to the jaw strong enough to send him staggering backwards a short distance, earning various cheers from the citizens.

"Yeah that's right." Luke wiped the blood from his lip "Now it looks like the people are really getting into it."

"You idiot, you should've stayed down so that we wouldn't have to stretch this out any longer than necessary."

"We have to make it convincing." Luke slammed his fist into Mystogan's gut.

"If I can't talk you out of it, then it's clear I have no choice right now do I?" Mystogan promptly dealt Luke a fist to the face, which caused the people to cheer for him even louder than they already were.

Luke tried to retaliate with a punch to the jaw, only for his hand to be caught by Mystogan at the last second, so he lowered his voice again and gave a small smirk "I hope you're ready for this my friend, you're getting the kind of send off worthy of a member of Fairy Tail." he was met with a look of confusion "I think it's safe to say you're gonna have to leave the guild, your responsibility is to this world and its people. But since that is the case, you have to swear to follow these three rules." they continued trading blows as they went at it "The first rule, make sure that you never share sensitive information about the Fairy Tail guild with anyone for as long as you live." he was finally met with a fist to the face "Okay, just for that you can rattle off the second rule."

"The second rule, you must never contact any of the clients you've worked with in the guild for your own personal gain."

"You got that right, and don't forget the third and most important!" Luke ducked under a fist and dealt Mystogan an uppercut fist to the jaw "The third rule states that although our paths may diverge from here, you have to promise you'll live the rest of your life to the fullest, and that means that you have to treat every single day as if it were your last in this world. Don't you dare even dream of forgetting the friends that you loved."

"And as such, you must treasure them for as long as you live."

"And never lose sight of what you learned along the way." the two of them each dealt the other one final blow, which ended with Luke being sent crashing to the ground, which promptly ended with both of them falling to the ground "So how about it, did you get all of that? A true guild knows how to work together, and when they do there's nothing that they can't do. So until we meet again, I bid you farewell my friend." and he hit the ground with a thud.

"You as well." Mystogan actually regained his footing and stood over Luke's downed form supposedly victorious, earning a massive roar of applause from the crowd '_Thank you for everything.'_

'_Looks like the plan worked like a charm.' _seeing the fight was over, Edo-Gajeel promptly decided to take his leave of the scene, bidding his counterpart farewell in the form of a simple wave, earning a smirk as a result.

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"Okay that was fun, so what next?" Noah looked down to see that his body was starting to glow gold, along with those of Natsu and the others "Ask a stupid question, you either get an answer right away or not at all."

"Either way, looks like our song and dance aren't over just yet." Gajeel noted.

"Figures."

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Panther Lily found the same thing happening to himself and Nabi "What's going on, what's happening to us?"

"It's because of the Reverse Anima spell." Nabi kept pumping his arm "It's starting to expel every remaining shred of magic power out of Edolas, and since we possess internal magic power includes the Exceeds, the Dragon Slayers and the Earthlanders as well. We're all going to be pulled into Earth Land!"

"Wait what?!"

"I believe the queen is preparing for this occurrence as we speak."

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Sure enough, Shagotte was trying to comfort some of the younger Exceeds, telling that a great change was about to happen and they had to be brave about it.

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Bolt looked down and found his own body glowing along with the others "Okay this is kind of freaky, anybody want to provide some context as to what the hell is going on?"

"It's the Anima!" Carla was hanging onto a nearby rock to avoid being sucked away "The Anima is pulling all of us out of this world!"

"Bout time, in all honesty I was starting to get sick of this place." and then Bolt, Happy, Lucy & the Strauss siblings started getting sucked up as well "Looks like the magic is starting to work in reverse, and now it's pushing the magic out of here."

"And that means we have to get out of here too." Cana looked down to see her body glowing like the rest "I guess it just has a delayed effect on me."

"Probably for the best actually." this was when Tempesta suddenly made his way towards her, limping visibly from his wounds "So you're the version of Cana from that world right?"

"And you're the supposed would-be traitor from Fairy Tail in this world. It's cool though, I already got the details from my Luke."

"Speaking of which, I wanted to thank for for what he did for me tonight, but it looks like he was a little bit busy." Tempesta held out Shatterstorm to her "So I've gotta ask, when you see him could you give him this for me?"

"Won't you need it?"

"Don't count on it, I think I've had more than enough fighting for one lifetime. Besides, in the care of someone like him, I think it will be in good hands."

"...Sure thing." Cana accepted Shatterstorm just as she started getting hurled into the air by the Reverse Anima.

'_Thank you all, at least now I can find some sense of normalcy again.' _and so Tempesta then quietly took his leave of the scene.

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It didn't take long for Cana to reuninte with the others, earning a few looks about the weapon she was holding "Yeah, this is a little gift for Luke from his counterpart."

"Someone call my name?" that was when Luke, still in his Demon Lord getup, suddenly floated over towards the group, with Noah and the others right behind him "Would it be too cheesy to make a joke about saying my name and me magically appearing?"

"Yes, yes it would. Why do you look like you got hit by a freight train?"

"I had to put on a good show."

"Well judging by the crowd's reaction you definitely did that, albeit at the cost of becoming a villain to all of Edolas, so here's your consolation prize." she handed Shatterstorm to him "A little moment of your counterpart."

"Good to know, tell him I said thanks." Luke glanced down at the ground.

As it turns out, Tempesta, Edo-Cana and Edo-Noah were watching them disasppear, with the rest of the Edolas Fairy Tail right by their side "Looking back part of me always knew that this day was going to come, the day when Edolas's wellspring of magic power finally ran dry."

"But does this mean we'll lose our guild too?" Edo-Cana turned to face Tempesta and leaned into his embrace "I'm so scared my beloved, whatever will become of us now?"

"Cana, listen to me." Tempesta wrapped his arms around her protectively "Magic power or not, I promise we're going to get through this."

"You know he's right, listen to the smart one!" Luke called out to them as he was floating further and further away "I've learned a lot in my world, and I know that if you're nothing without magic power then you don't deserve it. It takes more than just magic to make a guild, a lot more than that. What matters is having conviction, spirit and heart, and having good people by your side to help you every step of the way."

"He's right. So is this is Thunderclap?"

"Looks that way Tempesta. You know what, let's drop last names for now."

"Fine by me, cause we're both the same. We're both Luke."

"That's my name, don't wear it out." he was met with various groans "Yeah yeah I know, that one-liner sucked. I've never been good at quips, I don't know how the hell Spider Man does it in the first place."

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Mystogan watched in awe, amidts various cheers from the citizens as the Earth Land wizards and the Exceeds were being sucked further into the air '_I knew that the magic power was going to be expelled, but I had no idea that the people would be as well.'_

"Prince!" this was when Panther Lily called out to him one final time '_I know that things are changing rapidly, keep in mind that adapting to them can take time. Don't rush it, lead your people with warmth and a calm heart. Take them at a pace they can keep up with, and then they'll march alonside you in the future.'_

"I will my friend." Mystogan wiped away a single tear "I promise."

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"Hey Earth Land me!" Edo-Noah called out out his counterpart "So we just stood our ground against the end of the world, how do you like that?"

"I'd like it more if it wasn't for you bailing on us two days ago." Noah told him dryly, then shot him a smirk "But all things considered, you didn't do too bad. The same to the rest of you, I get that the master of my guild hates Fairy Tail for reasons he refuses to mention, but all things considred, not too bad. Do it right, listen to what Tempesta says, make sure you take the right path and you'll find your way soon enough."

"I never thought you'd prove to be so soft to Fairy Tail." Luke and Bolt floated over to him and shot him two simultaneous smirks.

"I'm being pragmatic, you know that the guys I work for want Fairy Tail to burn. But that can wait until later."

"Works for me." they kept waving to everyone on the ground "So what do you think, will we ever see any of these people again?"

"Keep in mind that I'm not part of Fairy Tail, so there's a pretty high chance this is going to be it for me. As for you guys, well I guess only time will tell."

"Couldn't have said it better myself."

"Hey Lisanna, Elfman, Noah, Luke, everybody!" Mira started waving to all of them "Thank you for everything, I promise I won't ever forget everything that you guys have done for me, and I know that your Mira would be proud of how you guys have done up until now." she kept waving despite the tears streaming down her face, not that she noticed.

"And then there's that."

"Oh yeah, fuck." Noah let out a sigh "You're gonna want some answers about that when we get back to Earth Land aren't you?"

"I think you know what the answer to that is, but for now let's just make sure that we give this world a proper goodbye."

"Fair enough. But you know something, looking back maybe this world isn't as much of a piece of shit as I originally thought. Sure it's got a hell of a lot of issues."

"But name one world that doesn't, and besides the people here have proven that they have what it takes when push comes to shove. Sure they'll definitely have a hard time adapting to a world without any magic power at all, but it's not the end of the world. Yeah, call it a hunch but I have a feeling they're going to be just fine. Farewell Edolas, may your new era be a long and prosperous one!" and with that, the Dragon Slayers, the Exceeds and all of the Earth Land wizards all disappeared from Edolas forever, taking its magic power with them in a massive golden light.

'_Farewell, and the rest of you as well.' _Mystogen watched them disappear with a fond smile stretching across his face '_And farewell to my family in Fairy Tail, I promise to cherish my memories from our time together for as long as I live.' _once the Earthlanders, Exceeds and magic power all finalaly disappeared through the Anima, the sun began shining on a new dawn for the world of Edolas, and as it did so, Mystogan made his way atop a destroyed building with a staff in hand, and he rallied all of the people together "People of Edolas, hear me! The monsters have been defeated, and our world is safe at last! It matters not if we have magic power, because our kingdom will live on safely and peacefully for all eternity!" he was met with cheering from all of the citizens '_It seems as if this is the dawn of a new age for Edolas, and the future has just become a great deal brighter.'_

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Meanwhile, back in Earth Land…

Everything in Magnolia was just how it was before the Anima had struck in the first place, the land and city were exactly the same, and it was even raining just as it had before. At least, before the white vortex formed in the skies above the city.

Luke and Noah were the first ones to fall out of the Anima, with Bolt, Happy, Carla, Natsu, Lucy, Cana, Mirajane, Elfman and Lisanna all dog-piling on them afterwards "Okay, yeah this is a lot of fun. Is everyone alright?"

"Depends on your definition of the word." Cana let out a groan.

"As in conscious and nothing is broken."

"I can't guarantee the latter, but we're not dead."

"Nor are you being squashed under the likes of Natsu or Gajeel."

"That's also true, so yeah I guess we could be worse."

"Yes, yes it could."

"In that case." Noah promptly threw everyone off of him, bolted to his feet and voiced what they were all thinking "We're back bitches!"

"And check it out." Luke jerked a thumb at where the city of Magnolia sat in the distance "It looks to me like everything's finally back to normal."

"And you would never think it got turned into a gigantic crystal and sucked into another dimension. Yes I know how that sounds."

"And you did it on purpose, don't even try to deny it."

"It looks exactly the same two." Mira looked on in slight awe "Honestly, a big part of me thought I would never see this world again, let alone this city."

"Yeah well, as fun as the hijinks and reunions are we can't get ahead of ourselves. Before we decide to celebrate we should make sure that everyone in the town is okay."

"They're all just fine." a voice got their attention, causing everyone to look up and found, to their shock, all of the Exceeds floating above them, receiving jaw-dropped looks from almost everyone present "Hey you guys, we got here awhile ago so we went and checked on the city and the people for you. We just decided to fly through town real quick, your friends and everyone in town are doing great, but when we talked to them they didn't even know that they had been turned into a lacrima. Plus Earth Land is totally awesome you guys, it has a ton of magic power going for it."

"What in the world are they doing here?!" Carla seemed more angry than shocked and quickly ruined the mood "This is wrong on every level, the Exceeds don't belong in Earth Land!" and that made them all drop to the ground in shame "We cannot allow the Exceeds to stay here, the fact is that they're far too dangerous! They should return to Edolas at once!"

"In case you weren't listening little She with Stick up the Tail, heading back to Edolas isn't an option for them." Noah pointed out dryly "In case you forgot, the new Kid who would be King said himself that once his Reverse Anima had taken full effect that was it, there's no way for any of us to go back to Edolas."

"And I'm suppose to sympathize with them after everything?"

"Come on now Carla, be nice." Wendy told her "There homeland is gone now, so I think we should forgive them, and keep in mind they did help us to stop the lacrima before."

"Never." she kept like this even after getting numerous apologies from the other Exceeds.

"We're sorry we threw rocks at you before lady."

"We're really sorry."

"We have no place left to go now that Extalia has been destroyed."

"We promise we'll be nicer to you now."

"Please say you'll forgive us."

"This doesn't have anything to do with you kids!" Carla promptly rounded on Shagotte "The main problem here is her, the reason I'm so angry is because the Queen of Extalia and the rest of her lackeys sent me to Earth Land on a mission to kill the Dragon Slayers!"

"I KNOW!" Lucky suddenly exploded out of nowhere like he often did "The queen ordered us to give up all our eggs, how the hell could she be so heartless like that?! GOD DAMMIT!"

"Oh yeah, he's here too." Bolt let out a sigh "And here I was hoping that the three of us had seen the last of Mr Personality over there. And for the record he's got a point, did she ever even give a reason why you had to give up your eggs?"

"Not to mention she's the reason why we all got sucked into Edolas in the first place, you can't deny that." Noah pointed out flatly "If there's gonna be an explanation for that then let it be right fucking now."

"Yeah what he said." the two of them fist-bumped.

"Yes, there is a reason." this was when the Exceed elders stepped forward "I can assure you all that the queen did have a reasonable explanation, and her intentions were honorable. We all remember that moment vividly when it came to be, six long years ago. As was mentioned previously, Queen Shagotte has the ability to glimpse into the future, and this ability can act as both a blessing and a curse. One day came six years ago when she had a vision of Extalia being destroyed, and she knew what had to be done: we had to save the children."

"Wait a second, what the hell do you mean save them? That's so different from what we were told it's not even funny, you'd better not be lying to us."

"I can assure you that we're not. In order to prevent any panic among the citizens of Extalia, we carried out our plan without their knowledge. The queen then went on to issue to the other Exceeds a false proclomation, it was merely a cover up for our plan, claiming that it was part of a mission to protect us from the Dragon Slayers. We felt horrible about making the queen lie to all of you like that, but given the situation we didn't have any other choice. We could not simply go public with the knowledge of the fact that our beloved Extalia would simply come crashing to the ground. Despite what you've heard, I can assure you that none of us have any sort of ill intentions or any other beings from Earth Land whatsoever."

"You don't have to worry about that, we understand." Wendy assured them "You just needed something to go along with the story you told them."

You knew that everyone would panic if the truth were to get out, so you had to come up with something else to tell them so no one would go apeshit." Noah let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair "Still not thrilled about any of this, but it makes sense."

Shagotte went on to explain from here "We made use of the Anima spell developed by the humans in Edolas, as they tore several small holes between the two worlds we sent our eggs through so that they would arrive safely in Earth Land."

"Yeah, six years ago…" Natsu and Lisanna shared a look as they gently clasped their hands in each other's '_Like that day we found Happy and hatched him together. In a way, that's how we became so close in the first place.'_

"What we had no idea about was that you Carla, you possess an incredible power."

"Me?" Carla gave a look of shock as she received several looks of shock as well from the various others.

"Yes that's right, it would see that you possess the same prophetic power as I do. However, unlike me you did not have conscious control over it, and as a result your memory was clouded and confused by it. Of the 100 Exceed eggs that we had sent away, you were the only one that possessed this gift, and I suspect that you began to see scattered fragments of what would be the future of Edolas. Your gift caused you to mistake this as your personal mission."

"So that means…" Bolt's question didn't make it all the way out of his throat.

"The three of you were never given a mission in the first place, it was just your way of trying to make sense of all of the strange thoughts and images that had taken root in your mind. You and the others were sent here because we wanted to protect the next generation, nothing more than that."

"So those visions that she foresaw, they were just prophecies?" asked Noah "As in she was seeing that we were going to go to Edolas to begin with?"

"Yes."

"For whatever the reason might be, we thought it would be better if we hid your prophetic powers from you." Nabi and Nichiya spoke up in shame "As a result, we had no choice but to make it seem like we were controlling you. At the time we honestly thought that was the only way we could embellish the illustriousness of the queen, but now we deeply regret making such a decision and we humbly beg for your forgiveness."

"The show of false bravado that I chose to put on my citizens and the humans in the face of hardship is what caused all of you to suffer. No, I did more than just make you suffer, I brought anguish to all of the families whose eggs I took six years ago. Now you understand, that is why I handed the sword to you when I did. I swear to you the rest of the Exceeds didn't have anything to do with this, it was my fault alone." she was met with loud crying from Nichiya.

"Please your majesty it wasn't your fault, no one is to blame for this! You shouldn't be held responsible when all you did was what you believed to be best for the citizens of Extalia. To be quite frank, the rest of us are just as much to blame for all of this as you because we all allowed ourselves to become so arrogant, but now that we're here in Earth Land we may be able to make things right again. We can go out into this new world and find all of the Exceed children that were went here six years ago." this prompted the other Exceeds to sprout their wings and take flight again.

"This is totally awesome, now we've got a new purpose!"

"Let's give it our all and become friends with the humans!"

"Here's to making a fresh start you guys!"

Noah let out a low whistle at what he was hearing "These guys are sure as hell full of optimism aren't they?"

"Is that a bad thing in your eyes?" asked Luke.

"I never said that, a little bit of optimism never hurt anybody. It's definitely a nice change of pace from how things are going in my guild, but then again, too much of it can make people come off as unbearable, as in Salamander back there." he jerked a thumb back at Natsu.

"Thank you everyone, truly." Shagotte began shedding tears of joy "We should all count our blessings for today, for we are truly fortunate to have been blessed with this new beginning for all of us."

"...Very well then." Carla let out a sigh "If that is the case, then I suppose that I can find it in myself to forgive you."

"Carla… thank you."

"But tell me, how did I end up possessing the same prophetic powers as you do?"

"Um… oh wow look at that, I think a rainbow is forming through the storm clouds."

"Why are you avoiding my question?"

Luke shared a glance with Noah "You want to take that one?"

"Yeah, I think I'm going to pass on that one." Noah told him flatly, his voice low "It's not that hard to figure out though, even if you put aside the fact that she's got the queen's powers, they both look way too much alike."

"You gonna tell her?"

"No way in hell, she needs to figure that out on her own. It's not like anyone is telling us where the hell our dragons went right? It won't get you anywhere in life if someone just hands you all the answers."

"Well it could've been a lot worse." and it turned out that Natsu had picked up that weird fist-pumping thing from Nabi "At least everything worked out right?"

"You know it's kind of funny." Lisanna was apparently doing it too "You picked up that funny thing with him waving his arm."

"You know Lisanna, you picked that up too." Cana pointed out "But for the record, don't expect me to pick up that-"

"Sniff sniff sniff." this was when Nichiya started doing his thing with her, sending a chill down her spine "So lovely, such a fragrent parfume, I can't get enough of it! Please miss, if you would be so kind as to allow me to endure your parfume just a little bit longer."

"What you're gonna get is one of my cards lodged down your throat if you don't back the hell away from me." Cana's tone of voice was so calm it was unnerving, which proved to be enough to make Nichiya back away slowly.

"So lovely, and yet so fear-inducing."

"Hot damn, who would've thought she would be so feisty." Noah glanced over at Luke "Well you've got my stamp of approval in that regard." he received no reply "Hey Thunderclap, you still with us?"

"...I'll be right back." Luke picked up his sword, as well as Shatterstorm, and he calmly walked away from the group and into the forest.

"Well that was weird. What's he gonna do?"

"Well if I had to guess…" Cana was answered by the sound of a roar in the distance, followed by a large tree being chopped down in the distance "To answer your question, I guessed he'd do something like that."

"Huh. You know you might wanna take that thing away from him."

And then Luke came back breathing heavily "Okay, I think I'm good. Sorry it's just, he reminds me of a certan acquaintance and I'm not too fond of him."

"Happens to the best of us." Elfman assured him "A real man has to vent his frustrations every once in awhile."

With that little exchange over with, Shagotte turned to face Carla "I believe it would be for the best for us to take up residence somewhere nearby, don't you?"

"Yeah, and then we would be able to visit each other."

"Yes, perhaps."

"What in the world are the two of you so chipper about?" it was now that Carla suddenly found herself being hugged by Shagotte "What the…"

"Carla… Now we'll be able to see each other whenever we want!"

"Wait a moment… _She feels so warm…'_

Marl was quick to meet up with Happy as well "You be sure to visit us sometime as well dear, okay?"

"Aye!" Happy promptly saluted as he usually did.

"HEY!" and then Lucky went on to do his thing "That doesn't mean that you have to visit us you see?!"

"Oh I promise you I will, I don't really know why but I actually like the way that the two of you smell to me." this brought tears to their eyes.

However also led to Lucky chasing Happy around like a jackass "If you think you can just show up unannounced then you're in for one hell of a rude awakening! You'd better be sure to check with us before you just drop in, you're not too old to be bent over my knee!"

"Alright alright, aye sir just don't hurt me!"

While that little exchange was going on, Lisanna glanced over at Natsu "Hey listen, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That the two of them are his parents?" Natsu gave a grin "Oh yeah they definitely are without a doubt, I can guess from how much they smell alike."

"Yeah, and I really am happy for him. Do you think we should tell him?"

"No need, I think he'll figure it out eventually, but no matter what he's still going to have a home with Fairy Tail."

"We all will."

"Hold the romantic intimate moments you guys." Luke called them off and jerked a thumb up towards where the Exceeds were all starting to fly away "See you later guys, if you ever need our help again then you know where to find us. Fairy Tail is always more than happy to lend a hand to those who need it."

"Goodbye to all of you!" Shagotte called out to them as she was helped into the air by Marl "I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for us!"

"God dammit!" Lucky did his thing and started yelling abrassively "I can't take too much more of this mushy crap."

"Yes yes, I know dear." Marl called him off.

"Your sweet parfume shall forever be on my mind!" Nichiya promptly started waving at them, with Nabi doing the same "Thank you all for everything once again!"

"Yeah yeah, enough with the thanks." Bolt did a two finger salute "Now clear out, we can't miss you guys if you're still here."

"Farewell all of you!" and so the Exceeds finally took their leave.

As they were flying away, Lucky shot a glance over at the Queen "I don't get it though, why didn't you just tell Carla you're her mom?"

"Because I'm unworthy of such a title." Shagotte told him simply "Until we're able to find all of the children that I sent to Earth Land six years ago, the fact is that I don't deserve to call myself a mother. But for the record, I think I could ask you the same question."

"Oh god dammit you've gotta be kidding me, I don't need no son that blue!"

"Oh come now dear." Marl gave him her usual calm smile "I'm just glad that we'll be able to see him whenever we want."

"Yeah sure, that may seem like a good thing about now, but just wait until he ends up coming over all the time! I've gotta say Queen Shagotte, I didn't have a damn clue that you had sent your own daughter to Earth Land too."

"I am merely a female Exceed who was given the title of queen, and just like you I know all too well how much children mean to their parents."

"Oh yeah, ain't that the truth?" and so the Exceeds all flew off in order to find a new home, and they all vanished from view.

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With the dearture of the Exceeds, the Fairy Tail wizards (and Noah) were left alone in the forest.

"Alright, now I'm all fired up!" Natsu promptly let out a fiery roar as he and a good number of the others were still doing Nabi's thing of waving his arm "I say it's time for us to head back to the guild and celebrate!"

"Sounds good, I could use a drink myself." Cana let out a sigh "But still though, what the hell are we supposed to tell the others?"

"Not a damn thing, if none of them remember anything that happened then why should we bother to tell them?"

"But what about Mystogan, that's gonna need an explanation and we need to figure out what we're going to tell them."

"And you also need to figure out when the hell to stop fist pumping like that." Noah pointed out dryly.

"And that's not the only problem either." Gajeel looked around, clearly disatisfied judging by the look on his face.

"Yeah we've gotta deal with that fist pumping before either they end up smacking someone out of carelessness, or I end up smacking them out of sheer annoyance."

"That's not what I'm talking about you dipshit!"

"Though that actually is probably going to happen." Luke pointed out "If not with you then chances are someone will do the job for you, probably Erza if I had to guess."

"Will you two idiots shut the fuck up?! Where the hell is my cat, don't tell me those rats with wings took off with Lily!"

"Wait a second, you mean that big black Exceed with the white beard that was with Mystogan before?"

"Yeah, he got shot through the gut by your counterpart and apparently he lived to tell the tale about it." Noah pointed out "Not going to lie, that takes some hardcore skill."

"Yeah that's true, so where is he?"

"Are you blind? I'm standing right before you." that was when Lily finally revealed himself to the group, though with one noticeable difference, as in he was now the exact same size as any other Exceed.

"And… now that's happening I guess."

"Yeah, now he's the size of goddamn teddy bear." Noah commented dryly "So seriously, what the hell gives with this?"

"Well unfortunately, it would seem that my previous physical state wasn't as well-suited for Earth Land as I would've liked." Lily noted.

"Well no shit, but that doesn't bother you at all?" asked Bolt.

"Normally it would yes, but right now what I want to do is become part of the guild that took care of my prince for so many years." and then he pointed at Gajeel "You Gajeel, you made that promise to me before and told me you would get me in, can't you?"

"Oh is that what you want?" Gajeel gave a smirk, then suddenly glomped Lily and started shedding comic tears of joy "Consider it done buddy, welcome to Fairy Tail!"

"And now he's crying.

"So what? Those are tears of manliness." Elfman noted

"Says the walking stereotype, but all things considred I'm now the odd one out." Noah noted dryly "On one hand, it's about time another Dragon Slayer got a cat if this is the trend we're sticking with for some reason. On the other hand, I'm now the odd one out."

"Try being stuck between two of him for the past three days." Luke let out a snort "Being a third wheel is bad enough, but being the third wheel stuck between two of Gajeel raises all sorts of awkwardness."

"You have my sympathy, and frankly a little bit of my pity."

"Appreciated, but it doesn't change anything. Now let's get the shtick aside for the time being, I think we have one last bit of unfinished business to attend to before we head back to the guild hall." Luke promptly glanced over at a certain someone "And by that I mean you."

"Oh yeah, that…" Mira cringed at how uncomfortable the situation was "Crap."

"You said that you're the Mira from this world, and that's proven by the fact that you were sent back through the Anima with us, but I don't get it. Everyone thought that you died on that job two years ago. Elfman and I were there, we saw it happen, hell I even made it happen when you took that blow for me, and none of us ever found your body. No one's going anywhere until we get some answers."

"Yeah, yeah I know. You guys deserve that much at least. The truth is that I didn't actually die that day." now _that _got the attention of everyone else "I remember running out to shield you from that one attack from Elfman, and I got sent flying by it as a result. I landed somewhere in the forest around that area, but at that moment I must have been picked up by a stray Anima in that area. I can't really say for certain, my memory is still a little bit foggy about that, but I just assumed that there were all sorts of little ones all over Earth Land back in those days. When I came to my jaw literally dropped when I found out that I was in another world, which I later found out was Edolas, in front of that Fairy Tail's guild hall. It was hard to wrap my head around at first, but I recognized most of the people there, though there were a few obvious exceptions to that like Lucy, Wendy and Noah. Almost everyone was jaw-dropped and practically crying tears of joy because they thought I was the Edolas version of me. Luke and Noah were the only ones to see through it though, and they called me out on it later. I told them about what had happened, they filled in any holes in my story, and they told me that the Edolas version of me was killed by the Royal Army not long before. I didn't know what the hell to think about all of it."

"I think I understand…" Lisanna mutered "About why the Anima pulled you in, what if it was trying to fill a void in Edolas, a void left by the other Mira's death?"

"That's one theory, it's better than anything I was able to come up with. I saw how heartbroken those versions of you and Elfman were and I didn't have the heart to tell them the truth, so I decided to pretend to be their version of Mira, at least until I could find a way to get back to this world, and Noah would help me in any way that he could after Luke defected, but for two years I couldn't find anything."

"But why though? I don't understand, you were with us for all that time, so why didn't you say anything?"

"What the hell was I supposed to say? My mind was racing like crazy, I didn't know how to say it but when Natsu and the others showed up and talked about what had happened to everyone in our Fairy Tail, I knew that I couldn't just sit on my ass and do nothing. I knew that I had to help you guys somehow, and Noah knew this so he let me come with him. I didn't say anything before because, I don't know, maybe because we were so focused on stopping the Royal Army and everything that it seemed like such a bad time."

"And then you got to the point where you realized that if you were going to be of any help to any of us, you had to spill your guts." Noah finished for her.

"Pretty much yeah, and then one thing led to another like Code ETD, the Dorma Anim, fighting the Royal Army, and now here we are." she finished her explanation, which was followed by a stunned silence.

Elfman and Lisanna were the first ones to react, in which they didn't hesitate to pull Mira into a tight hug, both of them having tears streaming down there face "It's all in the past Mira, none of that matters anymore. You're home now, and that's what's important.

"Elfman… Lisanna…" this proved to be enough for Mira to start tearing up as well "Part of me had given up on ever seeing the two of you again… It's such a relief…"

"Yeah, these are the kinds of moments that make life worth living, I'm sure you get that best of all don't you Luke?" but on receiving no reply, Bolt glanced up and found Luke facing away from the touching moment "Hey Luke, you still with us?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm here. Sorry, I… I just need to go clear my head. I promise I'll meet up with you guys later." and so Luke promptly walked away from the group and disappeared into the forest, even leaving his sword behind in the process.

"Yeah, I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that."

"You're not gonna go after him?" asked Noah.

"No, he needs this time on his own."

"I don't blame him either. I mean, just imagine how you would react if you found out that your biggest motivator for two years was one gigantic fucking lie. I think it's safe to say that would screw with anyone's head."

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In an isolated forest, a mysterious young man lay alone with his head resting on his hands looking up at the sky, wondering why it appeared to be so lonely.

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A full day had gone by in Edolas since the end of the war, and now the townspeople had begun rebuilding in the Royal City.

"Hey, we're gonna need some more bricks over here!"

"We should've known this was going to happen, keep in mind Faust was called the dark king after all."

"Well yeah, but I never expected him to do _this _much damage."

"Hey come on now guys, let's not waste energy fighting. For the time being, we need to focus on rebuilding."

"Yeah he's right, it may be a little bit harder without magic, but we can do it! Now are you guys with me?"

"YEAH!"

All the while, Edo-Gajeel was watching everything unfold and taking notes on the current situation, and he couldn't help but smile "It looks to me like things are starting to look up around here."

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At the same time, Mystogan, thew newly crowned king of Edolas, looked down at the reconstruction effort taking place, and he too could only smile '_It seems this world does indeed have a bright future waiting for it.'_

"Your majesty." this was when a soldier got his attention "Sorry to intrude, but we brought the prisoners as you requested."

"I see, thank you." Mystogan turned around and found himself facing the former king, along with the captains of the Magic Warfare Unit, including Luke Tempesta, and Coco '_And now comes the downside of the new era.'_

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Meanwhile, with the Edolas Fairy Tail…

"Woah woah woah woah, hold up a fucking second!" Edo-Lucy didn't waste a second as she rounded on Edo-Levy "You've gotta be fucking kidding me!"

"So what?" Edo-Levy rounded right back on her "Do I look like I'm kidding to you, or that I actually give a shit about your opinion?"

"I know that Noah asked you to come up with a creative way to move the guild from one place to another, but what the hell is that thing supposed to be?" she jerked a thumb at the sight of their guild hall on a massive platform.

"Hey you wanted me to find way to move it without magic, this is the best I could do in the time that I had."

"You guys don't expect us to pull that around do you?" asked Edo-Macao.

"Like it or not, you're gonna have to, in case you forgot we don't have any more magic power remember?"

This was when Edo-Noah caught Edo-Natsu trying to sneak away "And just where the hell do you think you're going? You're not trying to sneak out on the rest of us are you?"

"No of course not, I-" but then Edo-Natsu got a metaphorical lightbulb "Wait a second I've got it, we can tow it with my magic mobile!"

"You gonna figure out what's wrong with that idea, or do you want me to just go ahead and spell it out for you first?"

"What do you mean?"

"How the hell do you expect to power a magic mobile when there's no magic power left in this entire fucking world?"

"Oh yeah. That. Oh crap, Lucy is totally gonna kill me."

"You get points for effort Hotshot, but not much else."

"The fact is that he's an idiot, plain and simple." Edo-Juvia pointed out dryly.

This was when Edo-Gray popped up next to her "Right as rain just like you always are my beloved Juvia."

"And speaking of idiots, back away from me before I decide to deflate you."

"Alright dial it back, we've got other things to worry about than your stalker." Edo-Noah told her dryly "Go ahead Lucy, take it away."

"Way ahead of you boss." so Edo-Lucy stepped forward "Alright assclowns listen up, the guild hall isn't going to drag itself to the Royal City, so everyone get into your positions!"

"YEAH!" everyone started cheering, and on that note almost all of the men took a tow cable and began literally dragging the guild hall towards the Royal City bit by bit.

Edo-Noah was the only exception, as he looked over to see Edo-Lisanna and Edo-Cana both staring off into the distance "I can probably guess what the two of you are thinking right about now. They're going to be fine, both of them, even if one of them is in another world, and the other one…"

"Yes, I know." Edo-Cana wiped away a single tear "It seems like it's been so long since I've seen his smile."

"Well who knows, we'll probably see it again fairly soon." Edo-Noah glanced back, only to see that only the men were pulling on the machine, and the ladies were all just standing idly by and watching them "Any particular reason you and the others aren't helping out?"

"How rude can you get!" Edo-Lucy let out a scoff "You should know better than to ask a bunch of delicate maidens like us to haul that thing!"

"...You really wanna go there right now Lucy, seriously?"

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Meanwhile, in the Royal Palace…

Mystogan stood with his back to the prisoners "The Royal City of Edolas has at last entered a new era, the people within are now looking forward to the future. However, none of them have forgotten the pain and trouble they have been caused in the past as a result of your actions. That is why you must be given due punishment for your actions."

Faust gave a simple nod as he spoke for the others "Yes, we understand."

"As your new king, I hereby make these proclomations: Sir Faust, for your crimes you have been permanently exiled from the kingdom. You are prohibited from ever setting foot in the Royal City again."

Faust bowed his head.

"Luke Tempesta."

"Yes?" Luke raised his head to meet Mystogan at eye level "I'll accept any punishment that you see fit."

"Very well then, for your crimes you are forbidden from leaving the Royal City unless I give you the authorization to do so."

"I'm fully prepared to die for the pain I've caused and the people I've hurt, you don't need to show me any leniency."

"I'm not doing anything of the sort, in fact I'm ordering you to help the citizens rebuild the Royal City. Sugarboy and Hughes, the two of you are to receive the exact same form of punishment as Captain Tempesta."

Luke stepped forward to meet Mystogan in the middle, his expression calm yet clearly surprised by what he had heard "With all due respect your majesty, I fail to see the reasoning behind such a decision. What exactly do you hope to achieve with this?"

"Aside from accelerating the reconstruction of the Royal City, all I want from the three of you is your atonement."

"Then why don't you just go ahead and execute us? I doubt they wish to live their lives in shame and disgrace, whereas I don't believe that I deserve to live after all the pain I caused, as I stated before. As a matter of fact, myself and the others are all fully prepared for such a decision on your part to begin with."

"Your feelings on the matter have been taken into consideration, but none of you are going to receive the death penalty. That's the easy way out, and unlike with Byro, I will not choose death as a punishment unless I see no other alternatives."

This was when Coco spoke up somewhat nervously "Excuse me your majesty, but what punishment am I going to receive?"

"None. Coco you atoned of your sins on your own accord, and that was your choice. You made the choice to stand against the Royal Kingdom and fight alongside Fairy Tail, and you risked your own life in the process. I cannot and will not punish you for simply following your heart and doing what you believed to be right. Don't let your past overshadow what it is that you've accomplished."

"I… I won't."

"The fact is that even without magic power, all of you possess amazing and innate abilities, not to mention wisdom and experience, so we need your help to rebuild the Royal City. However, if you insist that you cannot bare it then I will grant you the ultimate punishment that you claim to desire."

"Then the same should go for the former king." Luke Tempesta pointed out "I believe that to be the fair solution in this case. You understand that don't you?"

"No, my punishment is fair." Faust spoke up, surprising them "If this is what the new king believes to be the best decision, then that is how it shall be." he turned to Mystogan "And speaking to you as the new king, I am grateful to you for showing me such mercy. You know, before he left our world I called out to one of them. The one with the pink hair and the scarf around his neck."

"Yes, I'm aware of that."

"Solidarity, conviction and courage. It would seem that in my quest for unlimited power, I had lost sight of what is important in life. I asked him if he enjoyed being in a guild, but rather than give me a verbal answer, he simply smiled. Now I understand why, and it is something that I will never forget, the way that he smiled when I asked him that question. It's something I highly doubt I will ever forget. I suppose this is goodbye" he looked back at the others "Coco, you must ever stop running child."

"I won't…" Coco tried to stop herself from crying, and she failed miserably.

"And Tempesta… Luke… never lose sight of what you believe is right."

"Believe me, I have no intention of doing that again." Tempesta told him flatly.

"I see. I suppose this is goodbye then." and with that, Faust humbly took his leave of the Royal City, never to set foot in it again.

'_Farewell… father.' _as he watched Faust take his leave, Mystogan saw him off with the Fairy Tail hand salute, and once he was out of sight, he turned to Tempesta "Were you really willing to allow yourself to be executed?"

"In all honesty, part of me does believe it would be for the best for all of us." Tempesta breathed a heavy sigh "Besides, I think we both know my reasons are a fair deal more complicated than the others."

"I'm aware of what Byro did to you."

"My intention was only to bide my time until I could find an opening to take Byro down without putting Cana in harm's way, but even despite that I ended up hurtling a lot of people, including my guild… my former guild anyway. That's a wrong I can never right I know you want me to atone, but the real question is whether or not I can. Especially to Fairy Tail."

"Fairy Tail is full of compassionate and understanding souls with good hearts. I'm sure that once enough time passes, their resentment will fade away."

"It's not just that. I lost control of the situation, and the woman I love was held hostage and nearly killed because of it. I couldn't even trust myself for two years, so how could I hope to win back the trust of an entire guild?"

"The only way you can, by gaining it back one person at a time."

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Meanwhile, with the Edolas Fairy Tail…

By this point, Edo-Lucy and the rest of the women were just relaxing inside the guild hall as it was being towed to the Royal City "Oh yeah, now this is the life isn't it?"

"Yes indeed." Edo-Erza let out a sigh "It seems like it's been so long since we were able to relax like this. It's just a shame the rest of the guild can't join us."

"HEY!" several simultaneous voices started yelling at them from outside "Are you having a tea party in there?! Come out here and help us!"

Even something like that wasn't enough to get Cana's attention as she stared out the window of the guild hall, her thoughts drifting '_Luke, my beloved… even after everything that's happened, I can't help but wonder… where do out paths go from here?'_

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Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, at least for the men of the guild, they finally arrived at their destination, the Royal City.

"Oh hell yeah, now that's what I'm talking about!" Edo-Lucy dropped down in front of the collapsed forms of the men of the guild "Great job you guys, looks like we finally made it to our destination!"

"Oh yeah, no thanks to you." Edo-Noah pulled himself back to his feet, resulting in several cracking noises, though that wasn't what attracted the attention of several of the citizens in the city.

"What the hell is that?"

"It seems that they dragged that building all the way here."

"Hold on a second, I've seen that symbol somewhere before."

"You know what to do ladies, sex sells and also attracts a lot of gullible idiots with a crapload of money to spend." Edo-Noah shuffled the women into position, then stepped back and let them do the rest "How ya doing Royal City, we're members of the Fairy Tail guild."

"If there's any problems you need help with then come to us."

"We can solve any problems that you may have!"

"And no one can beat our prices!"

"We're running a special for our grand opening, so go ahead and act now!"

"Fairy Tail is always here to help!" this proved to be more than enough to attract a large of citizens, and big shocker, the majority of them were men.

"Holy crap, that's amazing!"

"My roof was damaged during that whole mess with the Demon Lord!"

"We're gonna need more bricklayers if we're gonna rebuild the city, would you guys mind lending us a hand?"

"And just like that, we have to get involved." Edo-Noah let out a sigh and turned to the other men of the guild "Would I be right to assume that none of you know a damn thing about fixing roofs or manual labor of any kind without using magic?" he received no reply "Yeah, that's about what I thought. Just like that I have to do all of the heavy lifting around here." this was followed by the voices of the crowd being drowned out by loud footsteps, and the crowd started to part to reveal a certain face.

"It's Luke- I mean it's Captain Tempesta!" Edo-Natsu started cowering in fear.

"What the hell is he doing here?! You know what it doesn't matter, this son of a bitch needs to go down!" Edo-Lucy started to charge at Tempesta, only to be held by the wrist by Edo-Noah "And just what the hell do you-"

"Stand down. Now." was all he said.

"...Fine." so Edo-Lucy stepped back and let Edo-Noah make his way forward until he was face to face with Tempesta '_You'd better know damn well what you're doing.'_

"So the new king didn't have you executed?"

"I was about as shocked as anyone else would be." Tempesta told him simply "But instead he exiled the former king, and now me and the other captains are being ordered to help rebuild the Royal City, so don't be surprised if you see a lot more of me in the immediate future." he received various blank stares from most of the other members of the guild, so his frown deepened as he turned around and started to walk away.

"Hey."

Tempesta turned around and found Edo-Lucy marching towards him '_Great, this is the last thing I could need or want.'_

Edo-Lucy stopped in front of him and raised her palm to slap him, but as the seconds passed, she didn't go further than that, and with a sigh she slowly lowered her hand "Noah told us about why you were doing what you were doing. It wasn't cool, but we get it. I mean we did. Eventually that is."

"I figured you would all hate me for it."

"Oh they tried, we still have a dart board with your face on it, and I'll give you one guess who you can thank for that." Edo-Noah jerked a thumb at Edo-Lucy, only for her to scowl and look away "But dude let's face it, you were what was holding this guild together all this time, even after all that's happened."

"And you know why I was fighting for the kingdom in the first place."

"We do Luke, and now so does everyone else." this was when Edo-Cana stepped forward to the front of the crowd and promptly threw her arms around him in a loving embrace, while the rest of the Edolas Fairy Tail guild looked on.

"Cana… _I guess the king was right about what he said, they all know my reasons now, and even if they don't trust me now, I'll earn it back one person at a time.'_

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The rain had eventually died down back in Earth Land, and the sun was once again shining over the skies of Magnolia.

"I'm calling it like it is, the worst movie I've ever seen is-" Gray whipped around from the conversation he was having with Erza, and along with pretty much everyone else in the guild, his eyes nearly bulged out of his head as his jaw-dropped "What the fuck… Mira…?"

Sure enough, Mira stood before the rest of the guild, clad in a simple black t-shirt and a pair of jeans, with Natsu, Lucy, Cana, Elfman, Lisanna, Gajeel and the Exceeds all standing right behind her "Hey what's up, guess who's back?"

"But we thought that…" Erza took a moment to find her voice "You mean that you were still alive all this time?"

"Pretty much yeah, the details are for another time but-" she couldn't be prepared for what was happening next.

"MIRA!" what came next was all of the male secondary characters (from Macao and Wakaba all the way down to the likes of Reedus) basically charging her like a crazed bull.

"HEY!" and then Elfman promptly sent them flying with his Iron Bull arm "You creeps keep your filthy paws off of her dammit!"

Lisanna and Natsu only sweatdropped at the sight "Take it easy big brother, I think the others are all just happy to see her."

Cana and the others just looked on at the exchange "Well that's a relief, at least everyone is back to how they were before, and from the looks of it none of them have a clue about what happened with the Anima or with Mystogan."

"I'm pretty sure we'll have to tell them eventually." Lucy pointed out.

"Yeah we will."

"Crazy as all hell isn't it?" Gajeel muttered.

"That's one way of looking at it."

"So this is what it's like to be in a guild." Lily noted.

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"Mira."

Hearing her name, Mira glanced over to see Makarov coming towards her "Hey master, it's been awhile hasn't it?"

"I was so worried." his eyes were filled wit a mix of joy and relief "I consider those who were raised by this guild to be my own children. Every parent worries about their children, and every parent also has faith in their children." he glanced over to see Cana looking at Gildarts, though he seemed to be the only one to notice "You can fill me in on the details another time, and the same goes for the rest of you."

"Gotcha." Natsu gave him a thumbs up "Whatever you say Gramps."

"But in the meantime Mira, today is a day we're celebrating your return to Fairy Tail after so long."

"Thanks for that master, it really does mean a lot." Mira wiped away a single tear "It's still kind of hard to believe I'm back after all this time, but believe me when I tell you that I'm not going anywhere again."

"You can if you wish child, and it doesn't matter where you go because this is always going to be your home. Welcome back my dear Mira." this was echoed by everyone else in the guild.

"Thanks, seriously. Would it be weird for me to tackle you in a bear hug or something?"

"If you need to get it out of your system then feel free to do so, before the party begins."

"That doesn't answer my question, would it be weird?"

"I would probably do it myself." Lisanna pointed out.

"Yeah, I don't think I'm gonna do it."

"Probably for the best." Bolt commented "Seeing you tackle someone when you're not trying to strangle them just seems screwed up."

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It took about 20 minutes for the party to begin, and almost immediately it was in full swing.

Mira glanced around at the guild in the middle of drinking till they passed out "It's hard to believe how much has changed since I've been gone, but then again I guess that's what I should expect when I've been gone for two years. Sounds to me like Luke has changed the most in that time though, you said he actually defeated one of the Ten Wizard Saints?"

"Yeah it's true, I just wish we could've seen it happen all the way through." Bolt let out a loud sigh at this "All things considered though, what we could see back then was one hell of a sight to behold."

"Sounds like things have gotten crazy as all hell, but regardless of that it's still Fairy Tail, there's no changing that."

"Mirajane."

"You know how I feel being called that-" Mira whipped around, then blinked "Huh, didn't expect to see you guys."

As it turns out, it was Freed and the Thunder Legion standing before them "It seems this is the most fortunate day, we're all just relieved that you made it home in one piece. It's quite good to have you back."

"The Thunder Legion, as in the personal lapdogs of Laxus? I seriously wasn't expecting to see you guys here."

"Well I understand why you would be surprised, but you have to take the name of the guild into consideration." Evergreen promptly did a seductive pose "It has Fairy in it, and I just so happen to be the most Fairy-like."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself, so if you guys are here then I'm guessing Laxus is off brooding somewhere?"

"...Oh." Freed and the others shared a few uncomfortable looks.

"I don't get it, what's that about?"

"There's something else you should probably know about Laxus."

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Meanwhile, down on the first floor…

"Okay hold on, I can't be the only one who noticed that." Lucy pointed at where Juvia was sulking in the corner with one noticeable different about her "I can't be the only one who's noticed that her hair is different, not to mention the dark stuff hovering over her."

"Is that rain?" asked Wendy.

"I have no idea, I wonder what's gotten into her."

"She doesn't seem very happy."

"I wouldn't worry about that too much." Cana just waved it off "If I had to guess then I would say that a few cats who can't or won't shut up told her about how things are back in Edolas, as in with Gray being in love with her there."

"Oh trust me, that was nothing." Bolt floated down in front of them "I think you remember all too well what yours was like, I still crack up just at the thought of that."

"Yeah well, keep in mind that I know where you live." Cana just downed a mug of booze while receiving a few unnerved looks from the others "What? Hey don't judge me, you two saw your counterparts too."

Sure enough, Juvia was looking down at Gray doing his thing with Natsu, doing her creepy thing watching from afar "I want to go to this Edolas… I want to see the world where Gray is in love with me…"

"See what I mean?"

"It's not just her either, check it out." Bolt pointed at where Alzack and Bisca were fumbling around each other "Looks like Juvia isn't the only one who wanted to go to Edolas."

"I have to say that it is rather intriguing." this was when Erza came over to them "I have to ask though, what was my counterpart like in that world?"

"...Oh I'm gonna have one hell of a fucking field day with this."

"But before that, where's Luke right now?"

"Oh he's with Noah, something about grabbing lunch somewhere in town and then training in the East Forest?"

"Noah, you mean that Earth-Based Dragon Slayer from the Tower of Heaven?"

"That's the one, he's been with me and the others since this whole thing started."

"Are you serious?"

"It's true, he was helping us all alone." Wendy told her "If it wasn't for Noah helping us, then we might not have survived everything, especially in the fight against the king."

"...I see." Erza glanced over to see Cana slipping out of the guild hall, then turned her attention back to Bolt "So go on, what was my counterpart like?"

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Meanwhile, in the East Forest…

"**Mountain Dragon Talon!" **Noah leapt into the air and charged towards Luke with a kick aimed at his head, his magic hardening it like stone.

"**Lightning Dragon Talon!" **Luke burst forward towards Noah, ducked underneath his attack and dealt him a solid kick to the jaw, sending him tumbling across the area "I think that might be a new record."

"And there's something I never thought I'd see, you being cocky." Noah pulled himself back to his feet and spat out some blood "Still though you're looking a lot better than the hot mess I saw when I first got here. You're fighting as hard as ever, but you seem so much more relaxed and calm about it. It's like you're a different person."

"Well aside from your screwed up form of therapy, being stuck between Gajeel and his new BFF gives a guy a lot of time to think."

"You come to terms with your motivation not actually being dead?"

"I just needed to clear my head, truth be told I was already doing better. But like I said, I had a lot of time to think, and I realized something."

"And that is?"

"Despite everything that I had put myself through for the last two years, training until my bones cracked, my year and a half leave from the guild, I still had to do one thing. Grow up."

"You wanna elaborate?"

"Despite what I said, I was acting like I was the only one suffering, but I think it's safe to say that everyone in Fairy Tail has some stories for me, and while this may sound brutal, I think it's fair to assume they all end with "And now they're dead too." And before I had to start whining about Mira again, because let's face it I was sort of whining, I had to take a moment to consider that other people in the guild like Gray and Erza had similar experiences, people they care about dying for them, and that doesn't even come close to what happened with Simon and Jellal back in the Tower of Heaven."

"Sounds like they're gonna need some Senzus for that one."

"Senzus only heal physical damage, only therapy will aid emotional trauma. But enough with the TFS references, I'm making a serious point here. I thought I was better than everyone else, but there I stood, the good man doing nothing but feeling sorry for myself. And while evil triumps and my rigid cowardice and self-pity crumbles into dust stained with the blood of those around me, the only victory I could be afforded was that I stuck true to my guns. I was a coward, to my last whimper." Luke glanced up at the sun shining above them "Of fear and love, I fear not that I will die, but that those I have come to love, the people I've sworn to protect, the people I call my friends, my family, will perish with me. So for the sake of the others, and for the sake of myself, I'm done holding back, and I'm done feeling sorry for myself."

"Sounds like you're finally done whining about that. So what does this mean about your role of protecting the guild?"

"Nothing, that still stands. I'm not burning myself out or driving myself into the ground training anymore, but I still want to keep them safe. That much isn't going to change, it's just that now I have a decent reason for it other than guilt."

"I see. Well it looks like you're ready for what's to come."

"Meaning what exactly?"

"Aside from the fact that I still want to fight you, my guild is getting ready to make their move. I can't say exactly when it will happen, but I do know it's going to be sometime in the next few weeks or so."

"You think Wendy and the others are gonna be upset when they find out you're gonna turn on them?"

"They will be without a doubt, but not everything in the world works out the way that we want it to. After all, if it did then our dragons would never have left in the first place."

"Fair enough I guess."

"Just remember to tell them this, our paths will cross again, and if we should happen to fight on opposing sides, then I have no intention of holding back."

"And neither do I, and I doubt the rest of them will either. I sure as hell won't. Just let me tell you something before you go. We may end up on different sides next time, but as of today you helped to save my guild. I can't thank you enough for that, but at the very least I do know where to start." Luke turned to face him and his gaze hardened "The next time we meet, if we should be on opposite sides, then I'll give you the fight you desire, and I can assure you that I'm not going to hold back."

"I wouldn't expect anything less. Until we meet again Thunderclap." and with that, Noah then proceeded to disappear in a flash.

"Until we meet again Aftershock." after he saw him off, Luke glanced back behind him "So did you hear whatever you needed to Cana?"

Sure enough, Cana made her way out from behind a tree "I was wondering where the hell you had disappeared to, it figures you were training again."

"Yeah well, for the time being I think I could use a little bit of a breather. Is the party still going on back at the guild?"

"I think you already know the answer to that, these things tend to go on for hours, maybe even days."

"This is true. So is Mira settling back in okay?"

"That's how it's looking, and everyone else is getting answers on what happened while the rest of us were in Edolas."

"I can imagine Gray and Erza will fucking lose it."

"Wouldn't be surprised." the two of them started walking back towards the guild hall "So are you okay now, I mean really?"

"You know something Cana, I think I am, or at least I will be. I think I'll take a break from my training, at least for today."

"You gonna get back to it after the party?"

"Well I could, or I was thinking that after the party we could grab something to eat."

"You mean some real Earth Land food, as in like a…"

"Like a date? If you want to call it that then I guess." Luke rubbed the back of his head in a sheepish manner "I mean if you don't then fine, it's fine with me either way."

"You know what, that actually works for me pretty well." Cana gave him a sultry smile as she led him back towards the city, putting her arm through his as she did so.

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Meanwhile, back with Fairy Tail…

"I'M ALL FIRED UP NOW!" Natsu promptly breathed out a stream of fire as he usually did pretty much all the time "I love being in a guild, don't you Happy?"

"Aye aye sir!" Happy promptly salutued him.

"Damn straight!"

"God dammit Flame Brain, would it kill you to shut the fuck up?" Gray didn't miss a beat as he rounded on him "Seriously, I wish I could've seen for myself how much of a pain in the ass the Edolas version of you was. I just feel bad for that version of Fairy Tail."

"Oh you wish." Mira shot him a smirk "If anything he's more like this world's Wendy in terms of personality, he doesn't have a fucking spine going for him. He's as big of a wimp as you are a stripper!"

"Are you serious? That's fucking amazing!"

"Yeah, but in all seriousness, you wanna put on some clothes?"

"Wait what? Fuck!"

"Yeah, that's not something I missed. But in all seriousness, Natsu was basically a gigantic crybaby when he wasn't behind the wheel."

"And when he was?"

"When he was behind the wheel he was your basic biker stereotype, and a gigantic douce to go with it for that matter."

"Hey!" Natsu suddenly rounded on her "Quit making fun of the other me dammit!"

"Yeah you're right, why don't we make fun of the other Erza?"

"Now that I can do, or not, truth be told that was kind of terrifying."

"Scared of that? Maybe you're not so different from the other you."

"God dammit, now I'm gonna-" he tried to launch a fire fist, only for a dark tendril to send him flying through the ceiling.

"Shoryuken. No wonder Gildarts loves doing that so much."

"The same could definitely go for the rest of us in that regard." Gray pointed out dryly.

"How the hell did you strip again in less than 10 seconds?"

"Fuck!"

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Meanwhile, on the other side of the guild hall…

"Hey Bolt, Happy, you two get over here for a second." Gildarts called them over "So from what I heard, the two of you had been kicking some ass over in Edolas."

"That's one way of looking at it, but another is that I've got this bad boy going for me after all that crap." Bolt floated down onto the countertop and held up Shatterstorm over his head, which earned him a few odd looks "What? Luke's already got a sword made of literal dragon scales going for him, I think I deserve a badass lightning weapon of my own after all of that."

"I have a different opinion on that matter." this was when Luke blitzed onto the scene and promptly plucked Shatterstorm out of Bolt's tiny paws "And that opinion mainly involves keeping sharp things that can fire off blasts of lightning way out of your reach. I'll be holding onto this for the time being, in the apartment, on my side of the apartment, somewhere far out of your reach."

"...Yeah that figures."

With both weapons on him now, Luke made his way over to a table with Shatterstorm in hand, where he found Panther Lily sitting with a kiwi smoothie in hand "You have something on your mind?"

"Just observing the guild that took such good care of my prince." Lily told him, then glanced around at the typical mayhem "They certainly are a rowdy bunch aren't they?"

"That's pretty much everyone's first impression of Fairy Tail, though just because they're rowdy doesn't necessarily make it a bad thing."

"I never said it was, just making an observation."

"Plus there's never a dull moment around here."

"I can see that. So everyone in this guild possesses their own magic power of some sort?"

"Yeah but not just here, the same goes for all wizards in Earth Land. You worked with my counterpart in the Royal Army back in Edolas right?"

"That's correct, though his action were understandable considering the circumstances. But let's pust that aside for now and focus on the topic at hand. I personally don't believe that the magic itself is really important, it's the hearts of the people who make good use of it. I bet you feel the same way don't you?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do. You may be a different person, but I have to admit, I do find it quite comforting to have a familiar face around here."

"Glad to hear it."

"HEY!" this was when Gajeel burst up from beneath the tables like a maniac "I've got a wager for you and the little girl Thunderclap, I betcha my Lily can beat the ever loving crap out of your puny cats!"

"Oh for fuck's sake."

"You have a problem with that?" asked Erza "You think Bolt will get hurt?"

"Quite the opposite actually, I'm worried he's gonna be bringing the hurt. Also, since Cana isn't here to do it…" he pulled out a bowl and a big wad of cash "Four on one brawl between the cats with wings guys, taking all bets!"

"...I'm beginning to worry he's having an influence on you."

"Believe it or not, that actually comes from Cana rather than Bolt."

"I believe that. I have to ask though, does this count as animal cruelty on some level?"

"More like cruelty by animals. Alright then Gajeel, feel free to make my day."

"Oh believe me Thunderclap, this is gonna make _my _day." Gajeel shot him a smirk "There's no way in hell your fucked up cat can beat my Lily, he's the strongest with a capital S!"

"Hate to break it to you but I've got Bolt on my side, and he's a Sadist with a capital S, so there's a huge difference."

"You got no arguments from me." Bolt promptly plucked Shatterstorm out of Luke's hand "Just let me take a shot at him with this thing and I'll blow him to kingdom come!"

"...This might have been a bad idea."

"Yeah for him, with this bad boy I'm gonna be a force to be reckoned with!"

"If you know how to work it."

"How hard can it be?" Bolt started swinging around the axe, resulting in a massive blast of lightning being fired off and forming a new hole in the roof of the guild hall "Uh… so that happened I guess."

"Putting that aside, let's not get too ahead of ourselves." Lily told him "You must keep in mind that despite my current appearance, I was a division commander of the Magic Warfare Unit back in Edolas, so if we were to fight then you could be seriously injured."

"Not the result I predict, but it's still nice to know that there's someone else around here mature enough to say no to a brawl." Luke noted "Definitely a nice change of pace."

"I believe it just seems that way because most of the people here are childish. However, I hope that myself and my fellow Exceeds can be friends from now on, the same going with the rest of those in this guild."

"Works for me." Luke glanced up to see Gray, Elfman and several other of the men of the guild in the middle of a comical brawl with each other "I don't suppose anybody wants to explain how this happened?"

"Well obviously Gray and Elfman got dragged into it to." Bolt noted "As for Natsu, well I'm guessing that he's somewhere in the Stratosphere."

"Sounds about right."

"Flesh striking flesh repeatedly with such force, I shall join you my darling!" Juvia then randomly started stripping like Gray did.

"And now they've become one of those couples."

"We're not a fucking couple!" Gray barked from within the brawl.

"Whatever lets you sleep at night, give it a few minutes and then all the other guys will start getting involved in it too."

Wendy was growing nervous "You guys need to stop, this is getting out of hand!"

"Oh trust me Wendy, this is nothing compared to some of the more serious brawls they get going from time to time. But at the same time, it's this kind of stuff that makes Fairy Tail so much fun to be part of."

"Speaking of which, it's been about two years since I got involved in one of these brawls, so I say… Make some room mother fuckers!" and on that note, Mira pounced into the fray and started beating down on whoever she could get her hands on.

"Yeah it's official, she's back."

"Hey Luke, let me ask you something." Makarov called him over.

"What's up master?"

"I was wondering, what was I like in this other world you and the others visited?"

"You mean the Edolas version of you?"

"Yes, was he the opposite of me?"

"Well now that I think about it… oh my god, no way. I knew something about that guy seemed kind of familiar, but that's just insane."

"What are you talking about?"

"I can't say for absolute certainty, but I think you were the king in that world."

"You mean I was the king of Edolas?"

"A psychotic tyrant, but yeah I think that was your counterpart."

"So what was I like over there?" asked Gildarts "Was I some kind of dashing prince or a great soldier?"

"Actually I don't remember seeing you there, now that I think about it you might have been a frog or a fish or something. Either that or you were dead."

"Hey, that's not funny Luke!"

"No, it's pretty funny." he was met with a comical tic mark "Well it is. Well either way I should probably get to work on taking care of that brawl over there, chances are Natsu's gonna come back down any minute and try to wreck the place."

"Well if he does then I'll show him what it means to be a real man!" Elfman unleashed his Iron Bull arm.

"Considering he's the one who started this whole brawl, I say that if anyone's gonna kick his ass then it's gonna be me, so butt out!" Gray dealt Elfman a sharp kick.

"HEY!" Mira grabbed him with her Darkness Stream "No one gets to kick my brother like a jackass except for me!"

"Get your hands off of him!" Erza promptly dealt Mira a swift kick with her Black Wing Armor and sent her flying across the guild hall.

"Oh so you want to settle the score do you red?"

"I suppose we might as well."

"Good enough for me, and in that case… I'm gonna bury you alive!"

"I'll make sure you beg for mercy!"

"Is that armor your training bra?"

"Do you like showing off your love handles?"

"You ugly prude!"

"You stupid wench!"

"Thunder thighs!"

"You gothic tramp!"

"And again I say, the more things change, the more things stay the same." Luke just let out a sigh as he downed a mug of booze.

"Should've seen that coming." Makarov let out a chuckle "Tell me though Luke, in all seriousness, do you think Mystogan is going to be alright over in Edolas? I don't want to sound like an old fool, but I can't help but worry about my children."

"It's okay master, we get it, and to answer your question, he's definitely got a hard road ahead of him, but I think he's going to be just fine. After all, you can't forget that he grew up in this guild just like the rest of us, so he'll always be one of us no matter what world he may be in."

"Yes very true, well said my boy."

"I learn from the best." on that note, Luke glanced over at Gildarts "So tell me something, how long are you planning on staying in town this time?"

"Hard to say." Gildarts gave a shrug "I haven't decided yet, but I know I'll be around at least until _that _is over and done with."

"Glad to hear it, I have a feeling this year it's going to be a lot more eventful than usual, and that's saying something."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"And that's not all either." Makarov told him "While I have you here, there's something I'd like to discuss with you.

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Elsewhere, the newly-reformed Magic Council were holding a meeting, mostly to vent about how much they hated Fairy Tail due to the destruction they caused. Most of the new council was against the existence of the guild, especially the new chairman Gran Doma, who decided that they would try and force the guild to disband. To this end, he decided to call on Lahar and someone by the name of Doranbolt to the meeting, amidst the cheers that everything they did was for the sanctity of order for the Magic Council.

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A few hours went by, and things seemed to calm down.

Luke and Cana made their way back into the guild hall, only to find that everyone there was thoroughly passed out "Looks like everyone really went all out."

"You say that like it's rare for any of them." Cana pointed out.

"Of course not, if anything it's rare for them not too, and frankly that especially goes for you in this case." the two of them looked over to see the sleeping forms of Lisanna, Elfman and Mira all cuddled together "It's really a beautiful sight when you think about it."

"Yeah, if anybody here deserves to be happy then it would be the three of them."

"No arguments here."

"The feeling of being reunited with a lost loved one, I can't help but wonder if I'll get that feelinng when I finally see Kaminari again. Also…"

"Please don't bring that up."

"I know, it's a sore subject for you, but you're going to have to tell him eventually."

"Not until I become an S-class wizard, you know that."

"Yeah but this is the last one before that promise you made expires, and you know what will happen after that. I don't want to imagine a Fairy Tail without you."

Cana said nothing, she just looked away sadly.

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In the forest where the mysterious youth was resting, a pack of ferocious wolves gathered in order to ambush him.

The youth held out his hand to them, claiming that he was not their enemy, but as the wolves pounced at him, they suddenly fell to the ground dead from what appeared to be the youth's power, with all of the plants and animals in the area following their lead.

The lonely youth could only utter Natsu's name, claiming that he would hope to meet with him very soon.

**A/N:**

**And with this chapter, we reach the final act of the Edolas arc, as well as a small prelude of what's to come with the Tenrou Island arc. Looking back, I still believe that this arc was more entertaining to me than the Oracion Seis, but that's just my opinion. Still though, I'm surprised I was able to finish this arc in 7 chapters after all, even if this one was ridiculously long, actually the longest chapter I've ever written. If that puts anyone off, then I apologize for that. But on the bright side, this chapter gets this story over 435k words. That's higher than any of my other stories up to this point.**

**Could I have had Luke join Noah and the other Dragon Slayers in the battle with the Dorma Anim? Well yeah, of course I could have, but just because he's the main character doesn't mean he has to do everything. Keep in mind that he had his chance to shine in battle against Tempesta in the last chapter. Besides, just having him show up to save the day would make him too much of a Gary Stu or a Deux Ex Machina, and that's something I'm trying to avoid.**

**To end these notes and this chapter as a whole, I would just like to repeat what I said before, that this story is going on hiatus for the time being, only so that I can work on a few of my other stories. But I can assure, when this story does return it's going to be at the top of its game with what is, in my opinion at least, the best arc in the entire series. I also have a release date for the first chapter of that arc, and that will be on June 30th, the one-year anniversary of this story, so be sure to look out for it then.**


	34. Tenrou Island I

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it, and I also want to thank you for getting this story to over 36,000 views! Also, I want to thank all of you for getting this story to over 200 favorites, as well as over 200 followers! I honestly never expected this story to get anywhere near as much love as it did, and believe me when I say that this story would be nothing without all of the support it's received from all of you over the past year. Thank you all.**

**Guest: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you enjoyed this arc. Yes, Luke and Cana is going to become a thing soon enough.

**Ragnas Bredvolts: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you like it. I haven't actually watched Game of Thrones as of yet, but I am interested in doing so. Yes, I am aware that a majority of people consider season 8 to be a disappointment. Luke was right though, he didn't really have any say in who Tempesta killed. As for the king dying, while I do agree that he's rotten to the core, keep in mind that Noah has his own set of morals despite being with a certain dark guild, and I think something like that would go against his character. Yeah, including Madara's meteor jutsu was all kinds of fun, and it's true that anime is a good source of inspiration for attacks. That's all I have to say for now, and you have a nice day as well my friend.

**Ragnas Bredvolts: **I never actually thought about that, but yeah I can see that sort of relationship going for Luke and Noah, and maybe they don't drink with each other but they do have lunch. Yeah, given everything he's been through, I think Tempesta has had enough of fighting for one lifetime. I did consider giving his Shatterstorm to Luke, but like I said, I didn't want to make him too overpowered. But don't think I'm sidelining Shatterstorm, it's just for this arc, and even then that's only because of what's around the corner. I never even considered the thought of Edo-Gajeel coming to Earth Land, and while the scenario you described would be funny, it also seems like a bit of overdosing on Gajeel. You can't have too much of a good thing or risk ruining it. Yeah, the fight with Mystogan was fun to write out too. Yes, Tenrou Island is my favorite Fairy Tail arc too. I actually never considered how much of an asset Levy actually could be with her Solid Script magic, and that actually does extend to Cana too thanks to her Card Magic. Next time we meet will be on the one-year anniversary of the story, so until then, you have a nice day as well my friend.

**Guest: **I know of how the spells go, but I base them on the english dub versions, rather than the Japanese dub. Also, Noah and Lucy? I will admit that sounds rather interesting, but it's not going to happen in this fic.

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About 2 weeks had passed since the events in Edolas, and things were nice and quiet in the city of Magnolia.

Luke was back in his apartment, taking a shower after a hard day of training "Okay yeah, this definitely feels good. After everything that's happened over the past few weeks, a little bit of downtime is exactly what I needed."

"This does feel pretty great."

"I know, that's what I-" Luke glanced over, then his expression dulled considerably, and he just looked away and stared at the wall as he spoke "You've gotta be kidding me."

As it turns out, it was Cana in there with him, sitting naked in his bathtub "You know if you ever wanted a roommate or something, I wouldn't mind living here at all."

"Looks like you're making yourself at home right about now, not that I should be surprised by that by this point."

"You really shouldn't. Hey you wouldn't happen to have any booze hidden away or anything in here would you?"

"...Why do I put up with this? Anyway, if you want to find that sort of thing then see if you can find Bolt's secret stash. Also, you do realize that this is my apartment right?"

"Yep."

"Just checking. _Yeah, the beautiful busty brunette bating in front of me is Cana Alberona. Out of everyone from the younger generation of the guild, she's been in Fairy Tail longer than any of us, even the likes of Gray and Erza. _So yeah, for the record I'm not turning around until you put on some clothes."

"Yeah I figured as much, hold on a second." Cana stepped out of the bathtub, dried herself off and tied on a bathrobe, but the sullen look on her face didn't fade away "You can look back now, I'm decent."

"Depends on your definition of decent." Luke turned back to face her and promptly tied a towel around his waist "So what's up, is there something bothering you?"

"Not really, but I do have to ask. Do you make it a habit of bathing with other people watching you?"

"That depends, do you make it a habit of watching other people bathing? I mean you and pretty much everyone else in the guild already break into my house, so…"

"Ha ha. So have you found any new leads on your dad, you know the lightning dragon?"

"More or less, the last bit of information I found in that regard was when Gildarts told me about how he met a dragon on his Century Quest that basically ripped him apart. But that thing is long gone by now, so that won't be of any use to me. Why the sudden interest?" he was met with only a small sigh "If you want to talk about anything then I'm always willing to listen, so what's the matter?"

"Well… Okay here's the deal, I've been seriously considering quitting the guild."

"...Oh shit, it's that time of year already huh?"

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Another day came, and the sun was shining brightly over the skies of Magnolia.

"Wait what?!" Lucy's jaw dropped at what she was hearing from Luke "You mean to tell me she actually said that? I thought Cana was in Fairy Tail for life! Did she at least tell you why she said something like that? I mean do you know the reason?"

"Yeah I do." Luke took a bite out of his sandwich and downed a few of his fries "But it's not my place to say why, if you're gonna hear it then it will have to be from her. I wouldn't worry about that too much though, she always talks about quitting whenever this time of year rolls around, but she never goes through with it."

"Say what? Oh man, is something bad going to happen?"

"I think the answer to that depends on your opinion, but it's something that only happens around here once a year. _Speaking of which, it feels like it's been a lot longer than that, but it's only been a little bit over 6 months since I returned to Fairy Tail. So much has happened in that time, from fighting off evil tyrants in this world or another, to fighting Dark Guilds to taking part in some of the various events and traditions that I missed being part of, and now's the time where one of the biggest comes into play, and it's going to be soon. _Well in the meantime I'd better go see what's got Erza so worked up, it's usually worth looking into when that happens." and so he promptly walked off.

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Meanwhile, with Erza and Mira…

Erza looked at Mira in what appeared to be a mix of shock and disgust "You can't be serious, I can't believe you actually just said that!"

"What's the big deal?" Mira gave a shrug "It's the truth, that's all there is to it."

"The truth? The fact that you said something so ignorant is both surprising, as well as a little bit disappointing."

"I'm surprised you don't agree with me, I mean you claim to know the true meaning of the world quality."

"I do, and that's why I can state for a fact that you're wrong on every account."

"I'm wrong on every account? You've got a lot of nerve saying that red."

"You have some nerve making the claim that you did in the first place."

"Oh for fuck's sake, a guy can only listen to so much." this was when Luke made his way over to them looking rather irate "I'm pretty sure they can hear the two of you in Edolas, and to be more realistic I can't enjoy a decent sandwich without people screaming their heads off around here can I? Alright, what's this about?"

"This is about a rather ignorant statement just uttered by a recently-returned comrade."

"Define ignorant."

"We can use that to make jabs at each other later, I'm trying to tell red here that my opinion is a valid one." Mira told him flatly.

"...Wait a second. A contentious topic, heated arguments, today's date… Oh crap, I think I know what this is about. Word of advice Mira, I'm thinking that you should let Erza take the win, at least for today."

"Not a chance Thunderclap, it needs to be said and heard loud and clear and it needs to be unimpeded. You know what, I'm gonna say it again."

"Wait no don't!"

"The Last Airbender movie is overhated!"

"...Wait what? You've gotta be freaking kidding me, so that's what you two have been arguing about?"

"Yes, that's all there is to it." Erza told him "Did you honestly expect the two of us to comment on the newest season of the Seven Deadly Sins?"

"Me and probably everyone else listening to you two."

"Well I'm almost sorry to disappoint you then."

"Yeah, I hate to break it to you Thunderclap, but on that point me and Erza actually found some common ground." Mira told him flatly "About The Last Airbender, well that's a whole other story entirely."

"How in the world can you call it overhated Mira? That movie is an atrocity in every sense of the word."

"And I'm gonna bet you a month's worth of job fares that you can't tell me why and make it convincing."

"Well prepare to lose that wager, because I most certainly can. The effects are far from worthy of being called special, the story is rushed, poorly paced and poorly written, and the performances by the cast are just horrific, and don't even get me started on the pronunciation of the names all throughout the movie."

"I'm not going to deny any of that, but you at least have to give the movie credit for still being true to the source material. The same can't be said about other movies like that."

"Would you care to name an example?"

"The perfect one that comes to mind is Dragonball Evolution. That movie isn't even true to the source material, it's horrible in every sense of the word. The way I see it, that movie was far more of an atrocity in every sense of the word than The Last Airbender could ever even dream of being."

"You know when you think about it, both of those movies actually do have a lot more in common than people realize." Luke pointed out.

"Bite your tongue." Mira spat at him.

"I'd rather be biting into a panini. Seriously, I'm missing lunch for this."

"Well what do you think about this Luke?" asked Erza "We need a third opinion to break this stalemate."

"I'm not losing brain cells over either of those movies, they've got pros and cons just like everything else, even though the cons obviously outweigh the pros in this case, though I personally think it's pretty sad when people tear into people who don't like the same things that they do. Live and let live, that's what I think. But with that being said, I think there are two things that the three of us can all agree upon without hesitation."

"And those would be?"

"One, live-action adaptations of cartoons and anime never work under any circumstances. Two, the Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie was fucking amazing."

Erza and Mira shared a look, then both grinned "Oh of course, there's no way anyone could deny that."

"Good, now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to my panini." and so he made his way back over to the bar, or at least tried to.

"Before that, have you seen Lisanna at all today?" asked Mira.

"Oh yeah, last I saw she left with Natsu and Happy on a job pretty early. As Natsu stated before he left, along with a certain finger gesture, Team Dragon has officially been disbanded until further notice."

"Team Dragon?"

"It was the only way to get him to stop calling it Team Natsu, but either way it's disbanded for the time being."

"You're damn right it is, now it's the season of Solo Missions!" this was when Gray rushed into the guild hall and held up a flyer, and he didn't have any clothes on "I'm back and I've got another job done."

"You forget something again, as in putting on some pants?"

"No time for that right now, I'm gonna take this job so I'm out." and so he bolted off.

"And speaking of leaving, I am too." and so Luke sat back down at the bar and went back to his panini and fries.

"So what was that about?" asked Lucy "Why are they all going on solo gigs?"

"I'm out, this is a job for a real man!" and then Elfman bolted out the door.

"I'm gonna pull the trigger on this job right here!" and then Alzack.

"I've got dibs on this one!" and then Bisca.

"Sorry pal, but this one is finder's keepers!" Warren bolted out of the guild hall with a flyer in his hands.

"Hey get back here, I called dibs on that job!" Max ran out of the guild hall after him.

"The great and mighty Team Shadow Gear is splitting up for now!" Jet and Droy shared a pissed of glare with each other, then bolted out of the guild hall, amidst the sounds of various other nameless guild members scrounging for one other flyer.

Luke just calmly pushed them aside and then sat back down at the bar "Yep, looks like things are definitely back to normal around here."

"I don't suppose you can explain why everyone is going crazy?" asked Lucy.

"Not really, but I do know why they're acting crazier than usual. My guess is they're going to make the announcement sometime in the next few days, so you're just gonna have to wait and see until then."

"That's not very comforting."

"Neither is Natsu dive-bombing into the fray over there." he jerked a thumb at where Natsu was charging at the fray of people, and he let out a sigh "If he gets picked for it, chances are I'm going to have my hands full."

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Meanwhile, with some of the girls…

Lisanna and Wendy blinked at what they were being told by Carla "You mean you can see into the future?"

"Yes, it's a trait that I share with the Exceed queen." Carla told them "Both of us have been blessed with the rare gift of clairvoyance. I wasn't aware of this ability until recently, but now that things have started calming down I have a small degree of control over it."

"Wow, that's totally amazing. So can you use it to tell which guy is going to end up being my future husband?"

"I don't need clairvoyance to see something like that, but even besides that I wouldn't be able to see that far ahead. Something sooner is another story though. For example, you two keep an eye on Macao over there. My prediction is that any moment now, Wakaba and Luke will walk up to him and start discussing over some of the younger folks of the guild, and a certain event that's about to take place."

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Meanwhile, with the targets of Carla's prediction…

"Hey there." Wakaba made his way over to Macao, cigarette in mouth "So what's shaking with you old timer?"

"Hey now." Macao shot him a grin.

"Well so much for lunch." this was when Luke sat down next to them with a mug of booze in hand, and he let out a sigh "You try to enjoy a panini in piece, and the next thing you know everybody starts pouncing on you like a pack of vultures, and that's what happens before we break out the booze."

"You seem kind of agitated."

"That's one way to describe it, you guys know we're getting to that time of year again. I'll be honest though, I'm not exactly looking forward to it."

"Why's that?"

"It's not my place to say why exactly."

"Huh. Suit yourself, but this time of year definitely takes me back."

"I know the feeling, it's only been a few years but it feels like yesterday when I got the crap beaten and scared out of my by Gildarts during that time, but all the while I've never forgotten what he taught me either."

"You've definitely come a long way since then, but stuff like that really takes a guy back doesn't it?"

"Yeah tell me about it, those were the good old days." Wakaba let out a sigh.

"We were so full of spunk back then."

"I'll tell you what though, this new crop is something else, especially their derrieres!"

"Wait what? No way in hell!"

"So what then, you're more of a breast man?"

"Look I'm trying to raise a kid here, I don't have time to go checking out butts."

"You got that right, you're more of a leg man then aren't you?"

"Now you're speaking my language, I'll stick behind a pair of legs any day."

"And I'll stick behind leaving you two alone and stay far away from you." on that note, Luke just walked calmly away, then sat down with Wendy and the others "Please tell me the three of you are talking about something that isn't lecherous and possibly pedophilic."

"We're talking about how Carla can see into the future." Lisanna told him "She just made a prediction and she hit it right on the nose, though she didn't tell us it would sound so creepy in context."

"To be totally realistic, I think we all should've seen that coming. Either way, if you were able to literally see that coming then I'm impressed."

"Thank you for that." Carla shot him a smirk "But I still have a great deal to learn about how to properly control it."

"And speaking of which, I'm gonna go see if I can find a decent sparring partner." and so he promptly left.

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About an hour went by, and things had calmed down in the guild hall, more or less.

Luke and Lily were in the middle of conducting a sparring match with swords only, which ended after a few moments "So how about it, was that enough to satisfy you for the time being?"

"For the time being at least." Lily promptly transformed back to his small form "It would seem that while I can access my original form, I can't maintain it for a long period of time."

"Maybe so but you're still pretty impressive, your skills with a sword are top notch."

"You flatter me, but then again I think I should be the one complimenting you. It seems that your skill does indeed rival your counterpart from Edolas, if not surpassing him."

"You spar with him?"

"On a regular basis, I held a deep respect for him."

"I assume it was mutual, and with blade skills like that chances are that you'd probably be able to give Erza a run for her money. Chances are I'm gonna pay for that later on, but I can deal with it when the time comes."

"So what's your verdict?" this was when Gajeel suddenly popped up in front of him "What do you think Thunderclap, my cat is a force of nature isn't he?"

"I don't know if I would go that far, but he definitely knows how to back up his talk."

"I assume that your level of skill is what people in this guild refer to as S-class." Lily noted.

"It's more about title than the skill level, it takes a lot more than that. I learned that the hard way during my exam."

Lucy seemed rather put out by everything that was happening "I don't get it, why is it that so many people are going crazy with the jobs, but everyone else is just goofing off without a care in the world."

"Don't worry about it too much, it'll all make sense by tomorrow."

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The next day came, and as dark clouds gathered over the city of Magnolia, nearly even member of the Fairy Tail guild had gathered inside the guild hall, awaiting a major announcement.

"So what's all this commotion about?" asked Lily.

"Beats me." Gajeel gave a shrug.

"You think the master will tell us about something big happening?" asked Wendy.

"I can't say I'm too excited for it." Carla told her flatly.

Alzack was growing rather excitable over the events "What's he going to say? The suspense is killing me!"

"Take it easy, we both know we worked our asses off." Bisca assured him.

Happy was quick to try and call off Natsu from twitching left and right "Just settle down, you've got this Natsu, so don't worry."

"The tension here is huge, very manly." Elfman noted, earning a small chuckle from Gray as a response.

Lucy was standing in the crowd with Juvia getting rather angsty "Well this is weird, I'm dying to know what's going on."

"This is so exciting it's unbelievable!" Juvia was considerably excited herself, though for a different reason that also led to her having hearts in her eyes "My beloved ice prince is almost within reach!"

"Oh yeah, be still my heart." Lucy glanced through the crowd to see Cana isolated from the rest of them and looking rather downcast '_She seems kind of upset, does this have anything to do with what she said to Luke the other night?'_

The curtain on the stage rose up shortly after, revealing Makarov and all of the S-class wizards in the guild, but Luke was the only one to actually step forward "Yeah yeah guys, you all know it's that time of year again. Just calm down for a minute and let the master speak, and you'll see if you made it in."

"Thank you for that Luke." so Makarov stepped forward and motioned for Luke to take a step back as he spoke "In accordance with the time-honored tradition of the Fairy Tail guild, I will now announce the candidates for this year's S-class wizard promotion trials!" he was met with various cheers.

"And for the newcomers of the guild, yes this is why everyone else has been acting like a bunch of lunatics over the past few days. But in all seriousness, shut up and let the master finish what he has to say."

"Again, thank you Luke. As I was saying, the trials for this year will be taking place on Tenrou Island, the sacred ground of our guild."

Hearing this, Lucy glanced over at Lisanna "So do you have any idea what the master is going to make them do?"

"Well it's hard to say." Lisanna told her "The master makes the candidates do something different every year, it's a lot of difficult tasks, but if you can pull it off then he'll promote you to an S-class wizard."

Makarov went on in his explanation of the trials "The strength that you possess inside, the strength of your character and ths strength of your heart, these are what I considered while making my selections, and as such I have chosen 8 participants. Natsu Dragneel."

"Alright!" Natsu let out a roar "You can be sure as hell I'm all fired up now! I've got this one in the bag!"

"Gray Fullbuster!"

"About time." Gray gave a smirk "I was wondering when I would get the chance to move up."

"Lisanna Strauss! Elfman Strauss!"

Lisanna blinked "Really master, me?"

"Don't sell yourself short, you'll do fine." Elfman assured her "As for me, well S-class could use a real man in its ranks."

"Best of luck big brother."

Makarov went on listing the rest of the candidates "Cana Alberona!"

"Whoop de doo." Cana just looked away, a bunch of thoughts going through her mind.

"Freed Justine!"

"So it's my time." Freed noted, his tone deadly serious "At last, I'm going to be following in the footsteps of Laxus."

"Levy McGarden!"

"Holy crap this is so awesome!" Jet and Droy chorused their feelings on the matter "Levy is totally going to win this one!"

"And the eight and final candidate is Mest Gryder!"

"NOOO!" Alzack promptly fell into comical despair "I worked so hard, so why didn't he pick me this year?"

"Hey come on now, buck up." Bisca tried to cheer him up, to no avail "It's bound to happen someday right?"

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Despite most of the other members of the guild not being picked, they still seemed to be happy for the others.

"Looks like the master finally chose Natsu."

"Don't forget Gray."

"Figures he'd pick Elfman, but Lisanna too?" Wakaba muttered.

"Yeah tell me about it." Macao gave a smirk "I'm so proud of those kids, to think that he even picked Lisanna."

"I bet they're all pretty excited aren't they?"

"How could they not be?"

"Alright, that settles it!" Romeo pumped a fist "When I grow up, I want to become an S-class wizard too! You just watch me, I'll show you!"

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Luke made his way over to the edge of the stage and glance over at Lucy "So how about it, does that answer satisfy you then?"

"More or less, but either way I think I get it now." Lucy told him "Everybody was rushing around like a bunch of lunatics because they wanted the master to pick them, so they were working their butts off to try and impress him." but then she glanced over at Cana '_I wonder, is this why she was talking about quitting before?'_

"I know what you're thinking but don't say anything now, if you're going to hear it then it should be from her. Now make sure to keep quiet, the master isn't done yet."

Sure enough, Makarov continued speaking to everyone in the guild "Although eight participants have been selected from the guild, only one will emerge victorious. The trial is scheduled to begin in one week's time, so you had best step up your preparations."

"Which means that you should take the time to train, rest, get your affairs in order, or for those who haven't been chosen, make bets on who's going to become the newest S-class wizard of this guild."

"This is bullshit!" Gajeel pretty much exploded from within the crowd "Why the hell would they pick Salamander but pass me over?!"

"I don't know of the specifics, but from what I've gathered you seem to have a shady reputation in this guild." Lily pointed out "And I get the feeling the others don't hold a great deal of trust for you."

"That's a load of bullshit, they can all trust me just fine! I just can't tell them what I'm really doing around here, that's all."

"I suggest you take it up with Luke then."

"Fine, yo Thunderclap-"

"Let me save you the trouble." Luke cut him off dryly "We all agreed that you're not ready for something like that."

"This whole thing sucks!"

"Sure it does, now quit complaining so we can finish."

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"And as usual, everyone here loses control at the drop of a hat." Carla muttered from her place within the crowd, but then she suddenly froze as her expression turned grim.

Wendy was quick to notice this "Hey Carla, is there something wrong?"

"No.. it's nothing, I'm fine. _It's so strange, what was that I was seeing? Some sort of massive tree breaking apart, Cana breaking down in tears, Natsu in terror, and a figure with black hair and eyes cold as night, someone that I've never seen before. What was that? I have a bad feeling about this.'_

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Unaware of this exchange, Makarov continued elaborating on the S-class trials "For the benefit of any newcomers that may be participating, I believe it would be beneficial to go over the rules of the challenges in question."

"I've got this master." so Luke stepped back up to the plate "The eight participants in the trials will each be required to choose a partner, and the person they choose will be allowed to train with them in the week leading up to the trials themselves. Ultimately the trial turns into a battle between teams of two wizards, and a big part of it is putting your friendship and camraderie to the test as well. There are also two rules that you have to abide by when you make the choice of who your partner is going to be. The first rule is that whoever it may be, your partner has to be a member of this guild. The second rule is that whoever you choose to pick, they can't be an S-class wizard, which rules out myself, Erza, Mira and Gildarts. We want these trials to be fair of course, and we don't want any team to be too overpowered. The rest of the particular details about the trials will be revealed once we arrive on Tenrou Island, but for now it's only fair for all of you to be aware that you'll have to get past the likes of me and Erza if you want any hope of becoming an S-class wizard, and now that Mira's back with us she'll be helping out herself to weed out the rest of you right behind us. So to sum up, defeating at least one of us may very well be the only way that you'll get to become an S-class wizard. Don't worry though, supposedly we've been ordered to hold back a little bit, but that doesn't mean we're going to just let you win either. And for those who still aren't satisfied, stop whining already. Keep in mind that the four of us had to go through these trials too, so to just let you guys slide wouldn't be fair. And yes, I said the four of us, which means that Gildarts is getting involved too."

"Holy crap this is awesome!" Natsu had comical stars in his eyes "I get to fight both Luke and old man Gildarts, this is gonna be fu-" he glanced at Lisanna "Freaking awesome!"

"Anyway, the eight participants the master listed, along with the partners they've chosen, are ordered meet at the port of Hargeon one week from today, so you should all be sure you use this time wisely.

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After the announcement was over with, everyone split up and things quickly calmed down in the guild hall.

"Damn, they definitely set the bar crazy high this year." Gray noted.

"I have to admit, I'm kind of surprised that none of you have ever been chosen for these sorts of trials before." Lucy commented.

"I'm ready for the bigtime, S-class here I come!" Natsu let out a fiery roar.

Elfman seemed more freaked out than excited "I know I'm the manliest guy in the guild, but I'm as scared as a little girl right now!"

"I know the feeling big brother." Lisanna gave him her usual smile "I mean I'm surprised I got picked myself, but I promise I'll do my best, and I know that all of us will too."

"This all sounds pretty tough to me, but good luck everyone." Wendy told them.

"Hey guys." this was when Mira sat down at their table with a mug of booze in hand "Let me take a wild guess, my little siblings are freaking out over being picked for the trials?"

"That's one way of looking at it." Gray told her flatly "I don't blame them for that, considering they'll probably have to go through you when the time comes."

"Well they might have at least one advantage going for them, sure I've been training a lot since I got back but I'm still out of practice with my Satan Soul by about two years. Plus I hear that one of them has been training with Luke and the other has a certain surprise that she's been working on in secret."

"Wait what?" Lisanna's head snapped up at this "How do you-?"

"You can thank a certain blue cat for giving me your diary."

"...Oh."

"Yeah. It's an interesting idea though, I guess we'll just have to wait and see as to how that works out for you. Anyway, it might interest you guys to know that Freed over there has already ligned up Bickslow as his partner, something about needing an S-class man in their ranks now that they don't have Laxus to follow around like a bunch of lapdogs and showing them that the Thunder Legion's still got it. Speaking of which, where the hell is Laxus? I haven't seen him around here and I've been back for almost two weeks."

"Don't count on any of them telling you for awhile." Luke sat down with the group "I was back for almost three months before I found out why he wasn't here, and even then I had to hear about it from Laxus himself."

"So what did happen?"

"To make a long story short, a year ago he tried to take the guild by force, but then Natsu, Gray and Mystogan beat the ever loving crap out of him, and as a punishment he got expelled from the guild by Makarov, and since then he's been travelling the continent training. I actually met up with him before the whole thing with Edolas went down, we fought and it ended in a draw."

"...Shit."

"Oh yeah, tell me about it." Luke glanced over at Natsu "So how about it, since fellow candidates aren't allowed to pair up who are you gonna go with?"

"Who else, I'm going with my little buddy over here." Natsu jerked a thumb at Happy, which earned an "Aye!" as a result.

"Fair enough."

"Hey!" Elfman promptly rounded on Natsu "Not so fast there pinky, if this whole thing turns out to be a race then having a partner that can fly is an unfair disadvantage!"

"But to be fair Elfman, if this turns out to be a battle then having someone like Happy would be an unfair disadvantage, as in he can't throw or take a punch to save his life." Bolt told him "And in all honesty, him taking a punch might actually end his life."

"You know I'm sitting right here." Happy pointed out.

"Yeah I know."

"Whatever, you're just jealous that I'm going to make Natsu into an S-class wizard! What do you have to say to that?"

"Two things. First, Luke is already an S-class wizard." Bolt dealt Luke a fist bump "And second, I've got this going for me." he held up Shatterstorm "Since someone has to look after all of these schmucks while you're gone, I'm gonna take the opportunity and learn how to use this thing properly."

"...Well forget this, Natsu let's roll!" Happy suddenly flew out of the guild hall.

"There goes one simple-minded idiot."

"The hell with a bunch of sitting around, we've got training to do!" and so Natsu promptly bolted off after him.

"And there goes the other one."

"Bye Natsu, good luck!" Lisanna waved at him with a dreamy look in her eyes "Even after everything that's happened, I still find it kind of hard to believe that Natsu's gotten strong enough to be in the running for becoming an S-class wizard."

"He's gotta compensate for the lack of a brain somehow."

"Hey!"

"Come on Bolt, that's not necessarily a fair way to look at it." Luke pointed out "Sure he can be, and usually is, pretty simple-minded, but deep down he's only doing it because he's convinced himself that getting strong enough and hitting things hard enough is the best way for him to finally see Igneel again. I just wish I could believe the same thing, that if I work hard enough then I'll be able to see Kaminari again."

"He probably has at least twice the motivation to move ahead than anyone else."

"I know for a fact that's not true, not with everyone at least."

"What do you mean?"

"I know someone in the running who has just as good of a reason for becoming an S-class wizard this year, but it's not my place to tell you who or why. So anyway, what about you? I can imagine you're not too thrilled about not having Natsu as a partner?"

"Well yeah I guess, but that's no reason for me to give up. Natsu wouldn't want me to do that, and neither would anyone else. I'll find someone though."

"I'm sure you will." Luke glanced over at Gray "So what about you, I take it you've already got someone lined up as your partner for the exam?"

"HEY!" Juvia suddenly exploded at him "Don't you dare think about trying to steal him away from me!"

"I couldn't if I wanted to, I'm one of the people conducting the trials."

"Be honest with me Gray, would you rather him or some bimbo on your team?!"

"Settle down." Gray called her off "And I hate to break it to you, but I've already got someone lined up for it."

Sure enough, this was when Loke walked up to the group "Hey guys how's it going, it's been awhile."

"And for the record, he's my partner."

"Wait what?" Lucy's jaw dropped at this "You mean you're hijacking one of my spirits?"

"I wouldn't call it hijacking, we worked this whole thing out a year ago after the trials from last year."

"But-"

"Sorry about this Lucy, please don't take this too hard but I'm gonna have to put a hold on our contract while I team up with Gray for the trials." Loke told her "And just in case you were wondering, I used my own power in order to pass through the gate, so you don't have to worry about running out of magic power because of me."

"Well okay, but I kind of wish you would've run this by me first."

"To be fair, I set this up before I became contracted to you."

"Wait a minute Loke, are you still a full-fledged member of the guild? I mean we've barely seen you since we found out about your secret." Elfman pointed out.

"Oh yeah, check it out." he pulled down his shirt to reveal the Fairy Tail guild mark present on his back "See here, I'm still a proud wizard of the Fairy Tail guild, and as such it's my duty to help Gray reach his full potential and make it to the ranks of S-class."

"And I'm personally glad to hear it." Gray shot him a smirk "I appreciate the help."

"No worries man, I've got your back."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Lucy just pouted at the sight of this arrangement "I don't remember these guys being each other's BFFs before today."

"So anyway, the rest of you feel free to come at me with everything you've got, I have no problems with going at it hot and heavy with each of you."

"Hot… and heavy…?" that was enough to send Juvia spiralling into one of her fantasies "I don't know if I can handle such a thing!"

"You know if you want Juvia, I can make you part of my team." Lisanna offered.

"You sure about that?" asked Mira "I mean you barely even know her."

"She's been in the guild for awhile now, and if she wants to participate then it wouldn't be right to just blow her off."

"You mean… you would choose me?" asked Juvia.

"Yeah why not, we're all friends here. So what do you say?"

"I suppose so, but I have a feeling you're just using me to get to Gray."

"You realize that she's with Natsu right?" Luke pointed out dryly "Even if you insist on being paranoid, there's no need to be with her of all people." he was met with a glare "Alright then, whatever lets you sleep at night." he glanced over at Elfman "So what about you? You're still going to need a partner for the trials."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Elfman let out a sigh "To think, you spend all that time training and I fail because I can't even find a partner."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, just take a look at the chick who's been giving you what I like to call the Medusa Glare." he jerked a thumb at where Evergreen was brooding at the bar and giving them the glare in question "Call it a hunch, but I have a feeling she was less than thrilled about Freed choosing Bickslow to be his partner instead of her."

"She's… She's looking right at me…"

"Yeah see, this is what I meant by the Medusa Glare. It's not so intense of a stare as it is downright petrifying. But at the same time, at least you have yourself a partner, so good luck with that."

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Meanwhile, with a certain Salamander…

Gildarts glanced down at the sight of Natsu's so-called training, which was really him being put through all sorts of hell by Happy '_Looks like Happy isn't pulling any stops with him, not that I can blame him. In the meantime, I guess I had better head over to Tenrou Island, so I'll be sure to see you there Natsu. Maybe I'll end up taking him on, maybe not, but I'll make sure I get the point across regardless.'_

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Meanwhile, back at the guild hall…

Jet and Droy didn't waste any time in singing Levy's praises over her being chosen for the S-class trials.

"Master finally chose you!"

"You're gonna be an amazing S-class wizard!"

"Totally!"

"You're gonna pick me to be your partner right?"

"Why the hell would she pick you instead of me?! I'm hundreds of times faster than you!"

"Speed can go to hell, why don't you just admit that I'm the better fighter!"

"Whatever, you've just got a thing for Levy!"

"What and you don't?" their arguing like a bunch of idiots quickly drained Levy's excitement right out of her.

"Yeah let me solve that problem for you." Gajeel promptly shoved Jet and Droy to the side and stood behind Levy "If you really want to make it to S-class then you should go ahead and pick me instead of those two clowns."

Levy was taken aback by the offer "Wait are you serious?"

"I've got a chance to beat up on all of those other idiots if I do this don't I?"

"Oh. That. I guess there's going to be some fighting involved, but I'm so puny and weak, and between the likes of Natsu and Gray we'll probably just lose right away!" she was picked up by the back of her shirt.

"Hey come on shrimp, don't go wimping out before the whole thing even gets started."

"Hey what are you doing?! Let go, please put me down!"

"Take it easy little girl, now that I'm here I'm going to make you that much bigger than you've ever been." this caused Levy to blush and Jet and Droy to sink into comical depression."

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Nightfall came, and the snow was starting to descend over the city of Magnolia, the first of the season.

Natsu sat on a snowy hillside overlooking the city, his thoughts drifting '_It's weird, but whenever it starts to snow, I start thinking about him.'_

"Hi."

Natsu glanced over to see Lisanna sitting down next to him "Oh hey, I thought you were training with Juvia."

"I was, but then she saw Gray and-"

"Got it."

"So what are you doing? I thought you'd be training with Happy right now."

"I was."

"...You're thinking about Igneel again aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sure you'll see him again." she scooted closer and leaned her head against his shoulder, and she was pulled closer by Natsu, causing both of their faces to turn red.

"Thank you." the two of them locked their gaze on each other, their eyes closed, and then their lips met, which also acts as the final nail in the coffin for any NaLu shippers.

"Hey guys the soup's on-" Happy started coming up to them, only to stop himself when he realized their current situation and backed away with a smirk '_Aye sir, get the girl and become an S-class wizard. Things are going great for him.'_

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Meanwhile, with Wendy and Carla…

While the two of them were travelling through the streets of Magnolia, Carla took the opportunity to warn Wendy that she had a bad feeling about the trial, and that she absolutely shouldn't get involved, and Wendy assured Carla that she was okay since nobody wanted to have her as a partner. This was when Mest made himself known before them, claiming that she shouldn't think like that, and then he introduced himself as a disciple of Mystogan.

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Meanwhile…

By this point, Luke was walking through the streets of Magnolia with Lucy and Bolt by his side, gazing up as the snow gently fell over the city "Yeah, this is definitely one of the things I missed the most about being back home."

"Wow, this is amazing." Lucy looked on in awe "I didn't think it ever snowed in Magnolia, but this is beautiful."

"Yeah, snow around these parts makes it look like something out of a Dream Land. It's one of the things I missed most while I was gone for a year and a half. So I have to ask though, are you disappointed about not being picked for the S-class trials?"

"I didn't even know it was a thing until the announcement was made, but it would be kind of nice to have the privileges of being S-classes. I mean granted I don't really need them, but it's just nice to know you have them."

"Like car insurance, you don't really need it most of the time but you're still glad to know it's there regardless."

"Kind of a weird analogy, but okay."

"Weird as it may be, it's still accurate, and I'm sure a certain drunk brunette in the alley would agree with me."

"Wait what?" Lucy glanced over to the alley and nearly freaked at the sight of Cana passed out and drunk as hell, partially buried under some snow "What the hell is she doing passed out in the alleyway?!"

"I think you know the answer to that already." Luke walked over and picked up Cana's form in his arms bridal style "Come on, let's bring her back to my apartment and dry her off, and when we get there, I have a favor to ask of you."

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About 20 minutes later…

Cana wrapped a blanket further around her body to stop herself from shivering "Man I really owe you one, if you hadn't found me then chances are I would've frozen my butt off out there in the snow."

"Not to mention you were drunk as fuck." Luke pointed out dryly "Seriously, at the rate you're going you're gonna die from alcohol poisoning before you're 30."

"I know I know, you've given me that shtick before."

"And yet it's never stuck. Look, you've already told me about why you act like this, so I'll just leave the two of you alone for now. I'm gonna go make sure Bolt doesn't blow up half the city with that weapon he got from Edolas." and so he left, leaving Cana alone with Lucy.

"So…"

"You wanna tell me why you've been acting like such a lunatic lately?" asked Lucy.

"You mean Luke hasn't already told you about it? I always get sort of crazy around this time of year, at least when S-class trials roll around. It happens every year."

"Does this have something to do with you telling Luke you want to quit the guild?"

"More or less. This is going to be my fifth trial to become an S-class wizard, that means I've been picked four times but I've never been able to go all the way, because I suck."

"Oh come on, don't be like that. Just because you haven't made it yet doesn't mean you can't or won't."

"You don't get it, I'm the only person in the entire guild who's failed four times, and that's why this is going to be my last one. I made a promise to myself, if I don't make it this time then I'm leaving Fairy Tail for good."

"Hey come on, that's not a fairy thing to think about yourself. Even if you don't make it this time there's always next year, besides there are plenty of others in the guild that haven't made S-class themselves."

"Well I don't want to be one of those losers okay?!" her sudden outburst left Lucy considerably taken aback "You don't get it, I have to become an S-class wizard. If I don't then I'll never be able to look him in the eye."

"Who, you mean Luke?"

"No." and then she proceeded to narrate her story, leaving Lucy speechless as a result of her revelation "That's why if I don't make it this time, then I'm leaving Fairy Tail for good. I've already made up my mind, you can't stop me."

"Cana… will you please let me be your partner in the S-class trials? Fairy Tail just wouldn't be the same without you."

"Lucy…" at this, Cana looked up at her with tears streaming down her face "Thank you…"

"And I know Luke wouldn't want to imagine Fairy Tail without you either."

"...Oh crap, you had to go there didn't you?" her face turned red.

"Come on Cana, just come out and say it. You like him don't you?"

"Well… alright fine, I don't just like him. I'm in love with him. I have been for years, but I didn't realize it until after he left for that year and a half training excursion. That's another reason why I have to do this, if I keep screwing it up then how could I look him in the eye."

"Take my advice, if you want that to work then try the direct approach. But we'll worry about that later, for now if we're going to get you to S-class then we'd better get started."

"Right."

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The next day came, and the snow was still falling over the skies of Magnolia.

Luke made his way to the East Forest and was surprised to find Lucy already there "You seem pretty serious before it's even dawn, so what's up?"

"I think you already know the answer to that." Lucy pulled out her new Celestial Weapon that she had acquired from Virgo during the events in Edolas "I think we both agree when I say that Fairy Tail would never be the same without Cana, and I don't want that to become a reality, so I have to get a lot stronger if I want to make sure of it. To that end, I've gotta make sure that I can use this thing to its fullest extent."

"You sound like you're pretty fired up. Fine by me, I'll help you how I can, but don't think I'm going easy on you."

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A week passed, and the day of the trials arrived.

Luke stood on the bow of the ship as it pulled into Hargeon, his camera hanging around his neck, and he looked down at the eight teams that would be participating '_So we've got Natsu & Happy, Lucy & Cana, Gray & Loke, Elfman & Evergreen, Freed & Bickslow, Gajeel & Levy, Lisanna & Juvia, and Wendy & Mest. I have a feeling this is going to be very interesting for the S-class trials this year.' _he pulled out a telescope and peered into it to see the Fairy Tail guild hall far away in the distance '_Well I guess we'll be seeing you guys when we get back.'_

Unfortunately, what none of them would realize was that nothing would ever be the same by the time they did return to Fairy Tail, or how long it would be until then…

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But putting that ominous message aside for the time being, it only took about an hour before the ship was setting sail for Tenrous Island… and the trip wasn't particularly pleasent for at least a few of them.

"Oh come on, why the hell is it so hot?" Lucy let out a groan "Didn't we just see it snowing the other day?"

"Back in Magnolia yeah, but now we're roaming the high seas." Luke told her flatly.

"Yeah yeah, only I don't feel like a One Piece character. I'd love to turn into a popsicle, but I don't trust any of you not to try and eat me."

"I'll pass on that personally, and Lucy I know it's ridiculously warm but do you really have to sit like that? It seems sort of like overkill if you ask me."

"What, do you actually think this is warm?" Cana let out a scoff "It's fucking boiling around here year-round because there's almost never any wind."

"I know that all too well, lucky for all of us I come prepared." Luke pulled out a bag that held a large number of water bottles "Get them while they're cold."

"And it's official, you're a fucking life-saver." Cana promptly poured the water down over her face.

"You're welcome."

"My kingdom for an ice cream cone…" Lucy mumbled, only to be handed an ice cream cone, along with Cana and a few others, by Luke "Thank you."

"I do what I must to protect my guild, even from something as simple as heat stroke."

"Where did you get these anyway?" asked Cana.

"I got them from a shop in port before we left, you don't get to be an S-class wizard without being prepared with at least one contingency plan." Luke glanced over at where Juvia stood, still fully clothed "Speaking of which how are you still okay? You're probably gonna suffocate in an outfit like that."

"I assure you that I'm perfectly fine, however there is one thing that might do it." and she promptly got hearts in her eyes "And that is the sight of my beloved Gray's naked body!"

"That'll do something to the rest of us, and by that I most likely mean wretch."

"I'm dying here…" Gray let out a moan of agony.

"For fuck's sake man, at least keep on your underwear."

"Alright we get it, it's a scorcher now all of you stop whining!" Gajeel barked.

"Says the dude who's sweating buckets while he's brooding in a corner."

"So this is what hell is like…" Natsu let out several loud wretching noises as he tried to hold it in, though he wasn't having much luck.

"We've been over this Natsu, just point your face over the side of the ship. Keep in mind that we're renting this thing by the hour."

"It wouldn't be so bad… if Wendy would cast that miracle spell on me…"

"You mean Troia? Natsu don't forget that the spell only works on people a few times before your body adapts to it, she said so herself. Besides, technically she's your enemy now remember?"

"Yeah…" Wendy gave a sad smile "Sorry Natsu, just hang in there."

"He'll hang in there, he'll just hate every second of it."

"Well isn't that just touching?" Evergreen's tone was practically oozing sarcasm "Here we all are about to engage each other in brutal combat, and they're acting all buddy buddy."

"Dammit I'm roasting!" Elfman let out a groan "I feel like a man-steak!"

"Well if you're going to roast then you would mind doing it away from me?"

"Dial it back on the attitude Evergreen, it's not fighting to the death and keep in mind it hasn't even started yet." Luke pointed out.

"I personally believe in the spirit of competition."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself, but in the meantime I have a feeling the rest of you are gonna want to look alive." Luke jerked a thumb towards where an island was starting to come into view in the distance, though the appearance was rather questionable "Looks like we're almost there, that my friends is Tenrou Island."

"It sure took us long enough though." Lucy muttered "And for that matter, that's the ugliest island I've ever seen."

"Hey come on, show some respect. Yeah it might not be the most visually appealing, but it's still the resting place of Fairy Tail's first master." he promptly took a picture of it with his camera.

"Wait what?!"

"Yep. Besides, take a look and tell me you can't feel all of the magic power radiating from the island."

"Yeah I know, I can feel it all the way from here!" Wendy could only look on in awe at the sight of the island.

"See Wendy knows what I'm talking about, it's definitely impressive. Just hang tight guys, we're gonna be there soon."

"There is a legend about this island." this was when Makarov made himself known to all of the others "The legend states that this island was once populated by fairies."

"Hence the name of our guild, so is it true?"

"To this day, nobody knows, but it is of great importance to our guild, because as Luke said, it is the resting place of the first master of the Fairy Tail guild, Mavis Vermillion."

"And we're going there dressed like a bunch of tourists, or in bikinis, or in Gray's case, not dressed at all."

"Wait what?" Gray looked down "FUCK!"

"Seriously man, at least have the decency to put on some clothes?"

"Anything else?" asked Makarov dryly "I would like to reveal the first round of the trials to the candidates if I may."

"By all means. But for the record guys, this trial has multiple rounds going for it. No one ever said that these kinds of things were easy, so you should never expect them to be. Anyway I had better get going, after all one of you may have to fight me in order to advance. I'll be seeing you guys on the island." and so he disappeared in a flash.

"Thank for you that Luke.. All of you please direct your attention to the smoke coming from the shore, your first task is to head to its source. Once you do arrive at the source, you will have to choose one of the eight provided roots leading into the island. Each root is meant only for a single team, so make sure you don't waste any time in picking one. After you have made your choice, you will have to conquer these obstacles." he summoned a layout of the first round of the trial "The teams that make it through these tests in one piece will be the ones that advance to the second round."

"And a few of those routes have us fighting against S-class wizards." Cana noted "Looks like you're not holding anything back for this year, but what's the serenity route?"

"Combat routes are fairly self explanatory, two of the teams will clash but only one of them will move on. Use every ability and tactic at your disposal. Intense Combat Routes will be more difficult, find one of these and you'll be fighting one of the elites of Fairy Tail. On the serenity route, you'll pass through the first round without fighting, but you're still going to be tested regardless. Passing this trial requires quality levels of teamwork, and a great deal of luck."

"How the hell are we supposed to test that?"

"Well I say we count on luck, am I right?" Lucy tried to act pumped up, but failed miserably.

"No, no you're not. Lucy I'm a hardore gambler, and even I think that plan sucks. Our odds are one in eight, so you'd better be ready to brawl. Frankly I'm just hoping that we don't get one of the Intense Combat Routes. Besides, if I know the odds in this case like I think I do then only 6 teams at the most will be able to move on to the next round."

"Yeah but if we pick the routes with the S-class wizards, then that means we might end up having to fight Erza or Luke." then she lowered her voice "But do you think Luke would let us pass? I mean he knows about-"

"Don't be ridiculous, of course Luke wants us to succeed but he would never just let us pass without earning it in his eyes."

"Oh. Oh crap."

"Yeah."

"Well that's just great." Levy muttered from where her head was being comically used as an arm rest by Gajeel "The first round could be the end of us, I don't want to have a bunch of my friends here."

"I'm perfectly fine with it." Gajeel commented dryly "I don't know about you, but I've been looking for an excuse to beat the crap out of at least a few of these idiots."

"Oh believe me, I know."

"Alright, are you ready?" and so Makarov made the call "The first round of the S-class trials starts right now!"

"Wait a second, you mean right now? But we haven't even reached the shore yet!"

"Yes I know."

"You know what that means little buddy, it's time for us to jet!" so on that note, Natsu was promptly picked up by Happy and the two of them took to the air "Looks like the first pick is ours losers, and Lisanna, so catch ya on the flip side!"

"Losers?! Hey!" Gray promptly rounded on Natsu "Get back down here so I can shove an ice sword so far up your-" he was cut off by the sight of Natsu and Happy slamming face first into what appeared to be an invisible wall "Okay, so that's karma at its finest."

"But it's because of an enchantment." Cana pointed out.

"So that means-"

As it turns out, Freed and Bickslow had already left the boat and were soaring towards the island at full speed "Don't worry, my enchantment isn't permanent! Five more minutes on that boat isn't going to kill you! Well except maybe for Natsu."

"Hey get back here, that's cheating!"

"The master never told us this was a race, besides I could've chosen to leave you in there all day, but it wouldn't be much of a trial then would it?" and so Freed and Bickslow disappeared from their sight.

"Dammit gramps do something, that has to be against the rules."

"Chill, like Freed said it's not a race so just wait." Makarov told him flatly.

"Dammit this is bad, if he gets to the island first we're all screwed. He'll be able to cover the entire place with enchantments!"

"Dammit this is so not fair!" Natsu started pounding against the wall of the enchantment, to no avail obviously "Come on come on COME ON!"

"Wait a second!" this was when Happy thought of something "Can't Levy find a way to get us out of here?"

"Oh yeah sure!" so Levy was quick to rewrite the enchantment, but then she turned around and winked at them "Sorry about this guys, but I only rewrote it for me and Gajeel!" and so the two of them dove into the water.

"Hey, so not cool!" Lucy could only gawk at her "I thought we were friends!"

"Not today LuLu, we'll be seeing all of you on the other side!" and so they started swimming towards the island.

"What the hell, when did she become such a traitor?!"

"It matters relatively little for me." Evergreen pulled out a magic pen, and within a moment she rewrote the enchantment with ease and shot a smirk at Elfman "Now then, aren't you glad you teamed up with someone who knows Freed so well Muscle Man?"

"Holy crap that's amazing!" Elfman lit up at this "I didn't know you knew how to do that."

"It's as simple as child's play for me to rewrite something as simple as this, someone that has my talents can handle the toughest enchantments with ease. Now then, let's go."

"Right! Manly dive!" and so the two of them promptly dove in.

"Well that's a heaping dose of plot convenience." Cana noted dryly "While they get to go on without a care in the world, we're all stuck here for another four minutes. Still though, somebody make a note to remind me to have her around the next time I piss off Freed."

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It took another four minutes before Freed's enchantment finally wore off, allowing the other teams to get off the boat.

"Well it's about fucking time!" Cana and Lucy were the first to take off running "Remember, once you hit the water you have to go all out or we're screwed!"

Loke and Gray were next "Looks like we're playing catch up, but do you think you could play with some pants on?"

"Come on little buddy, let's get moving!" Natsu and Happy took off through the skies towards the island.

"Time for a little bit of this! **Ice Make: Floor!" **Gray used his magic to create a walkway of ice that led them towards the island, allowing him and Loke to slide there on foot.

Lucy only blinked at the sight "Well that's one way to get across."

"And apparently another way is to go under." Cana jerked a thumb at where Lisanna and Juvia were swimming underneath the ice floor "I never thought I'd envy a fish, and that's a sentence I'll most likely never say again."

"Yeah." and then the dots connected "What the hell are we gawking for? If we stay here for too much longer then we're gonna be the last ones there!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Wendy and Mest haven't even left the ship yet." the two of them looked up and saw that Wendy and Mest were both long gone "What the hell, when did the two of them leave?!"

"How the hell am I supposed to know?!"

"If we don't get there ASAP then we're gonna end up fighting Luke or Erza, or worse!"

"We're dead, we're so fucking dead!"

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A few minutes later, on the island…

"S-class here we come!" Natsu and Happy dropped onto the ground of Tenrous Island.

This was when Happy suddenly tensed up "Do you feel that Natsu? There's so much magic power in the air that it's kind of freaking me out."

"Yeah, I know the feeling. Alright then, let's go!" the two of them charged ahead, only to find that four of the routes were already closed "Holy crap, we're way behind!"

"Half of the routes have already been taken! So you go ahead and choose, which one of them should we pick?"

"Hmm, let's see… I say we go for that one, route E!" he pointed to a nearby cave entrance "If we take Route E then we're bound to fight Erza!"

"That's definitely not the path that I would choose."

"Well it's the path I'm choosing, I finally get to fight her mano-a-mano! You'd better hope to all hell that you're ready Erza, because I'm coming for you!"

"Have you thought about what you're gonna do if she isn't on this path?" this was followed by the entrance to the cave being sealed off "Too late."

"So what, S-class here I come!"

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After Natsu was gone, Lucy and Cana soon arrived on the island, only to find that they were in last place and every other route had already been taken, though Lucy believed it was okay and that they would pass because she was lucky and they would get the quiet route. However, she was quickly proven wrong when they found that they had taken a Combat Route. To be more specific, they had to battle against Freed and Bickslow in Path C, which shocked the two of them and made them realize they were screwed.

The battle between both teams began, but not before Freed asked the two of them to put on some clothes over their bikinis, mainly because he found it to be distracting. This gave Cana an idea full of fan service, in which she distracted Freed with her Sexy Lady Card.

Lucy decided to keep this trend going and summoned Virgo in a bikini outfit, hoping to use her to distract Bickslow, only for Virgo to be easily defeated by his dolls, which then proceeded to attack Lucy and Cana, forcing them to narrowly dodge his attacks.

Lucy then made a comeback by summoning Aires and disarming Bickslow, allowng Lucy to strike him down with a Lucy Kick, knocking him out cold. However, this was when the effects of the Sexy Lady Card wore off and Freed started getting serious again, allowing him to overpower the two of them. However, they still managed to defeat him thanks to Cana trapping him in a huge cage of sexy women from her Sexy Lady Card and then tricking him into stepping into a trap that electrocuted him, supposedly knocking him out cold.

With the battle over, the passage opened and allowed Cana and Lucy to pass through, which meant that they passed the first trial.

However, after they were gone, Freed and Bickslow suddenly pulled themselves together and revealed their little secret: they had thrown the fight and let Cana and Lucy win, claiming that they owed the two of them a debt, and being part of Fairy Tail was more important than following in the footsteps of Laxus.

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Meanwhile, on Path E…

"HEY ERZA!" by this point, Natsu was making his way through Path E, more focused on searching for Erza than anything else at the moment "Quit hiding like a coward and get the hell out here and fight me, if I'm gonna kick your ass then I'd like for it to be today!"

"Come on Natsu, we don't even know if or not she's on this route." Happy pointed out "You need to remember that."

"No way, I chose E for Erza so it has to be her path! I'm gonna claim the title of an S-class wizard, and I'll have a fucking field day kicking Erza's teeth in while I do it!"

"Um, about that… Hey check it out, the path is opening up!"

"Holy crap you're right, and I think I see somebody!"

"Is it Erza?"

"No, but the scent is… Oh shit."

Sure enough, light began shining throughout the clearing to reveal Luke standing before them, dressed in a new outfit, consisting of an azure blue martial arts gi, a black t-shirt underneath the gi, a black obi around his waist, a pair of white shinguards, a pair of black wristbands and a pair of black shoes, and he shot them a grin "Hey guys, I was wondering who was going to take this path."

"No way, no fucking way!"

"Yep, yours truly is your opponent. You like the outfit? I've been saving this one for a special occasion, and I figured that this meets the qualifications. Hate to break it to you though, but this is as far as you go Natsu."

"We're dead." was all Happy could say.

"I don't know if I would go that far, but it's only fair to warn you now that I have no intention of going easy on you. Granted I talked Gildarts into letting me handle this so you'd have a fighting chance, but regardless you'd better be ready to come at me with everything you've got."

"Oh is that right?" Natsu's body started radiating a large amount of flames, the grin never leaving his face "Well it's only fair to warn you that I'm fired up now!"

"Is that right? Well this is going to be pretty interesting to say the least."

Another battle was already well underway.

Lisanna was sent skidding backwards by her opponent, whereas Juvia was sent flying into a nearby wall "I guess I shouldn't be surprised, you've always been incredible."

"I appreciate the flatter, but it won't do much good for you." the smoke cleared to reveal that their opponent was Erza, clad in her Sea Empress Armor "You're going to have to do much better than that Lisanna, you'll never become an S-class wizard if this is the best that you're capable of."

"And you've already made sure that Juvia's attacks won't have any effect on you thanks to your Sea Empress Armor."

"No, I can do this… I will defeat you!" Juvia suddenly morphed into water and hurtled herself forward at full speed.

Erza used her Crystal Sword to cut through Juvia, forcing her to revert back to her physical form and forcing her back a short distance.

"**Water Slicer!" **Juvia then followed up with a barrage of water blades.

Erza deflected each blade with her sword, leaving it to cut through the nearby rubble and shatter a good amount of it.

'_She deflected my attack like it was nothing. _I'm not going to be defeated so easily! **Water Claws!" **Juvia summoned a pair of water claws and burst forward.

Erza dodged the water claws and sent Juvia skidding backwards with a single kick "You have improved a considerable amount, I admit I'm impressed, but you could still use some work on your timing, as well as the types of attacks you choose."

"I'll be sure to take that into consideration. _That's it, Erza's vulnerable when she counters my attacks, so if Lisanna strikes at the right moment then we should be able to take her down. It's the only hope we have right now. _I said that I would defeat you! **Water Whip!" **Juvia unleashed a water whip and hurtled it forward.

Erza blitzed around the Water Whip and dealt Juvia a sharp and powerful kick to the stomach, the force sending her tumbling backwards "I have to say Juvia, I'm somewhat disappointed in you. You have to be more creative, attacking your opponent while they're in between attacks is one of the most obvious strategies that you could've chosen. Not only that, but as you've seen such an attempted is thwarted far too easily. I expected much more from you." then she promptly addressed Lisanna without turning around "Would I be correct to assume that you were considering trying to attack me while I was dealing with your partner?"

"No, that's way too predictable."

"Then what should I-?" Erza turned around, and her eyes widened in shock at what she was seeing before her '_What is this?'_

A white glow had engulfed Lisanna's body, and when it disappeared it revealed her standing where she was before, but her appearance was vastly different: She had claws, gills, talons and various other attributes from other animals "**Animal Soul: Chimera! **I have a few tricks up my sleeve. Tell me, what do you think?"

"I think this just became a great deal more interesting."

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At the same time, Lucy and Cana were taking a break after their victory in the first round by relaxing in a lake next to a waterfall "Oh yeah, this is exactly what I needed. This feels absolutely amazing."

"You're unbelievable, you know that?" Cana told her dryly "I don't think I've ever seen someone get overheated so easily."

"Hey cut me some slack, it's not like I can help it when it's so freaking hot out here."

"I guess. Hey, we should probably get going?"

"Can't we stay just a little bit longer? It's not like we're in a rush or anything."

"What's with this attitude like you don't give a crap?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm starting to worry that Natsu's stupidity might be rubbing off on you."

"Don't be ridiculous, I don't hang around Natsu that often. Besides, I'm only being hardheaded because I don't want to get out right now. Come on Cana, we're drenched in sweat and this is our chance to wash it away."

"For crying out loud, give me a break will you?"

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Meanwhile, Elfman and Evergreen had chosen Path A, only to find themselves in the trouble of running into Mira as their opponent, and judging by the fact that she had already enter her Satan Soul, it was clear that she had no intention of holding back.

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Meanwhile, back with Route E…

Luke wasted no time in cracking his neck "It's only fair to warn you Natsu, I don't have any intention of going easy on you."

"Well it's only fair to warn you that I'm fired up now!" Natsu got ready to attack, only to stop when he noticed Happy hauling his stuff away "Hey Happy, what the hell are you doing?"

"Oh nothing, just trying to save our butts." Happy told him nonchalantly "I figured we might as well head home."

"Hey come on little buddy, it wouldn't kill you to have some faith in me. I mean if you really stop and think about it, I'm the one Luke should be scared of. I'm gonna kick his ass and I won't let up until I hear him say mercy!"

"Fine, mercy." was all Luke said.

"Dammit man you can't say it yet, I haven't even laid a hand on you!" Natsu ignited both of his fists in flames "I'm coming for you hot and heavy Luke, you're not the only one who's gotten a hell of a lot stronger the past two years and now I'm gonna show you just how much!" and so he charged into the fray like a crazed bull.

"Okay Natsu dial it back for a second, I'm not quite ready. Seriously, charging at me like a crazed bull without thinking isn't exactly S-class material." Luke promptly pulled out Raiden from its sheath, stopping him in his tracks and snuffing out his flames in an instant, and then he unleashed a simple surge of electricity that engulfed Natsu in an explosion, and when the blast subsided, a scorched crater was all that was left of him "I tried to tell him I wasn't ready, it's not my fault he didn't listen."

"Natsu… no…" Happy could only look on in horror with tears streaming down his face "How could you… the poor guy's been blown to smithereens…"

"Two words Happy, look up."

"Coming in hot! **Fire Dragon SWORD HORN!" **Natsu burst downwards from above while preparing a fire-enhanced headbutt.

"**Lightning Dragon SURGE!" **Luke held up a hand and unleashed a quick surge of electricity that stopped Natsu's momentum, the force of the brief collision creating a crater beneath his feet as a result.

'_He used a blast of lightning to stop me! _There's more where that came from!" Natsu ignited both of his fists and started launching a furious barrage of punches.

Luke blocked every strike with ease and dealt him a simple one-handed smash attack to the head, sending him crashing to the ground with a loud thud "You know attacking blindly can't solve every problem, even Dragon Ball characters have to use their heads at some point."

"Head be damned, how about using my foot! **Fire Dragon Talon!" **Natsu bolted upright and aimed a fire-enhanced kick at Luke's head.

Luke caught the kick with his bare hand and threw Natsu back a short distance '_He's really serious about this, I can tell by the look on his face. Charging in blindly is one thing, he does that pretty much all the time, but now he's actually trying, and even now he's still smiling.'_

"I'm not out of this yet, not by a long shot! **Fire Dragon ROAR!" **Natsu let out a roar, and with it came a powerful stream of flames.

Luke gave a small smile at the sight "Yeah you've definitely gotten a lot stronger, I've gotta admit I'm proud of you Natsu… my fellow Dragon Slayer. **Lightning Dragon ROAR!" **he let out his own roar that overpower Natsu's roar in an instant, engulfing Natsu in the explosion that followed.

When the blast subsided, Natsu was lying on the ground in the middle of a crater, supposedly unconscious.

"Dammit, looks like I put too much power into that one."

"You jerk…" Happy had tears streaming down his face "I'll never forgive you for this… This was just supposed to be a test… You killed him…"

"Take it easy Happy, have a little more faith in him than that. I made sure to hold back on that blast, like you said this is just a test. Just be glad it's not Gildarts testing him, thanks to his Disassembly magic we'd probably have an army of tiny Natsu's on our hands. The world can't handle more than one of him, so that would probably lead to the apocalypse. That actually happened to me when I took my exam, it felt so wrong. He should be fine as long as he doesn't push himself too hard and shakes off the disorientation. Unfortunately this also means that the trial is over for you Natsu, sorry but I can't pass you like this."

"Not so fast you son of a bitch!" Natsu bolted to his feet and wiped the blood from his face "I'm nowhere near finished yet, I'm just getting started! I'm in this to win it, I'm not gonna settle for anything less than pounding your ass into the ground and taking down anyone else in my path, you got that?!"

"...Yeah that figures." Luke promptly placed his sword back in his sheath "Let's see how do you ten, I won't even use Raiden for it."

"You never use that sword on me."

"Maybe because you're a fellow Dragon Slayer, or maybe I just didn't want to risk maiming you with it whenever you tried to jump me."

"That didn't stop you from sending me blasting off again like 50 times!"

"To be fair you always attacked first, and when you think about it whenver you get into a fight you always throw the first punch, except maybe in case of Gray. Frankly I'm amazed you haven't suffered any serious brain damage before now."

"So what? I swore back then that I was gonna beat you and Gildarts, and Erza and all of the others too!"

"Well you did already beat Laxus, I heard about that during the Festival, so nice work. But I did say that I wouldn't hold back against you, or lose for that matter."

"And I never hold back period! Here I come you son of a bitch!" Natsu pounced at Luke with his eyes blazing with determination "**Fire Dragon ROAR!" **he breathed out a second blast of fire at full speed.

"**Dragon Sword Style: Thunderclap Strike!" **Luke pointed Raiden forward and unleashed a blast of lightning from the blade, the surge of electricity evaporating the stream of fire into nothing, and then he went on to sheath his blade "**Lightning Dragon STREAM!" **he spread out both of his arms and slam one of them into the ground, unleashing an electrical current across the clearing.

Natsu rebounded just in time to be forced on the evasive by the current, leaping across the clearing to avoid being electrocuted, and so he started summoning flames in each hand "The flames of my right hand combined with the flames of my left, and this is what you get! **Fire Dragon Brilliant FLAME!" **he slammed the two-handed blast of fire into the ground, cancelling out the current and resulting in an explosion, resulting in a thick cloud of smoke covering the battlefield.

'_So he cancelled out the lightning using his own flames. Not bad, so what next?'_

"**Fire Dragon SWORD HORN!" **Natsu charged forward through the smoke with a fire enhanced headbutt.

"**Lightning Dragon Surge!" **Luke unleashed a surge of lightning from one hand, the force allowing him to stop Natsu's headbutt, despite him being sent skidding backwards a short distance, and then he put more power into it so the surge sent Natsu flying.

Natsu was sent tumbling backwards, but he quickly rebounded and wiped the blood away from his face "Stop fucking toying with me, come at me like you fucking mean it!" he suddenly blitzed behind Luke and aimed a kick at his head, along with a fiery barrage of punches and kicks.

Luke gracefully weaved his way around every blow Natsu was throwing at him, but eventually he launched a counterstrike in the form of slugging Natsu in the gut hard enough to the point where he coughed up blood and fell to his knees, and Luke promptly up his sword to Natsu's throat "So you gonna give up yet?"

"Not a fucking chance! **Fire Dragon TALON!" **Natsu suddenly dealt Luke an uppercut kick that sent him skidding backwards "**Fire Dragon ROAR!" **he breathed out an even larger stream of fire from his mouth.

"**Dragon Sword Style: IRON HAMMER!" **Luke thrusted his sword into the ground and unleashed a surge of electricity, blowing away Natsu's roar and nearly blowing him off his feet as a result "I told you before Natsu, I wasn't going to hold back against you."

"And I never hold back period! Here I come you son of a bitch!" Natsu pounced at Luke with his arms coated in his own flames "**Dragon Slayer Secret Art…"**

"So that's where we're going with this. **Thunder Drive!" **Luke activated his Thunder Drive "If that's the way it has to be then so be it, now come at me!"

"**Flame Lotus: EXPLODING FLAME BLADE!" **Natsu summoned forth a massive spiralling blast of flames and hurled it forward, engulfing Luke in the explosion that followed. Natsu on the other hand, was left panting heavily as he fell to one knee, but then his eyes nearly bulged out of his head at what he saw "Oh you've gotta be fucking kidding me!"

When the smoke cleared, Luke had been pushed back a considerable distance and had fallen to one knee, and while his outfit hadn't sustained any damage, he was sporting some light burns across his body "Well that just goes to show how lethal Dragon Slayer Secret Arts can be in comparison in comparison to the basics."

"True enough, but ha! I've got you!"

"This is bad." Happy muttered "Your attack barely even fazed him, and it didn't even hurt him at all!"

"Yeah it did little buddy, you've just gotta take a closer look! He tried to stand firm with that last blast, but my attack scorched his arms and almost blew him clean off his feet!"

'_Holy crap, did Natsu really do it? Now that I think about it he might be right, Luke hasn't even taken a single step without Natsu forcing him to! Wait a second, that's bad news for Natsu! That means that Luke has been beating the crap out of him while he's barely even moving!'_

"I'm one step closer to taking him down!" but then Natsu stumbled slightly as he tried to compose himself.

"Great, now you're wobbling all over the place like the last time you fought him!"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Luke dusted himself off and cracked his neck "But all things considered you did a pretty impressive job this time around Natsu, this gave me a good feel about the level you're at right now. You may not have defeated me in battle, but seeing as I'm your examiner, I think you've done well enough to move onto the next round of the trials."

"Not a fucking chance in hell, there's no way I'm giving up now! I'm gonna beat you whatever it takes Luke, what the hell is the point of moving up to S-class if I can't even do that?!"

"...You know Gildarts told me you were going to say something like that, and now I can see that he was right on the money. That means you still don't get it." the ground beneath Luke began shaking as a faint golden glow surrounded his body "I doubt you're going to want to keep this up once I unleash my full power."

'_There's some kind of pressure building up in here.'_

"In order to walk the path of magic and eventually reach its peak, there's one thing that you still need to understand. Gildarts showed it to me during my S-class exam, and now I'm going to show it to you!" and then a massive surge of electricity and magic power engulfed his body, which slowly began to cover itself in dragon scales, the force of the power proving to be enough for Natsu to be left in disbelief.

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Meanwhile, with the waterfall…

Lucy and Cana were just drying themselves off by the waterfall, but they felt the sensation all the way from there "What the hell is that?"

"I recognize that feeling." Cana muttered "That's magic power, an incredible amount by the feel of it, and I recognize it too. I felt it back during the battle with Phantom Lord."

"You mean…?"

"Yeah, that's Luke when he's using his full power. I don't feel sorry for whatever sucker has to fight him."

"What do you think the odds are he's fighting Natsu?"

"...I'd say pretty good."

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Meanwhile, with the powerhouse and the embodiment of plot armor…

Natsu was left stunned and speechless by the sheer display of power before him, but after a moment he managed to steel himself somewhat "You… You don't scare me!" he pounced forward and tried to land an attack, only to immediately be left frozen in place by a fierce glare courtesy of Luke, and he was shaken so bad it got to the point where he had fallen to knees, sweat dripping down his face from the pure fear and adrenaline he was feeling.

Seeing Natsu in this state, Luke took the opportunity to deactivate his Dragon Force and power back down to his normal form, and he breathed a sigh "For the record, this is nothing compared to what Gildarts showed me during my exam. So what do you say?"

"I… I accept defeat…"

"To think that you of all people would give up." Luke gave a small smile "That's good, it means the lesson is actually kicking in. I have respect for anyone who has the courage to stand up and face their enemy, even when they're that much stronger than them. However, the ones who know the true meaning of courage are those exceptional few who know when it's better to just stand down and back off. Keep in mind Natsu, fear is as natural as breathing and there's nothing wrong with feeling it. After all, how else would we come to know our own weaknesses? Knowing something like that is absolutely crucial if you want to become a stronger and gentler person, and it's essential for those who want to earn the rank of S-class. Gildarts passed this piece of wisdom with me when I became an S-class wizard four years ago, and now I'm passing it onto you as well." he let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair "And now that I've shared this with you, the only thing I have left to say is… you pass."

"Wh-What?" Natsu's head snapped up at the news "But I… I didn't beat you… I didn't even come close…"

"Don't waste your time arguing with me, I'm the one who's conducting your exam and I say that you pass. You made it through the first round but this is just the beginning, you know as well as anybody else how Master can be, so I'm sure that this was nothing compared to what he has in store for you and the others. Have some faith in yourself, make sure you keep that bright head in the clouds and your strong feet on the ground. Now that we're through with your exam, let me tell you something as a friend, and as one Dragon Slayer to another. Possessing powerful magic isn't the be all end all. One thing I've never lost respect for is your hunger to win, your burning desire to overcome every obstacle on your path. I say that because I myself have it too. Like you, I hate the thought of losing. If you want to fight me again then just say the word, I'll take you on anytime. Now go and give it your all, see how far you can get."

Natsu said nothing, he just stayed where he was with tears streaming down his face.

Luke glanced upwards as a light began shining down on them '_So that's one down, but now I only hope that Cana and Lucy are okay. This problem has to be dealt with too, or else it might end up spiralling out of control. That, and I have a bad feeling in the pit of my gut. Something is coming, and it's gonna be bad.' _he had no idea how right he was.

**A/N:**

**And with this chapter, not only to we reach the beginning of the Tenrous Island arc, but we also see the one year-anniversary of the day I first published this story, and hot damn it's been one hell of a year. When I first started this story, I didn't expect it to get anywhere near as popular as this, but not only has it received the highest number of favorites and followers of any of my stories, but it's also my second story to crack 100 reviews. None of this would be possible without all of your support, and I thank each and every one of you for that.**

**One minor change from canon I decided to make was having Lisanna be the candidate for the S-class wizard instead of Juvia. I know it's not a huge change, but I figured that since she was actually around during the two years before the Edolas arc, it would make some sense.**

**I glossed over the Cana & Lucy vs Freed & Bickslow fight because, to be honest, I never really gave it too much thought, and that wasn't the part I wanted to focus on, especially when you consider what came in the second half of this chapter: Luke vs Natsu, Dragon Slayer vs Dragon Slayer. Granted this chapter turned out to be over 16k words, but I figured it was worth putting all of it into a single chapter.**

**I knew going into this arc that I was going to have Luke be the one to fight Natsu in the S-class exam. I know some of you may be disappointed that I'm changing it from having Gildarts fight Natsu, but having these two fellow Dragon Slayers go at it is something I've sort of been hyping up for a long time now, and I think it went fairly well. Besides, I mentioned at the beginning of the Edolas arc that Luke had to fight Gildarts when he was becoming an S-class exam.**

**Yes, I know that I'm cutting Bolt out of this arc so that he stays behind with the rest of the guild, and unlike Carla and Panther Lily he doesn't go to Tenrou Island later on, but I'm going to go somewhere with that. It will show up later on, so I need you to bare with me. Oh and if the ending of the last chapter is anything to go by, yes he's going to be keeping Shatterstorm for himself. Luke does already have his own sword, and I don't want him to be too OP. OP to a certain extent sure, but I know where the line has to be drawn.**

**Oh, and for the record, I share Mira's opinion on The Last Airbender and Dragonball Evolution to an extent. When I say that, I mean that while I fully agree that The Last Airbender is a horrible movie, I truly believe that Dragonball Evolution is the worst of the two. Feel free to tell me what you think about that in your reviews, I'm curious as to how other people feel about the subject.**


	35. Tenrou Island II

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it, and for getting this story up to 40,000 views! Here's hoping for 50,000.**

**Fafarick: **As interesting as that would be to see, I can't just cut out the 7-year time-skip. Sorry, but it's going to end like it did in canon.

**Altajir95: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. Yeah, I tried to change some things up so I don't just copy and past everything from canon, or else the story would end up being too boring and predictable.

**Bungster: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked this fic so much. It's good to be back.

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So to recap, by now Lucy and Cana have defeated Freed and Bickslow, and Natsu had been allowed to advance to the next round by Luke, and the first round of the S-class trial was about to come to an end. However, all was not well.

Panther Lily and Carla were using their Aera magic to fly towards Tenrou Island, with the latter worrying about how Wendy was faring in the trial. She had found Mest to be weird to a comical extent and opposed any partnership with him, but since Mest had claimed to be a disciple of Mystogan, Wendy had decided to help him out in order to repay the debt she felt she owed for everything Mystogan had done for her.

As such, Carla and Panther Lily had decided to travel to Tenrou Island in order to watch over them, since Carla was having a bad feeling about the S-class trial as a whole. Panther Lily on the other hand, he thought that there was something odd about what Mest had said, claiming that he was a disciple of Mystogan.

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Meanwhile, with Erza vs Juvia and Lisanna…

"Then what should I-?" Erza turned around, and her eyes widened in shock at what she was seeing before her '_What is this?'_

A white glow had engulfed Lisanna's body, and when it disappeared it revealed her standing where she was before, but her appearance was vastly different: She had claws, gills, talons and various other attributes from other animals "**Animal Soul: Chimera! **I have a few tricks up my sleeve. Tell me, what do you think?"

"I think this just became a great deal more interesting." Erza dropped into a combat stance and brandished her sword, the blade being coated in water properties "I have to ask though, what would this form be? It's clearly different from any of your Animal Soul forms you've displayed up until now."

"It's something that I've been working on for the past few months, since the battle with Phantom Lord actually I haven't been able to stop thinking about how helpless I was back then, how I was left at their mercy before Elfman saved me, so I started training with Natsu in secret to perfect my control over my animal forms and increase my magic power, and since the whole ordeal in Edolas I've been working even harder to perfect my newest Animal Soul: Chimera, a form that combines the power of all of my forms into one single form."

"I see. I understand how you feel about such a situation Lisanna, I really do. You wish to do your part for the guild just as much as the rest of us, even if you did save all of us from being lost forever in that massive lacrima in Edolas. I am grateful to you and the others, and like you I can't imagine my life without my comrades here in Fairy Tail. I am your friend and comrade, but right now I am also your examiner, and as such I will do everything in my power to see that you have the power to achieve your goal, and the first step is pushing you to your very limit right here and right now. **Requip!" **with a flash, Erza promptly requipped into her Black Wing Armor, complete with the sword in hand.

"That's your Black Wing Armor, which allows you to summon a sword and two battle axes and increases your attack power beyond what you would be able to use normally. I have to admit, I'm getting really fired up now. Either that or I'm spending too much time around Natsu, but either way you're about to find out just how fired up I can get!" and so she promptly charged forward towards Erza, meeting her in an explosive collision and attempting to rip her apart using her claws.

Erza dodged every slash from her claws and began firing off a barrage of slashes from her sword, which resulted in the two of them trading even blows until their blades collided with a blinding flash, until she broke away "**Moon Flash!" **she blitzed back towards Lisanna at full speed with a barrage of energy-enhanced slashes from her sword.

Lisanna blocked and dodged almost every slash from Erza's sword, albeit while receiving a few cuts and wounds here and there in the process "**Magic Claws!" **she fired off a barrage of slashes from her claws at full speed.

Erza dodged and blocked every slash from those claws being aimed at her "Don't tell me that you can't manage anymore than this."

"Why don't you see for yourself Queen of the Fairies?" Lisanna blitzed behind Erza.

"Fine then, I will. **Requip!" **Erza whipped around and promptly requipped into her Heaven's Wheel Armor, and she promptly dealt Lisanna a sharp slash across the chest faster than she was able to react "Now dance for me my swords! **Circle Swords!" **she summones a wheel of swords in mid air and hurled all of them at Lisanna simultaneojusly.

"**Chimera Cannon!" **Lisanna stretched out her hands and fired forward a massive golden colored blast of magic energy at Erza, easily disintegrating all of her Heaven's Wheel swords as a result.

"**Heaven's Wheel: Pentagram Sword!" **Erza blitzed out of the path of the attack before it was able to hit her, then she blitzed towards Lisanna while she was still recovering from the attack and dealt her a swift barrage of slashes that took on the shape of a star.

Despite taking the full force of the attack, Lisanna grabbed Erza's swords on the final stroke, her hands bleeding profusely as she did so, and slashed her clear across the front of her armor with her claws before she could get away, sending her hurtling backwards a great distance.

"**Requip!" **ignoring the fact that her armor was damaged, Erza requipped back into her Black Wing Armor, and then she charged at Lisanna at full speed.

Lisanna quickly shook off the barrage of slashes she took before, but not in time to avoid the incoming barrage of slashes from Erza's Moon Flash technique, which sent her tumbling backwards a great distance. Fortunately, she was able to shake that off relatively quickly and promptly pulled herself back to her feet as she spat out some blood "Alright, I doubt either of us can keep going like this for too much longer, so it's time for the two of us to end this. Come at me with your strongest armor, and in exchange I'm going to give you one of my most powerful attacks."

"I see you've taken more from Natsu than I would've realized. You don't like the idea of backing down from a challenge, now do you?"

"I suppose some things just come naturally. But enough about that, I need you to come at me with everything you've got."

"So be it, if you want my everything then you're going to have it. **REQUIP!" **with a mighty roar and a massive burst of magic power, Erza requipped herself in a flash of light. When the light subsided, Erza stood there clad in a certain set of pink armor with matching swords "So this is it then, this is me at my absolute full power. This is Armadura Fairy, the armor that bears the name of our guild to symbolize my pride in being a member of Fairy Tail. You have me at my absolute strongest Lisanna, and now the time has come for me to see yours. It's only common courtesy to return what's being given to you."

"If that's what you want then you're going to get it." Lisanna's claws started glowing with golden energy "I think we need to finish this already. Our strongest attacks, right here and right now."

"Agreed." Erza sent away one of her swords and gripped the other one with both hands, the blade starting to glow with green energy "For the pride of our guild! **Fairy Burst!" **she charged forward with her sword pointed at her opponent.

"**Chimera CANNON!" **Lisanna powered up another Chimera Cannon that collided with the Fairy Burst attack, resulting in a massive light and explosion that could be seen for miles around as a result.

When everything had settled down, Erza's Armadura Fairy armor was slightly burnt across the front, but that was about all the damage she took "So then I suppose we should call it?"

"Yeah… I guess so." the smoke cleared further to reveal that Lisanna was back in her normal form, and then she promptly lost consciousness and fell to the ground.

Erza promptly knelt down beside her and gave a small smile "Keep pushing yourself for further heights Lisanna, and I guarantee you'll do just fine. I may not be able to pass you today, but if you keep going like this, then I have no doubts you'll have a much greater chance during the trial next year."

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During the events of the first round of the trial, Meat and Wendy ended up meeting and then battling against Loke and Gray. The two teams seemed evenly matched at first with the combined strength of Loke and Grey, Mest's advanced speed and Wendy's Dragon Slayer Magic. However, through a display of teamwork, Mest is taken down by Loke and Gray, and they then went on to eliminate Wendy from the battle by terrifying her with pickled plums, which worked pretty effectively.

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As a result of travelling down another path, Elfman and Evergreen found themselves being forced into battle against Mirajane, and even with Elfman using his Beast Form, Mira was able to use her Satan Soul to take down both of them with ease, despite being out of practice for about two years, but before she was able to give the finishing blow, Evergreen suddenly stopped her and claimed that there was something she needed to know.

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After Gray and Loke had advanced to the next round of the trials, Mest regained consciousness, only to discover that they had lost pretty badly.

After informing him of this, Wendy started crying because she thought it was her fault, but she was quickly cheered up by Mest.

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Meanwhile, with Gray and Loke…

"Oh hell yeah!" by this point, Gray and Loke were making their way through the cave in triumph after their recent victory over Wendy and Mest "Yeah you've got that right assholes, we made it through the first round!"

"Well let's just hope that the tougher guys like Natsu and Freed got knocked out during this round too." Loke pointed out "After all, with them gone, it's gonna be a walk in the park. But then again Cana is a major contender too, and she's got Lucy helping her out."

"Hey cut the bullshit man, you should know as well as I do that there's no such thing as an easy way to become an S-class wizard."

"Yeah of course I know that, but you have to admit that the two of us made beating Mest like that look pretty easy to begin with."

"Yeah no kidding, I don't remember him being as weak as that. I mean granted he was kind of at a disadvantage because of Wendy, but I think he used to be stronger than that."

"For all we know it's because you've gotten that much stronger. Weird, this is a first. I can't even remember if I've ever fought him before, and I'm the sort of guy that never forgets a fight."

"You sure this isn't some sort of case of selective memory, like he kicked your ass into the ground and now you don't want to remember?"

"Well think about it, Mest managed to get pretty far in the S-class trials last year didn't he?"

"Yeah sure he did, as far as I know that is."

"I thought so. Hey by the way, do you remember who his partner was in the last trial?"

"It's weird, but I keep drawing a blank."

"Yeah so do I, and my memory is better than that."

"Neither is mine."

"I can only remember a few things about Mest, and they're all pretty hazy."

"It's like I try to think back, but then I hit some sort of block. I can't seem to remember anything before it." the two of them made their way out through the exit of the cavern.

"Hey guys, about time you showed up." this was when Cana and Lucy attracted their attention from where they were grouped with the other passing teams, now clad in new outfits for the second round "I knew you guys wouldn't have any problems with making it past the first round of the trials. I've gotta give you credit where it's due, nice work."

"Yeah see, I told you." Levy shot a smile at Gajeel "The two of us were really lucky to get the serenity route."

"What the fuck do you mean lucky?!" Gajeel promptly rounded on Levy "I didn't get to beat the crap out of a single person!"

"My heart bleeds for you." Cana rolled her eyes at his complaining.

"So what then, we were the only ones who were able to clear the first round?" asked Gray "What about Natsu?"

"Oh he's just brooding over there." Cana jerked a thumb at where Natsu was brooding away from the rest of the group.

"He seems kind of down, what happened to him?"

"Accoridng to the cat, it's a long story, but my best guess would be Luke said or did something to him during his trial, and that probably has something to do with him using his Dragon Force a little while ago."

"Alright then." this was when Makarov showed up on the scene "I believe that all of our winners from the first round are here now."

"That's how it's looking master, now let's get this underway."

"Well in that case, let's go over the results thus far: Cana and Lucy were able to triumph over the likes of Freed and Bickslow in two on two combat. Nicely done ladies."

"It wasn't easy, but we do what we can."

"Natsu and Happy were able to surmount the obstacle of Luke standing in their path. Good job then."

'_Which means that Luke probably scared the crap out of him and let him pass.'_

"Levy and Gajeel chose the serenity route, and such they're quite lucky."

'_And Gajeel probably thinks it's bullshit.'_

"Gray and Loke were able to defeat Mest and Wendy in combat, well done boys."

"What about Lisanna and Juvia, they didn't make it past the first round?"

"Unfortunately, though they fought valiantly and forced Erza to fight with all her might, luck was simply not on their side today."

"So Lisanna lost huh?" Natsu muttered from where he was brooding "I guess that new trump card of hers wasn't enough to go up against Erza. Sucks to be her then." he received a few odd looks from the others.

"Yes, I suppose it would then."

"Elfman and Evergreen aren't here either." Cana pointed out "Which means that if they're going by process of elimination, then that means they either ran into Gildarts or…"

"Actually Gildarts chose to abstain, something about wanting to give the others a fighting chance to become S-class."

'_...This has you written all over it Luke. Thank you. _But without Gildarts in play, then the only other choice would be… Oh. Oh crap. I feel sort of sorry for them."

"I bet I could take her." Gajeel muttered "But those two didn't have a chance in hell."

"Even if Elfman has been training with Luke, I doubt that would've been enough for him to take on the likes of Mira, even if she is out of practice by about two years."

"Don't count us out just yet!" this was when Elfman showed up on the scene, having to be supported by Evergreen "You didn't think I had what it takes to take on my big sister now did you? Guess who's moving onto the next round."

"It only makes sense. After all, I doubt you would want Luke to see that your training with him was a waste of time. How did you pull it off though?"

"Um… a real man doesn't brag about his victory. Let's just say that we took full advantage of catching her off guard."

"I'm gonna choose not to read into that."

"Ahem." Makarov promptly got back everyone's attention "Now back to the trials themselves if I may. As it stands, there are five teams left in the trial: Natsu & Happy, Gray & Loke, Levy & Gajeel, Cana & Lucy, and Elfman & Evergreen. Let me just take a moment and congratulate all of you on passing the first round. Now that everyone has arrived, let's move onto the second round then."

With that in mind, Happy glanced over at where Natsu was brooding "Hey come on Natsu, I hate to see you so down in the dumps."

"I'm not, I'm fine." Natsu muttered "I'm just thinking about some stuff."

"You… You mean you're actually thinking?! But you never do anything like that, be careful or you might hurt yourself!"

"How little do you actually think of me?" but then he grinned "I'm gonna give it my all, just wait and see, and I'll do it for her too." so he promptly bolted onto his feet and started pointing at the others "Gray, Cana, Levy and Elfman, all of you guys listen up! Only one of us is gonna get to be an S-class wizard today, and I guarantee that's gonna be me!"

"Oh yeah right, dream on." Cana shot him a smirk "There's no way it's going to happen, none of us plan on losing to you, especially not me."

"You'd better live up to that, because I'm sure as hell fired up now."

"Why does that not surprise me in the slightest?"

"Don't worry Cana, I'm gonna do whatever it takes to make sure that you become an S-class wizard." Lucy told her.

"You'd better be ready to back up that talk if we have to fight anyone, they're not going easy on us so we're going to return that favor."

"Oh yeah sure." Gajeel shot them a smirk "Big talk for a bunch of wimps."

"Says the guy who wasn't even selected to be part of the trial, but for the others I think that totally stands."

"What the hell did you call us-" Elfman was cut off by a sickening popping noise.

"Ouch."

"Come on Elfman, pull yourself together-" Evergreen was met with a similar cracking noise.

"I think we know who's not going to make S-class this year."

"Listen up!" Makarov now stood on top of a rock "Now if we're done with all of that, I'm about to give instructions for the second part. The next stage of the S-class trial starts now. In order to pass the next round, you must search the island and discover the location of the grave of the First Master and founder of Fairy Tail, Mavis Vermillion."

"I forgot she was buried here." Cana muttered "Which means that we need to find out where that is."

"Correct."

"Oh come on Gramps." Natsu let out a scoff "That's almost too easy, wouldn't it kill you to make it a little bit more challenging for us?"

"How about this then: You have six hours to find the grave, or else you fail the trial, no excuses or exceptions. Is that challenging enough for you?" he received no reply "Very well then, I'll be waiting for you at the grave should you find it." and on that note, he took his leave.

"Alright are you ready?! I say we go!" and so Natsu charged off into the forest, with Happy right behind him.

"So it's a race then." Cana noted, then frowned in thought '_But still, I can't help but wonder if there's more than master is letting on.'_

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After letting Wendy cry her eyes out a little bit more, Mest told her a little bit about Tenrou Island and how there was said to be a big secret somewhere on the island, and he invited her to explore it with him.

This was an offer that Wendy agreed to with delight, though she had no idea that Mest had an ulterior motive.

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At the same time, Panther Lily and Carla finally made their way to the shores of Tenrou Island, with the former expressing his doubts about Mest, how it was unlikely for Mystogan to take on an apprentice, and began to question whether or not Mest truly was a member of the guild.

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Meanwhile, with Cana and Lucy…

"Will you give it a rest?!" Cana and Lucy had quickly run into trouble during their search for the grave of Mavis, and were running through the forest while being chased by a massive, angry and hungry monster "Stop screaming about how you don't want to be eaten and pick up the freaking pace already!"

"You deal with these things your way, I'll deal with them mine, but I know damn well that I'm too cute to die!" Lucy promptly forced herself ahead of Cana.

"Whatever you need to tell yourself, but the whole thing about busty blond chicks has been done to hell and back already! Either way it doesn't even matter, this is nothing but a bump in the road on my way to being S-class!"

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Of course, the other teams had run into trouble as well in the form of various monsters, some of which actually had the ability to speak, which Natsu and Happy had quickly discovered, though the former didn't seem shocked about this in the slightest.

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Meanwhile, back at the camp…

Now that the first round was completed, the S-class wizards of Fairy Tail had retreated to their camp for a little bit of downtime.

"Wait wait wait, hold on a second." Luke's expression seemed particularly thrown off by what he and the others were being told by Mira "Elfman and Evergreen just straight up blurted out that they were getting married, in the middle of a fight, and you actually fell for that?"

"I never said I was proud of that." Mira cracked her neck and rubbed the massive bruises that adorned her face "But in my defense, I was gone for two years and the thought of my own baby brother getting married, to one of Laxus' lapdogs no less, just threw me off a lot worse than I expected."

"And they used the fact that you were so thrown off by such a fake confession that you let down your guard, and then they tore into you hard enough so that they would let you pass. Looks like all of his training really paid off, even if he couldn't beat you in raw power, at least he's learned that a real man needs brains just as much as brawn."

"Well either way, knowing what Elfman is like, as he is right now, I doubt something like that could actually be true. I've never imagined the two of them of all people getting married and having babies." she shuddered at the thought.

"You just pictured it didn't you? I don't blame you personally, horrible as this might sound I have a similar idea of that in regards to Natsu and Lisanna. It's not much better."

"There's no need to be like that." Erza told him "It's actually kind of cute, depending on how you look at it at least."

"Well yeah, I mean from what I've been told, they have been spending a lot of time together since the Harvest Festival last year."

"Yeah I know, they'd make an awesome couple." Lisanna commented.

"If either of them can swallow their pride and admit how they feel, and chances are this is going to be a lot harder for Evergreen."

Juvia on the other hand, she was red in the face and focused on a certain particular point made from before "They're gonna have… babies…"

"Why am I not surprised that that's your main takeaway from this?"

"Hey speaking of which, what happened to Freed and Bickslow?" asked Lisanna.

"From what I know, Gildarts took the two of them back to the mainland after the first round of the trial ended."

"Sounds like they got pretty impatient, I mean they could've at least stayed and watched the rest of the trial."

"Well it's their choice, if they don't want to be here then it's not like we can force them."

"You are right about that, but Mest and Wendy have me more concerned. They should've been here by now." Erza pointed out.

"Don't think too much into it, my guess is they either forgot that we were all supposed to meet up here, or they just wanted to explore the island or something."

"So what about this guy Mest?" asked Mira "I don't really know too much about him, seeing how I never ran into his counterpart in Edolas, and I barely even knew the guy's name from before then."

"I don't know much about the guy either, he's been a member since X780, but he's been a real recluse since then, though he definitely has his quirks.. I'm pretty sure whatever he's said during the trial is the most I've ever heard him talk."

"It's strange, but I can't really remember much about him." Erza muttered "I do feel as if he's always been a member, but…"

"Really? It seems pretty simple to me. But in all seriousness, you're probably right about him and Wendy. We should probably go and track him down."

"Yes I agree."

"Allow me." Juvia promptly bolted to her feet "I volunteer myself to go and search for them, I'm starting to get a little bit worried."

"Very well then. Luke, you and the others stay here and guard the tent, while I go with Juvia to search."

"...Yes of course. _Dammit, I wanted to ditch them and go cheer on my beloved Gray!' _and yet she left with Erza quietly despite this.

"Alright, let's secure the area and-" Luke suddenly took a whiff, and then his head snapped in a certain direction '_What the hell is that? It smells similar to Natsu in some ways, but entirely different in other ways, and… it reeks of death.'_

"What's the matter?" asked Mira.

"Nothing, it's just… You two wait here and keep an eye on the camp, I've got something I want to go and check on." and on that note, he promptly grabbed Raiden and strapped it to his side, and he disappeared into the thick forest.

'_Luke… I've got a bad feeling about this.'_

"What do you think that was about?" asked Lisanna.

"I'm not sure, but I doubt it's going to be good."

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Meanwhile, with Elfman and Evergreen…

"DAMMIT THIS IS SO UNMANLY!" by this point, Elfman and Evergreen being chased by a massive creature "A real man should know never to run from his enemy!"

"Will you shut up about that?!" Evergreen promptly rounded on him "If you don't stop it with all of this nonsense about being a real man, then I swear I'm going to finish you myself!"

"Don't talk like that about manliness or anything like- GET DOWN!" Elfman quickly grabbed hold of her and rolled out of the way of a lunge by the monster chasing them, which led them to roll down a cliffside before coming to a halt "Ow… Okay, that hurt more than I thought it was going to."

"Yes, well… Just what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Evergreen, like any good tsundere anime character, promptly shoved Elfman off of her while blushing like crazy "Don't you dare start thinking I'm interested in you just because of what I said to Mira, I was only trying to throw her off her game and find an opening, not expressing any sort of desires to hook up with you you idiot!"

"Uh… Where the hell did that come from? I've gotta hand it to you though, that was pretty smooth of you. It's hard to believe a nice girl like you came up with such a naughty idea."

"Why did you have to make that sound so dirty?" fortunately for both of them, their sexual tension was cut short by the sound of rustling leaves nearby "What the hell?"

"There are others…" a figure stumbled his way out from within the bushes, clad in black and white robes, with black hair and black eyes "I don't understand… Why would you have come to such a desolate place…"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I was under the impression this island was uninhabited."

"Well you were wrong about that pal, you're actually trespassing. Only members of our guild are allowed to set foot here."

"So I'm trespassing then? Forgive me, I was not aware that this island was under the control of a guild."

"Well it is, our guild." Elfman started to step forward.

"No stop, stay back!" the mysterious youth held out a hand, his sudden outburst causing both of them to jump back "If you value your life, then you won't come any closer."

"Oh yeah? Well that sounds like a challenge to me."

"No it's not, I swear I have no intention of fighting you. I give you my word, I'll leave this island in peace, just please don't come near me."

'_What the hell is with this guy? Whatever it is, he shouldn't be here.'_

"I'm doing this so that you don't-" the youth suddenly clutched his head in agony "Oh no… Here it comes… I can't stop it… Get away from me! GET AWAY!" he let out a scream of agony, and with it a wave of black energy that killed all of the plants and grass surrounding him, but as the wave closed in on Elfman and Evergreen…

"GET DOWN!" this was when Natsu suddenly blitzed onto the scene and threw the two of them to the ground just as the wave closed in on them.

"**Dragon Sword Style: Thunder Dome!" **Luke suddenly blitzed in front of them and drew his sword into the ground, creating a dome of electricity that covered the four of them and shielded them from the black energy wave, and he didn't let it down until several seconds after the wave passed "Looks like I'm not the only one who noticed something was up."

"Yeah, but who the hell is this guy?"

"I have no idea, I just smelled what I thought was death and I came over here to see what it was about, and from the looks of it I got here just in time."

"You…" the youth quickly locked his gaze on Luke and Natsu, the latter in particular, with a multitude of emotions appearing to envelop him as tears started streaming down his face "I would recognize you anywhere… Natsu…"

'_He knows who Natsu is?' _Luke stepped forward and dropped into a stance with his sword "Tell me something, who are you?"

"And you… those eyes, and that sword… You're Luke, aren't you?"

"How do you know who we are, and again I ask, who are you?"

"Hey Natsu!" this was when Happy flew onto the scene "Did you need to use the bushes to do your business, or are we not going to the top?"

"Forget it Happy, there's definitely something that stinks here, but I'm not the one you should be blaming for it." Natsu told him.

"What do you mean by- Holy crap, how did all of the trees die?"

"Not just the trees, anything living in the range of that wave." Luke pointed out "And we have our mysterious friend up here to thank for that. He's the one who did all of this, and one thing we know about for sure is that he's no ordinary wizard. Look I don't know if you were aware of this or not, but this island happens to be sacred ground of the Fairy Tail guild."

"You've grown so much… both of you…" the youth raised his head to face them as he continued letting his tears flow "I'm missed you… Natsu… and Luke… if only he could see how strong you've become…"

'_How does he know who we are?'_

"**Fire Dragon IRON FIST!" **Natsu launched himself forward and launched a fire-enhanced fist into the youth's face, sending him hurtling towards the ground "Now tell me who the fuck you are or next time I'm not pulling my punch!"

'_And leave it to him to pull a cheap shot like that, typical.'_

"Start talking dammit!"

'_I see… so nothing has changed after all, has it? Not at all…'_ the youth caught himself and rebounded on the ground '_You still can't break me… neither of you can…'_

"You'd better start talking and tell me who the fuck you are buddy, I'm not gonna ask you so nicely again!"

'_When is this mindless destruction finally going to end? I don't want anyone to die because of me anymore, but the one person in this world with a chance of stopping me still isn't strong enough to do so. How long do I have to wait?'_

'_He's crying… he looks as if he's in pain…' _Luke's stanced relaxed slightly as he re-sheathed his sword "I can tell by the look in your eyes that you don't seem like a bad person, maybe we can help you somehow."

"If only you could… but you're not strong enough… neither of you are… not yet…" but then the youth froze as black energy started flaring around his body "No… not again… run… Get out of here while you still can! Run now!" he suddenly let out a scream, and with it another wave of black energy.

'_Another wave of black energy like he used before, it drains the life force of anything it comes into contact with so it must be some sort of death magic! _Everyone get back, get the hell out of here now!" he tried to summon another Thunder Dome, but he couldn't set it up in time, and as such he and Natsu were engulfed in the wave "Forget about us, get the hell out of here while you still can!"

"Dammit!" Elfman grabbed onto Happy as he and Evergreen took off running, with the black energy sucking the life out of everything it touched.

When the black energy subsided, Luke was kneeling on the ground, with his sword thrusted into the ground in front of him, the blade surging with electricity "That was way too close. Are you alright Natsu?"

Sure enough, Natsu pulled himself off the ground and shook it off "Well that sucked, but I'm not dead. What about him though, it looked like he lost control."

"Well it looked to me like he didn't have control over his power in the first place." Luke glanced ahead of them, only to see that the youth had disappeared "And he's gone."

"You sound disappointed by that."

"If I didn't then you sure as hell would've, especially considering what that guy went and did to your scarf down there."

"Wait what?" Natsu looked down to see that his scarf had been turned black by the energy wave, and like one would think, he was pissed "Oh he's gonna pay for this, the next time I see that bastard he's gonna get a fiery fist to the face!"

"You already gave him one and he pretty much shook it off, and he did that. _Natsu got that scarf from Igneel, maybe it changed colors because it absorbed the magic from the blast. But then again, I got my sword from Kaminari, but the same thing didn't happen. Maybe it's because it has draconic properties in the blade._

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All while that was happening, the youth sat alone slumped against a tree, wondering when the world would stop rejecting him, something that didn't go unnoticed by various people around the island, most notably Mest and Makarov.

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Meanwhile, with a certain dark guild…

"_In the skies above, another dark and mysterious threat is making its way to Tenrou Island, this being the dark guild known as Grimoire Heart, one of the Big Three of the sinister and overwhelmingly powerful Balam Alliance. Among its ranks happens to be an ambitious and beautiful wizard, as well as a certain Dragon Slayer, both of whom happen to be former confidants of Jellal. One of these just so happens to be the manipulative and ambitious Ultear Milkovich, and the other is the Mountain Dragon Slayer, Noah Yamamoto."_

Ultear gazed into the crystal ball gliding along her arm, and then she looked up at a certain someone on the throne in front of her with a malicious smirk "Well well, it would seem that we've finally found our quarry, and he appears to be in a state of rest. I believe that the time is at last upon us Master Hades."

"So it would seem." the old man before her gave a smirk as he leaned forward, revealing his long white hair, thick moustache and beard, and the battle armor, helmets, guantlets and cape that he wore "At long last, the time has come for me to meet the man that has shown to the world the true potential of the Black Arts. His horde of demons created chaos and death tolls that were unrivaled, and catastrophe is his daily bread. In all of the history of the world of magic, he is the true champion of wickedness: the Black Wizard himself, Zeref." he then proceeded to address the others in the room with him, Noah being among them "The fated day is at last upon us, the abyss of sorcery is within our grasp! The time has come for us to get to work, we shall make sure that Tenrou Island runs red with the blood of Fairy Tail!"

'_Yeah well, whatever you need to tell yourself old man.' _Noah just leaned against a nearby wall and proceeded to tune out Hades' dramatic speech '_All things considered though, this isn't going to be an easy fight for any of us. You'd better be ready Thunderclap, you and the rest of your guild are going to be in for the fight of your lives.'_

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Meanwhile, with the two main Dragon Slayers…

"Dammit, where the hell did he go?" Natsu clenched his newly blackened scarf and growled at the thought of the youth responsible for it "He has no idea how badly he's going to get pounded when I get my hands on him. I mean how the fuck does he expect me to go out in public wearing a black scarf with a black vest?!"

"I never thought I'd see the day where you gave a crap about how you looked, especially in regards to what other people think about how you look." Luke commented dryly "For now we have other things to worry about, like the trial for starters. Since we have a trespasser on the island, one who's using death magic for that matter, we're gonna have to put the trial on hold for the time being."

"There's no way in hell I'm ditching the trial, if I have to conquer both at the same time then I totally will! If I quit then I'd be breaking my promise to you!"

"Nowhere in my scaring the ever loving crap out of you did I say that you should charge through like a crazed bull and completely ignore any violations against the guild? My entire speech before was about teaching you to know when it's time to back off. There's a guy out there using death magic and he doesn't have any control over it, so even if he doesn't want to kill anybody or seem hostile, we've got a serious problem on our hands."

"Fuck that man, I've got a trial to conquer! Come on Happy, we're moving out!" and so on that note, Natsu promptly bolted through the forest, with Happy blindly following his lead.

"Oh for fuck's sake." Luke promptly glanced over at Elfman "I don't suppose I can at least get through to you?"

"Don't worry, a real man knows not to be that thick-headed." Elfman told him "As much as I'd love to follow in Mira's footsteps, a real man knows to have his priorities in order, and that's protecting everyone in the guild."

"Good enough for me. I'm gonna head back to camp and tell the others what's going on, but right now Erza and Juvia are out looking for Mest and Wendy. For now, just go and make sure that Natsu doesn't do anything to get all of us killed."

"I'll do what I can."

"That's all I ask."

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Meanwhile, with Grimoire Heart…

Hades continued to address his various troops, as well as his nine elites, only eight of whom were in the room with him "This is quite the momentous day indeed for us. If all goes according to plan, then we shall see the return of the Black Wizard himself, Lord Zeref. The ambitions of the Grimoire Heart will no longer be a simple fantasy, as now that we have gathered all of the necessary keys, we will awaken that which sleeps within Zeref."

"In case you hadn't noticed yet, you're overlooking some serious stuff." Noah pointed out "Keep in mind that we're going to the literal sacred ground of Fairy Tail, and there's no way in hell they're going to just stand by and do nothing. Don't forget that they had the biggest hand in bringing down the Oracion Seis a few weeks ago, and the strongest of them are gathered on the island as we speak, among them being a certain Dragon Slayer that defeated a Wizard Saint in one on one combat."

"Enough with all of the bullshit talk!" one of his comrades spat out, this one having long blonde hair and looking insane as they come "That pathetic bunch of assclowns don't deserve to call themselves a guild! I've got more power in one goddamn finger!" his body started radiating black flames "When I get my hands on them, they're gonna get turned into the kind of shit that I step on!"

"At least they know how to bathe, that's more than you can say Zancrow. In all seriousness though, underestimating your opponent never ends well for anyone."

"You speak the truth in that regard." another one told him, this one being in a short suit and tie and having the appearance of a ram "But even so Noah, I have faith that we are going to win this battle."

"That's just a more subtle way of showing off your arrogance Caprico."

"Indeed my comrades, I couldn't agree more." this one came from Rustyrose, the one with the goggles and slick gray hair spiked out in front, which was echoed by Kain, the one that looked like a big chubby Pokemon "At long last, the time has come for all of us to unleash our ultimate desires! Our war drums shall beat against their cages and cry for violence, and we shall dance the waltz of death to their rhythm." he was met with a rushed reply from Kain as a result.

"Somebody want to translate for the Pokemon?"

"Allow me." this came from Meldy, a young girl with short pink hair, as she was quick to translate for him "Kain Hikaru's statement is deciphered as follows: I feel the same way. Is that correct?" she received a nod "Rustyrose's previous statement is deciphered: desire means wants, and war drums refer to hearts."

"Thanks for providing some sanity Meldy, so you gonna be coming with the rest of us?"

"In battle? Yes."

"Works for me, just stay close."

"Excellent, so we are prepared." Hades finally pulled himself off his throne and addressed the rest of his loyal followers, and Noah "There is no one who will be able to withstand our unrivaled power, not even the likes of the Fairy Tail guild. Even their most powerful wizards will soon come to understand the power of true darkness, the eminence that lurks from within the darkest abyss. For we are Grimoire Heart, and we have all embarked on the path forged for us by the devils, and we shall force this world into the darkness. Tonight, these devils are going to bathe Tenrou Island in the blood of fairies!" he gave a dark smirk as black and purple energy started radiating from his body "I'm looking forward to the agony on Makarov's face! Our long awaited showdown against the Fairy Tail guild starts now!"

"Damn right it does. _Get ready Thunderclap, they're coming for Fairy Tail, and I'm personally coming for you.'_

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Meanwhile, with Lucy and Cana…

"Let's see here…" completely unaware of the approaching threat, Lucy and Cana were still struggling with the search for Mavis' grave "If I were the founding master of the guild, then where were I want to be buried?"

"Anything coming to you?" asked Cana "Anything at all?"

"I've got nothing, I mean how are we supposed to findf this thing without being given any sort of clues. I feel like my brain is going on strike here."

"I'm not convinced we haven't been given any sort of clues. Keep in mind that the old man might be a sadist with his tests, I'm pretty sure that's where Erza gets it herself, but in the four times I've been through this trial, there's never been a task that was impossible, you get what I'm saying? I get the feeling he might have subtly given us all of the clues we needed to track this thing down. Then again, I could probably be giving him way too much credit, so what do you think about it?"

"It doesn't make sense, the first round tested strength and this one must test intellect, so maybe it's some sort of riddle. What if Master told us how to find it when he was explaining the rules of the second round?"

"I don't think I follow you."

"Take the word "grave" for example. We assume it refers to a physical hole in the ground or a headstone, but it can also be used as imagery to suggest the end of someone's life."

"Yeah that's true." Cana promptly stomped on a lizard that was approaching her and threw it into a nearby bush, unaware that the lizard was now chomping on Gray's head "You think you can speed up the brainstorming a little bit? This place is starting to make me paranoid."

"Remember how he said that he would be waiting for us at the grave? What if he wants us to die and wants us to find his body?"

"That doesn't make any sense. You're over analying it, just say it like one of your Lucy-isms that you use. You know, something like how when you die, you become a shooting star."

"You've gotta be kidding me, do I really come off as the type of person who would say something so ditzy and corny?"

"Yes."

"Figures, I just hope the entire guild doesn't see me in that way." and then it hit her "Yes I've got it, it's so simple! Ditzy or not, this blonde bombshell just figured out where the grave of the First Master is hidden!"

"Are you serious?"

"You're damn right I am, now follow me!"

"Oh hell yeah, now you go girl!"

"Let's hurry up though, if I figured it out then I guarantee that Levy is already on her way there as we speak." and so they took off.

What they never noticed was that Loke and Gray were watching them from the bushes, and they had heard everything "I told you she would get it."

"No kidding, it's a good thing we ran into them." Gray noted "Now all we have to do is follow them and clear the round, I hate to do this to you Lucy, but this entire trial is about using what you've got, and I wouldn't be showing off my S-class potential if I didn't use you at least a little bit."

"Sounds like a relationship to me."

"Enough of that philosophy crap, they're getting away."

"Right behind you."

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The trials continued onwards, with various teams continuing the search for Mavis' grave, but at the same time, Erza and Juvia were travelling the island searching for Mest and Wendy, but none of them knew of the looming danger that was closing in on them.

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Meanwhile, with the Strauss sisters…

"Alright then, I think it's ready for a taste test." Lisanna was working on some stew back at the camp sight, and promptly handed Mira a small bowl "There you go."

"Don't mind if I do." Mira downed it in a few simple gulps "Not bad, not bad at all."

"You really think so?"

"I call it like I see it, I guess you've been up to a lot over the past two years."

"Yeah that's true, I've learned a few things not just about magic or fighting, but then again, having someone like Natsu around to taste test does help. I just tried to follow the example you set with that stuff." she gave a small smile "Part of me still thinks of it like it's some sort of dream, finally having you back after all this time. It's like it's some sort of miracle. Sometimes part of me is afraid I'm going to blink, and then you'll be gone again."

"Trust me, I have no intention of going anywhere again. Oh and for the record, it's a little bit on the salty side and you should work on cutting your vegetables smaller."

"You're really going to criticize me right now? I thought we were having a moment."

"We were, then it ended."

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In another area of the island, Gajeel finally got fed up with him and Levy hiding from a certain monster chasing them, and he promptly started beating the ever loving crap out of it, though that ended with Levy getting frustrated and complaining that all Gajeel ever thought about was fighting everyone else, and not of her at all.

Gajeel then thoughtlessly told her that she had to get big and strong if she wanted his attention, which only upset her even more, which led to her hitting him in the face with her bag and running away. When Levy finally stopped running, two figures suddenly attacked her and almost killed her, only for her to be saved by Gajeel at the last second.

The two mages introduced themselves as Yomazu and Kawazu, two mages that were sent ahead from Grimoire Heart and quickly declared that they were on the hunt for Fairies. Yomazu was quick to demonstrate his abilities by slashing his sword, which created a character in mid air that brought about a deafening noise.

Grimoire Heart was finally making their move against Fairy Tail.

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Meanwhile, with Juvia and Erza…

By this point, Juvia and Erza were walking through a darker part of the woods, with several shadowy figures of wolves watching them from afar "I was wondering about something Erza, do you have any idea as to what sort of magic Mest uses?"

"Oh yes I forgot, you're still somewhat new to the guild." Erza noted "But now that I think about it, I'm honestly not sure myself."

"I find that to be rather peculiar."

"Yes, well…"

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At the same time, Gajeel and Levy's battle against Yomazo and Kawazu, in which they were first confronted the intense noise created by Yomazu's magic, Orient Solid Script, which was very similar to Levy's Solid Script. Levy was quickly able to cancel out the noise through use of her own Solid Script magic and promptly started facing off against Kawazu, while Gajeel was left to face off against Yomazu.

Levy was able to use her Solid Script to burn away the eggs that Kawazu was unleashing in her direction. However, she ended up in trouble when she became overwhelmed by the amount of eggs that she was being attacked with. Gajeel found himself experiencing difficulties with the slashes Yomazu was performing with his sword, even managing to cut through his Iron Dragon Scales, due to him being weakened by the continuous attacks, and eventually, this caused him to fall.

Despite being made to fall, Gajeel quickly instructed Levy to retreat from the battle and warn the other members of the guild, something that Levy hesitated in doing, though she did, but not without leaving Gajeel with a parted gift in the form of some iron that she summoned with her Solid Script magic. Of course, as she retreated, she tripped over a branch, which, combined with her injuries and exhaustion, caused her to pass out.

Gajeel was quick to replenish his strength and heal his wounds by consuming the iron that was left behind. Yomazu and Kawazu performed numerous combination, but now that his strength has been restored, along with sheer power and determination to back it up, he was able to counter them and block Yomazu's sword with his iron.

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Meanwhile, with Levy…

"Levy! Come on Levy wake up, you still with us?"

Levy slowly opened her eyes and found Luke, Erza and Juvia kneeling over her, and she couldn't help but smile at the sight "You came… that's good…"

"Yeah, and lucky thing we did too." Luke noted "How did you get hurt so bad, and for that matter where's Gajeel?"

"We're in trouble… they came here for us… all of them are coming… he's fighting some of them right now… he needs help… You have to help him… please…"

"...Alright, I'm on it." gripping his sword tightly, Luke gently handed Levy over to Erza "You and Juvia take care of her, I'm gonna go and track down Gajeel." and so he promptly took off into the forest, following his nose '_Hang on Gajeel, I'm coming, so don't you even think about dying before we get there.'_

'_Luke… hurry… please…'_

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The battle was reaching its climax.

"**Iron Dragon Scales!" **with Yomazu's blade driving deeper into his Iron Dragon Club, the club in question finally shattered, revealing Gajeel's arm to be covered in dragon scales "There's no way in hell I'm going to let myself lose, and sure as hell I won't let myself lose to pieces of scum like you! You wanna know why?! It's because I'm a wizard of Fairy Tail!" he broke off the blade of the sword and dealt Yomazu a sharp kick that sent him stumbling backwards.

"No dammit, not my katana!" Yomazu was horrified at the sight of his blade being broken, and even moreso as he saw Gajeel eat the blade "My soul is in that blade!"

"Yeah well, your soul is a little bit on the dry side." Gajeel finished consuming the blade, and green energy started flaring around his body "I've had enough of you assclowns!" he slammed his hands together and summoned a massive metal blade from his arms "**Dragon Slayer Secret Art…"**

"Shit!" Yomazu promptly took off running, which didn't do any good.

"**Karma Demon: IRON GOD SWORD!" **Gajeel brought down his massive iron sword, which proved to be more than enough to finish the likes of both Yomazu and Kawazu, leaving both of them in unconscious bloody heaps "Fairy Tail wizards… and Dragon Slayers… you don't wanna piss them off…" and then he promptly fell to one knee.

"Looks like I arrived too late to actually do anything." this was when Luke blitzed onto the scene with his sword drawn, but he quickly put it back in its sheath "And too late to stop you from looking like this, you okay?"

"Yeah… whatever…" Gajeel spat out some blood "I told the shrimp… I could handle those idiots by myself…"

"I never doubted you for a second. Anyway Levy was pretty messed up, so Erza and Juvia are taking her back to camp to recover, and then they're going to head back out and keep searching for Mest and Wendy." their conversation was cut short by the sound of chuckling.

As it turns out, that came from Yomazu, despite him being sprawled out on the ground "It doesn't matter, you fools don't stand a chance… Our main fighting force is right on our heels, even as we speak. Wizards with levels of magic power far exceeding my own, they are known as the Seven Kin of Purgatory."

"The Seven Kin of Purgatory are coming? _Shit, that's not good. I've heard a little bit about them during my training with God Serena, each one of them uses a certain type of Lost Magic, and their mastery over it makes them a force to be reckoned with.'_

"And what's more, we have a Dragon Slayer among our ranks second only to our master, and his power is unrivaled!"

'_A Dragon Slayer in a dark guild? Oh you've gotta be kidding me, if he's talking about who I think he's talking about… _If the trial wasn't already going to have to be on hold, it sure as hell is now." he promptly pulled a flare gun out of his pocket and shot it into the air for all of the island to see "For the time being, all Fairy Tail mages present and able prepare for battle! This is a condition red, we're going to intercept them right away! Grimoire Heart or not, if anyone thinks they can pick a fight with Fairy Tail and walk away unscathed, they're in for one hell of a reality check."

"You sound fired up." Gajeel noted.

"We had shit going down on the island way before these guys showed up."

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The condition red flare didn't go unnoticed by a single person across the island.

Natsu only frowned at the sight "So Luke went and used a red flare, I'll bet it has something to do with that guy that was crying earlier."

"No, I don't think that's it." Happy told him "A red flare means that an enemy is coming, but that guy was already here, so there must be somebody else on the way."

"Well whoever it is, they've got some hardcore kahones if they came looking for a fight with Fairy Tail, so I say we give them what they came here for. It'll be a good lesson as to why you don't want to screw with us!"

"Aye sir!"

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Meanwhile, with Lucy and Cana…

"What the hell?" Lucy and Cana were taken aback "Why would they shoot up a red flare during the trial?"

"That can only mean one thing." Cana told her grimly "That means enemy forces are on their way to the island."

"Oh god…"

"Dammit, of all the times for this to happen, why did it have to be now? I swore that this was going to be my last trial. I'm serious about it too, if I don't make it this year then I'm leaving the guild for good. I can't afford to give up, I swear I'm going to see this through to the very end no matter what it takes."

"Cana…"

"For crying out loud, would you take it down a notch?" this was when Loke and Gray decided to emerge from their hiding place "Everyone feels the exact same way that you do."

"Where the hell did you guys come from, and for that matter what exactly are the two of you doing here?"

"Forget about that right now." Gray slapped a hand over Loke's mouth "That's just a total coincidence, but even then it's not exactly important right now. If we're really under attack then that's what we have to focus on. For now let's get back to the camp and rendezvous with the others, we need to find out what's going on first."

"Great, as if the trail wasn't hard enough."

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Meanwhile, with Luke and Gajeel…

Now that the flare was out, Luke stowed away his flare gun "I can't think of a single good reason why anyone on the island wouldn't be able to see that."

"So what do we do from here?" asked Gajeel.

"Well like I said, Erza and Juvia are bringing Levy back to camp to treat her injuries, and then the two of them are going to head back out to search for Mest and Wendy. We have to keep in mind the possibility of them being unable to find our base camp. In the meantime though, you should head back to the camp yourself and get treated for your own injuries."

"Don't give me any of that bullshit, I don't need or want your pity."

"And I don't need or want your macho act, do you want Levy to worry about you like that?" he received no reply "I thought not." so on that note, he promptly turned to Yomazu "Alright start talking big guy, why have you and Big Bird over there come to our guild's sacred ground?"

"Oh please." Yomazu let out a scoff "Like it would do me any good to reveal that."

"It will do you even less good to stay silent, you can be sure of that."

"As if, from what I've heard about you, you're not the kind of guy to use force to get what you want."

"You're right, I'm not. Erza and Mira on the other hand, they're a different story. I have no problems with getting them involved in this. You wanna tango with the She Devil and the Queen of the Fairies?"

"...Alright fine, fuck it. We came here to seek _him, _the legendary Black Wizard, Lord Zeref. We know for a fact that he is here on this very island."

"I'm starting to have doubts about how sane you really are, everyone knows that Zeref lived about 400 years ago. The fact is that Zeref is long since dead, I know for a fact that a certain former member of the council build the Tower of Heaven solely for the purpose of trying to revive him."

"Jellal was a fool for many reasons, but the fact is that Zeref never died. He's actually been living for over 400 years, and according to Master Hades, he's simply sleeping and told us that he is in a comatose state that has lasted for centuries."

"I find all of your prattling ridiculously hard to believe."

"Believe what you will, but we at Grimoire Heart know the truth. Once he has been awakened from his slumber, the entire world will be cloaked in darkness."

"You're with a bunch of damn fools, you realize that the island we're on happens to be the sacred ground of the Fairy Tail guild? There's no way we'd let someone like Zeref or you stain it with your presence."

"Believe what you will, but Master Hades and the Seven Kin of Purgatory will be arriving on these shores very soon, and it would be wise of you not to take them lightly. Ultear the Time Wizard, Rustyrose, my own superior Caprico, Kain Hikaru, Zancrow of the Black Flanes, Meldy, and then there's one more member I haven't even mentioned yet, who just so happens to be on this island.

"One of yours is already here, and you guys have a Dragon Slayer? _So then, is he among them? He may have helped us out in the past, but if he's laid a single finger on any of them, then I won't hold back. Who am I kidding, he wouldn't want me to hold back against him.'_

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Meanwhile, with Wendy and Mest…

Wendy and Mest looked up to see the red flare in the skies above them "Hey what is that, do you know what the red signal up there is supposed to mean?"

"Well… I think it means…" and then he started comically biting down on a rock "Now I wanna know dammit, I really wanna know what it means!"

"If you forgot then it's okay, but I don't think it's going to help."

'_Dammit this isn't good, I'll have to act now before the main force arrives.'_

"WENDY!"

"What the-?" Wendy looked up to see Carla and Panther Lily drop down onto the scene "What are you two doing here?"

"Nevermind that now, just get away from him!" Carla promptly rounded on Mest "Alright enough is enough, why don't you drop your act and tell us who you really are already?"

"What do you…" Mest promptly started sweating bullets "What the heck do you mean by that? I was a disciple of Mystogan, don't you remember-"

"Don't you dare lie about my prince like that!" Panther Lily promptly bulked up to his battle form and slammed his fist into the side of the rock behind Mest "I find it very hard to believe that my prince would take on a pupil in this world, now you were smart enough to use someone who doesn't live here anymore in order to back up your story. But now the question is, are you going to be smart enough to tell us the truth? Who are you really, and what is it that you're trying so hard to hide from us?"

"Lily stop it!" Wendy protested "What's gotten into the two of you?"

"Just stay back Wendy, don't come any closer. Now as for you Mest, start talking. Tell me who you really are."

"What do you mean?" Mest was still faking innocence.

"It's my believe that the magic you wield allows you to manipulate the memories of others, and if I'm correct, then you've been using that magic to mascarade as a member of Fairy Tail since before the trials started. There are too many things that don't add up, among them being your claim to be a disciple of Mystogan. From what I've seen, nobody in the guild has any real connection with you, and just now you had no idea what was signified by the guild's emergency flare, and there's no chance of you talking your way out of that."

"...Dammit." and then he suddenly blitzed out of view.

'_He disappeared, he must be able to use teleportation magic!'_

"There's no time, get the hell down!" Mest suddenly blitzed in front of Wendy, grabbed hold of her and threw her and the others to the ground just as an explosion went off, though he was able to pull her out of the smoke.

'_An attack?!' _Panther Lily sprouted his wings and took Carla into his arms, but then he quickly returned to the ground "What the hell is going on here?" he was met with another explosion that nearly blew all of them away, but it failed '_So he protected her, but why?'_

"Alright who are you, get out here and show yourself!"

This was when the tree on the edge of the nearby cliff suddenly sprouted a face, and it started speaking to them "Most impressive, it would seem that he was accurate to say that your sense are sharper than I had anticipated."

'_So this figure is merged with that tree, and he's the one who attacked us. _Come out into the open and face us! Who are you?"

"I come from the guild of Grimoire Heart, my name is Azuma, and I am the leader of the Seven Kin of Purgatory."

'_Grimoire Heart, a dark guild from this world I take it?'_

"So that's what the flare was." Mest noted "Someone else on the island must have run into more of these freaks."

"You're a little bit late to worry about your comrades."

"Yeah, I kind of noticed that."

"Enough with the games." Panther Lily let out a snarl "Now what the hell is going on here? Start talking!"

"I had thought that if I was going to find any dirt on the Fairy Tail guild, then the most logical place to start looking would be here, on the sacred burial ground. But to find Zeref here, not to mention Grimoire Heart as well, talk about hitting the jackpot. This must be my lucky day."

"I said enough with the games, tell me who the hell you are!"

"Oh come on, isn't it obvious by now? I work for the Magic Council, I infiltrated your ranks to gather intel that would be enough to get your guild disbanded once and for all."

"So he's a spy then." Azuma was listening in on the entire conversation "This is proving to be very interesting."

"But now I've been able to catch a much bigger fish, to think the ever elusive Grimoire Heart would just fall into my lap out of nowhere like this. As far as I'm concerned, if I take them out then my career is as good as made. I even have the Custody Enforcemen Units of the council on standby as we speak, and once the dark guild makes landfall it's going to be game over for all of them. This is a crackdown, and this is the day in which the Devil's Heart stops beating once and for all."

"Those battleships, they look so fragile from here." Azuma further emerged from the tree with which he had been merged, and all he had to do was blink before an explosion went off in the waters surrounding the island, blowing the council ships to hell in the process.

'_The ships, all of the people, in an instant… How did he…?'_

"Well that was a simple matter." Azuma fully emerged from the tree "If you're finished with your conversation, I'd like to get to work on destroying everyone here right now."

"Everyone stand back!" Panther Lily quickly got in between Azuma and the others, his glare hardening furiously "There's only one way for you to get to them, and that means you'll have to go through me!"

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Meanwhile, with Makarov…

"A red flare… the signal of an enemy raid…" Makarov slowly pulled himself to his feet and looked down at the grave standing in front of him "I never thought such a thing would happen here of all places, and on my watch no less. First Master… Mavis… did you ever find yourself in this situation? Because I can only wonder, how would you have handled this? I can only imagine you're so angry with me, you're spinning inside your grave right now. I've allowed the forces of the enemy to tread upon the sacred ground of our guild, and as such I assume full responsibility for whatever happens today, and I can assure you of this, I will pay the price." he clenched his fist tightly "I only ask one thing of you this day: Please, just keep all of them safe."

**A/N:**

**And with this chapter, we start to get into the real meet of the arc, in which we learn of the deception of Mest: He's actually a spy for the Magic Council. And worse than that, a certain dark guild has made its presence known on Tenrou Island, which means that events are about to take a turn for the worst. All the while, a certain mysterious youth is wandering around, killing everything in his path, whether he wants to or not.**

**So yes, like I said in the last chapter, unlike Panther Lily and Carla, Bolt will not be travelling to Tenrou Island. I know some people might think I'm shafting him, but I promise I'm going to go somewhere with this, so just be patient with me for the time being. Keep in mind that him not being on the island means that he won't be there for a certain even that takes place, if you take my meaning.**

**One aspect that changes from canon, if only slightly, was Lisanna and Juvia's battle against Erza. While they didn't win this time, Lisanna put up a MUCH better fight than she did in canon, thanks to a new power that I gave her: a new transformation called the Animal Soul: Chimera, combing the power of multiple forms into one single form with much greater power. I was originally going to introduce this during the Battle of Fairy Tail and have her take on Freed, but in the end I decided that it would be better-suited for here.**

**Like with Cana and Lucy vs Freed and Bickslow, I mostly glossed over the Gajeel and Levy vs Yomazu and Kawazu since there really wasn't any sort of change from canon that was really worth noting or writing about. It would've just been cut and paste from canon, at least except for the ending. Like I said, this is my favorite arc in all of Fairy Tail, but the one thing I didn't approve of was how little Gajeel was used in the battle against Grimoire Heart, something that I plan on changing.**


	36. Tenrou Island III

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**Altajir95: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it.

**Ragnas Bredvolts: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it so much. Yes, the little scene between Natsu and Lisanna was something I really enjoyed doing. And yes, Lisanna did get a new form known as Chimera, but you're going to see more of it in the next chaper, when she fights against Erza. As for Bolt, he is indeed going to be keeping Shatterstorm for himself, and he is going to make a name for himself, especially since he's going to be around durin the 7-year time skip. He's not going to have the same buff form as Panther Lily, but I still have something in mind for him that you'll see when the time comes. I do agree with your opinion in regards to the relationship with Gajeel and Levy, though I agree to disagree about Jerza. As for the buildup for Luke and Cana, their relationship building still has some ways to go, but it will happen soon enough, so don't worry. On another note, it has been quite the year for this story, and for all of us too. I also want to thank you for sticking with this story for as long as you have. You're the only one who's stuck around since the first chapter, and I want to thank you for all the support you've given me over the past year. Anyway that's all I have to say for now, and you have a wonderful day as well my friend.

**Guest: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it, and the fight between Lisanna and Erza was something I really enjoyed doing.

**Bungster: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you're keeping up with the story.

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The series of explosions caused by Azuma could be hears for miles around.

Natsu (with his vest turned inside out to match his newly blackened scarf) was one of the many who heard it "Hey Happy, is it just me or did it sound like some trouble went down over in that direction?"

"Yeah, do you think the enemy is already here?" asked Happy.

"I think there's only one way to find out. Let's get moving."

"Aye." and so they took off.

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Meanwhile, with Luke…

'_So it's starting.' _Luke was blitzing across the forest of Tenrou Island as fast as he could, his mind racing as he did so '_Sounds like those explosions came from off the coast of the island, and there must have been a lot of them. I'd better go and help out any survivors. Sorry guys, but you'll have to hold out without me for the time being.' _and so he bolted down towards the coastline at full speed.

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The battle against Azuma was about to begin, but even before then, the explosions going off on the council ships had already set the mood.

Wendy and Carla were horrified at the sight of his actions "How could you do that? There were innocent people on that ship!"

Mest on the other hand, he was more horrified by the power than anything else "How could one man have that kind of power?"

"You're going to pay for that!" Panther Lily blitzed forward and pounced at Azuma at full speed and let a fist fly.

"**Bleve." **Azuma held out a hand and hit Panther Lily with a blast of magic energy at point blank range.

Fortunately, Panther Lily was able to power through the Bleve and dealt Azuma a swift uppercut punch to the jaw, only to suddenly be engulfed in the explosion that followed, with Wendy and the others being blown back in the process. When the smoke cleared, Lily was the only one that was still on his feet '_Dammit, his power is incredible. If only I had a sword with me.'_

"You don't have to worry, you're not in this alone!" Wendy pulled herself back to her feet and started casting a spell "Oh great winds that sweep through the heavens! **Vernier!" **she summoned a magic circle undernerath Lily, his body glowing blue as a result.

'_What's going on? My body suddenly feels that much lighter.'_

"I call upon thee, the strength of arm to clean the heavens! **Arms!"**

'_Amazing, so this is the power support magic of old! My body is so much lighter and my attack power has been enhanced. In this state…' _he blitzed towards Azuma and started dodging his explosions with ease.

'_Good, he's focused on Lily for now. _Listen up Mest, I think I know how to take this guy down, but I'm going to need your help to do it."

"No, weren't you listening to what I said before?" Mest protested "I'm not your ally, I'm with the Magic Council."

"Do you think who you work for matters to me? All I care about right now is protecting Fairy Tail, so I need you to help me do that."

"I only came to this island so that I could destroy Fairy Tail and further my career!"

"And you're going to fail, there's no one in existence who can take down Fairy Tail!" that seemed to strike a chord in him.

Azuma watched as Panther Lily took to the skies, though he wasn't impressed "It doesn't matter where you try to run, my explosions always hit their mark." he held out a hand, fully prepared to blast Panther Lily clear out of the skies.

'_Now!'_

'_**Direct Line!' **_Mest and Wendy quickly and silently blitzed behind Azuma using his teleportation magic '_Eliminating this guy will have to take priority for the time being.'_

'_I'm only going to have one shot at this, I'll have to hit him with a Sky Dragon Roar!'_

"An interesting strategy, but it's not enough. **Tower Burst!" **Azuma held out his hands and ignited an enormous tower of explosive flames, instantly engulfing everyone around him in the process.

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Meanwhile, with Natsu and Happy…

It didn't take long for Natsu and Happy to notice the Tower Burst being set off by Azuma "What the hell was that?"

"A tower of fire." Happy was quick to state the obvious "There's no one in Fairy Tail that uses magic like that, not even you."

"Which means that we just found out where one of the enemy is. Let's move!" and so they quickly picked up the pace.

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The battle had ended quickly as a result of Azuma's Tower Burst.

Mest and the others were sprawled out on the ground, and he was the only one of them that was still conscious '_I never imagined that the Seven Kin of Purgatory would be in possession of so much power.'_

"One can only wonder." Azuma looked down at them from his place perched atop the cliffside above them "Are cats and children the only defense this guild has? If that is the case, then how has it survived up until now?"

'_And to think, there are six more of these guys. We're all doomed, Fairy Tail doesn't stand a chance against them.'_

"I know that you have more capable warriors than this, one of my comrades has spent time among your guild before, and he's met the most powerful of you. Tell me, where can I find the most powerful of you?"

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Meanwhile, with Cana's party…

By this point, two of the teams from the trial had grouped together in an effort to reach the rendezvous point faster. Unfortunately, Lucy was more vocal with her complaints "Oh for crying out loud, where the heck is this rendezvous point?"

"It's back at the base camp." Gray told her "Didn't anyone tell you about that? We'll get there a lot faster if we pass through these ruins, just keep running until then."

"How the hell did searching for a grave turn into something crazy like this?"

"I don't get it though." Cana muttered "Can any of you think of any reason as to why they would attack now of all times?"

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Meanwhile, with Gajeel…

'_I can smell it, there's a lot of them coming.' _Gajeel continued making his way through the forest, only to stop and cringe at the pain in his shoulder '_Even after Levy gave me some of her iron, I had to use one of my Dragon Slayer Secret Arts, so I'm only at about 70%. We're at a pretty big disadvantage here, if they attack while we're split up they'll probably try and pick us off one by one.'_

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Meanwhile, aboard the Grimoire Heart airship…

Zancrow glanced over to see Ultear clad in new black and white battle armor "Nice outfit, stuff like that really gets me fired up and ready to cut loose."

"Word of advice Zancrow, if you're gonna masturbate to her then do us all a favor and do it on your own time." Noah told him dryly.

"Blow it out your ass Noah, you can't tell me you're not excited over this."

"I'd be a lot more excited if I didn't have to put up with fucking psychopaths like you, and freaks like Kain and Rustyrose back there."

"Regardless of your opinion, they are formidable in their own right." Meldy pointed out in her usual flat tone.

"Being able to take a punch doesn't make up for being a pain in my ass Meldy, I spent a week with a few wizards from Fairy Tail, so I know that first hand."

"Perhaps, but-" she let out a gasp, only to be met with a hand over her mouth.

"You were gonna do it again, and while you try not to piss her off, we both know that doing so happens to be one of my specialties." he removed the hand and glanced over at Ultear, his smirk widening "Hey Daughter of the Year, check it out."

Ultear promptly levelled her cold gaze in Noah's direction "I told you never to call me by that name."

"And I told you that I don't care. Anyway, as I was saying, it's in view now, we can see the island from here, and- Holy crap." they all quickly too notice of the form of Makarov growing to a massive size before them, glowing with golden energy.

"What is that? It's massive."

"If I had to guess, then I'd say that's the master of Fairy Tail, Makarov himself, and he looks as pissed as I was when I discovered Teen Titans Go was a thing."

"**BEGONE!" **the booming voice echoed "**Turn back and leave this place, or you will suffer the wrath of Fairy Tail!" **and when no action was taken, he promptly started dealing a series of massive punches to the ship, damaging it heavily in the process.

'_That's about what I did back then too, but at least he's got a good reason to start losing his shit like that. _Hey old man, feel free to activate evasive maneuvers anytime now!" and so the ship started swirving around Makarov's attacks.

It was only after this that Hades finally made another call "Prepare the focused magic cannon, Jupiter!" this activated the cannon in question, which promptly started charging, and then subsequently fired, a massive blast of magic energy straight into Makarov, but it only ended up burning his arm, which was immediately followed by him kicking the ship and ripping off a chunk of it.

"Okay yeah, now this is happening apparently."

"Now Ultear!"

"Sir! **Arc of Time: Restore!" **using her Arc of Time magic, Ultear was able to fix all of the damage to the ship in a matter of seconds.

"Now for your part Caprico, get all of our forces onto the island."

"What about you sir?" asked Caprico.

"I'm going to remain behind and deal with Makarov myself."

"As you wish." Caprico clapped his hands together, and the soldiers and other members of the Seven Kin of Purgatory all promptly disappeared in flashes of light, and Caprico himself then sprouted a jetpack and soard off towards the island.

"Noah."

"Forget it, I prefer to get around the old fashioned way: through Teleportation Magic." and on that note, Noah promptly disappeared in a flash, his mind racing as he did so '_We're coming, so you'd better be ready Thunderclap, shit is about to get real.'_

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Meanwhile, on the island itself…

"Dammit, what the hell happened here?" Natsu and Happy had quickly found Wendy and the others lying unconscious and wounded after the thrashing Azuma gave them "Wendy come on, say something dammit! Come on Wendy, get the hell up already!"

"Looks like they took the worst of that blast." this was when Luke blitzed onto the scene, soaking wet and looking furious "But they're not the only ones, whoever was responsible for this also went and blew half a dozen nearby ships to hell. There was only one ship that survived, they're retreating to tend to any damage or injuries."

"Dammit! Someone is going to pay for this, you can be sure of that."

"For once we actually agree, and I know exactly who. Grimoire Heart is launching an attack on the island, and Gajeel and Levy already had an encounter with a few of them earlier. For now we need to get answers."

"Way ahead of you." so Natsu promptly grabbed ahold of Mest and started shaking him in a violent yet comical fashion "What the fuck happened here?! Answer me dammit!"

Mest slowly opened his eyes and scowled at the sight of him being in Natsu's grip '_Dammit, it looks like my memory manipulation spell has worn off.'_

"I said answer me dammit!"

"Natsu… don't…" Wendy pulled herself up until she was on her knees "Mest is a member of the Magic Council." now _that _got a reaction out of him.

"Oh you've gotta be fucking kidding me, those guys again?! Wait a second… so the Magic Council is our enemy now!"

"For the record, they've always been our enemy." Luke pointed out dryly "But like I told you already, Grimoire Heart is the one attacking us."

"You mean one of the Big Three?"

"From the Balam Alliance like the Oracion Seis, yeah. The only difference is they've got seven elites in their guild, along with dozens of others, maybe hundreds."

"So we have to fight off their entire guild on our own? What the hell are we going to do about this?!"

"We do the only thing we can, we stand and fight. There may be times when you have to stand down, but this isn't one of those times, not yet! And you guys had best get ready, we've got company!" he pointed upwards to where Caprico was dropping various orange spheres around the island, which then disappeared to reveal the numerous soldiers of Grimoire Heart as they hit the ground, clearly ready for a fight "Like I said, they've got dozens of soldiers going for them, maybe even hundreds. For now we have to assume that every orb that guy drops down is an enemy soldier."

"But there are so many of them!" Wendy looked about as horrified as everyone else "What are we going to do?"

"We're gonna do the only thing we can do, we fight."

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All over the island, Caprico dropped down the orange spheres that not only contained their numerous soldiers, but the other members of the Seven Kin of Purgatory as well, and all of them were out for blood.

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Meanwhile, with the two masters…

Receiving no response that indicated Grimoire Heart was about to leave, Makarov prepared to cast the ultimate spell of Fairy Tail, Fairy Law, only for Hades to counter this threat by preparing his own spell, Grimoire Law, warning Makarov that he didn't intend to cast it recklessly, but unless Makarov stopped his own spell, then both of them would meet unfortunate ends.

It was at this moment that Makarov finally realized, to his shock, exactly who Hades was. He was none other than Precht Gaeblog, the successor of Mavis Vermillion, and the one who originally gave Makarov his title as Master of Fairy Tail. While Makarov was stunned by this sudden revelation, Hades quickly struck him down with his Chain Magic. Despite this, Makarov asked him to leave the island since he didn't want to fight him, but Hades refused, and the battle promptly began.

Makarov fought well in the battle, using his Light magic to counter Hades and his powerful Darkness magic, but eventually Makarov was caught by Hades' Amaterasu 100 formula, engulfing him in the explosion that followed.

The battle with Grimoire Heart has truly begun.

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The blast from the Amaterasu 100 could be heard all throughout the island.

Luke and the others were among those who heard it "That sounded bad, and the magic power I sensed from that is unlike anything I've ever felt before."

"I don't like this." Natsu muttered "I just hope it was one of ours who cast that thing."

"If it was then it had to be the master, he's the only person on the island that I know is capable of unleashing a spell like that."

"I don't know about you, but I'm getting sick of these assholes playing in our backyard for shits and giggles. There's so many of them too, what the hell do they want here? Every last one of these assclowns is about to feel the burn!"

"Actions speak louder than words Natsu, take this for example. **Dragon Sword Style: Thunderous Purge!" **Luke spread two fingers across the blade of his sword, and in an instant, at least ten nameless soldiers surrounding them were evaporated in a blast of lightning "See what I mean?"

Wendy watched them fight off the soldiers from her place on the ground, her mind racing '_I know that Mest mentioned something about the legendary Black Wizard before. Could it be that the reason Grimoire Heart is here is to find and capture Zeref?'_

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Other members of the guild were fighting against the nameless grunts of Grimoire Heart without any mercy.

"Dammit, all of you are getting in my way! **Wind Blade!" **Cana threw a card at the nameless grunts, which resulted in them being hacked to pieces by a barrage of wind blades.

Loke and the others were taken aback by what they were seeing from her "Holy crap she's really pissed at them, she killed them without a second thought."

"Yeah well they had it coming, they shouldn't be trespassing on sacred ground, so this is what they get! **Ice Make: Sword!" **Gray quickly cut through a number of nameless thugs.

"Cana get down! **Celestial Blade Dance!" **Lucy summoned an energy sword from her Fleuve d'étoiles and cut down a number of thugs, saving Cana from an attack from behind "Come on already Cana, I need you to stay focused."

"Yeah sorry about that, thanks for the save." Cana let out a sigh "There's no end to them, are they crawling out of the ground too?"

"They might be a lot of them, but none of them are really that tough, though that doesn't really help us if the attacks never stop coming."

"Yeah you've got a point, we can't keep this up forever. Even if we keep this up they're eventually going to wear us out with sheer numbers, and once we're out of magic power they'll have no problem with picking us off."

"If I summon Taurus or Sagittarius then we might even these odds."

"That's too much of a gamble, if they have more reinforcements then you'll just be wasting your magic power."

"Now I'm pissed off as all hell, and if they think they can take us with a bunch of nameless thugs wearing masks then they're dead wrong!"

"So what then, we keep fighting?"

"We don't have any other choice, we're sure as hell not running away."

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All across the island, members of Fairy Tail were fighting off the nameless masked lackeys of Grimoire Heart, but because of their sheer numbers, their stamina and magic power began to dwindle as the battle raged on.

All the while, Zeref was resting alone under a tree, wondering why the wars just wouldn't come to an end.

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Despite taking the full force of the Amaterasu 100 spell and being severely weakened by it as a result, Makarov pulled himself back to his feet. He went on to tell Hades that he was a fine Master who taught peace, and asked what happened to him.

Hades drove Makarov further into the ground and explained the origin of Magic. He looked for its roots and ended up coming upon Zeref, learning the essence of magic. Hades then turned away, but Makarov stood once more, struggling to get back up. However, Hades had anticipated this and pierced Makarov square through the chest using his chain magic.

The battle between guild masters was over, and Hades had won.

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"_It's not over… not yet… My successor… I hope you're ready to bear this burden…"_

"What the hell?" hearing these words through his mind, a cloaked figure with blonde hair and a lightning bolt scar on one side of his face stopped walking through the desert and looked up at the skies above him '_It's strange, but I feel like someone just walked right over my grave. Laxus Dreyar, your life has turned fucking insane over the past year and a half. Whatever's going on, I doubt it's gonna be good.'_

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Meanwhile, back on Tenrou Island…

"How do you like this one mother fuckers?! **Fire Dragon Brilliant Flame!" **Natsu launched a two-handed blast of fire that incinerated a considerable number of soldiers that were trying to attack him.

"**Dragon Sword Style: Iron Hammer!" **Luke thrusted his sword into the ground and unleashed a wave of electricity that electrocuted a large number of the surrounding soldiers.

"I'm not out of this yet!" Lily flashed into his battle form and blew away a few soldiers, but he transformed back almost immediately afterwards.

"Don't overdo it in your current state Lily, just try and conserve your stamina."

"Dammit, if I had more magic power then I could help you and Natsu fight them off."

"Hate to break it to you, but you're gonna have to sit this one out. Wendy's Sky magic can heal you, but she can't restore your magic power. Let me and Natsu handle this for the time being, okay?"

"We're in the middle of a crisis, and I'm stuck on the sidelines? That's utterly disgraceful."

"But it's a reality you're going to have to deal with."

"Did you see where Mest went off to?" asked Wendy.

"We can deal with him later, for the time being you should focus on healing your own wounds, and then healing the others."

"That's not how it works, I can't heal my own injuries."

"I was afraid you'd say that, in that case you should hurry and hide somewhere. It's like I told you, Natsu and I can handle these thugs."

"As much as I hate to admit it, you're right." Lily let out a sigh "The fact is that as we are right now, we're not much more than a liability, and we'd only be a burden on the battlefield."

"Take the time to heal and recover your magic power, leave this to us. I've spent two years training to protect my guild, and now you're about to see that training in action. And for those of you getting annoyed by Happy posing in the background like a Power Ranger, you can smack his shit when we get home."

"**Fire Dragon WING ATTACK!" **it was at this moment that Natsu ripped through a number of soldiers with a two handed fire attack "Oh come on guys, don't tell me that you're finished already! It's bad enough that you invaded the sacred ground of our guild, but my own precious scarf turning black has me burning up inside with all kinds of rage! Let me kick your teeth in a little bit more!"

"Take my advice and listen to him guys, if you don't want to end up like the rest of them then leave this island now."

"Or don't, I can go either way."

"Oh I can do more than that, I'll turn the entire damn thing to ash! **Fire Bullet!" **one ballsy yet stupid nameless thug blitzed behind Natsu and unleashed a blast of fire in his direction.

"Oh fuck yeah, come to papa." and so Natsu was engulfed in the blast of flames.

Luke just suppressed a smirk at the sound of the thugs cheering '_Should I tell them? No, it will probably be more fun to see the looks on their faces. Wait a second, they're wearing masks. _Okay just come out Natsu!"

Sure enough, the smoke cleared to reveal Natsu consuming the flames "Way to ruin the fun for me Luke, I wanted to see the looks on their faces!"

"They're wearing masks you idiot. Anyway here's the deal guys, Dragon Slayers eat their respective element. He can eat any kind of fire, whereas I can eat any type of lightning. I've been told that you have a Dragon Slayer in your guild, so you should've been aware of that."

"Either way I should probably thank them for the snack, now I've got a fire in my belly."

"He's the Fire Dragon Slayer of Fairy Tail, Natsu the Salamander."

"**Fire Dragon Wing Attack!" **Natsu blitzed through at least ten mooks with a two-handed fire attack.

Needless to say, this was when the mooks finally decided to get smart "He's too much for us, we have to get the hell out of here! No matter what we throw at this monster, there's no way we can even touch him!" that put them on the receiving end of a glare from Natsu.

"And who the fuck do you think you're calling a monster?"

"Uh…"

"Enough of this bullshit already!" this was when Zancrow suddenly revealed himself perched atop a nearby plateau "I can't watch anymore of this bullshit."

"Oh thank the devil, it's Zancrow!"

"Just leave these ones to me, I was hoping to get some exercise on this trip. I'll pound these little bastards into the dirt while the rest of you go and look for Zeref, judging by what I've seen so far it shouldn't take more than a few minutes."

Wendy was horrified by what she was hearing '_So I was right, they really did come to the island to find the Black Wizard, and Fairy Tail probably just got caught in the middle of it. Why do these things always have to be so complicated.'_

"Just go back to the ship and record Rising of the Shield Hero for me, and find info on when the next season is coming out or I'll burn you to a crisp!"

"Thanks a ton Zancrow, we owe you one." and so the soldiers started walking away, but they just couldn't stop talking "I didn't think they had anyone that strong, those two definitely live up to their reps."

"Hold it one fucking second!" Zancrow immediately rounded on him "These Fairy Tail wimps, you think they're strong, they actually scare you?"

"Well the thing is… we're so sorry sir, it was just a slip of the tongue!"

"There isn't a guild in this entire fucking world that can come even close to matching the strength of Grimoire Heart! Do you understand me?!" his body started radiating black flames with his rage "If you're actually so fucking stupid as to believe that these rejects are stronger than us, then you don't belong here!"

"I don't like the looks of this, this guy is packing some serious power. Everyone get close and stay behind me." Luke motioned for them to get behind him.

"And as of now, you're all out of the guild! Considered yourselves fired, literally!" and so he promptly incinerated all of them in a blast of black flames, laughing maniacally as he did so.

'_He just wasted his own men like they were nothing. I shouldn't be surprised, things like loyalty and camaraderie don't mean anything to people like him.'_

"Now do you see it assholes?! This is the strength of Grimoire Heart!"

"You son of a bitch!" Natsu promptly rounded on him "How in the fuck could you go and do that to your own comrades?"

"They weren't my comrades, and it's not like it's any of your business anyway. After all, if I were as weak as you then I would be careful who I talk shit in front of! **Fire God EXPLOSIVE FLAME!" **he let out a roar, and with it came a large blast of black flames.

"What a joke, don't you know your fire isn't going to hurt me?!"

"Natsu get down you idiot!" Luke blitzed forward and pulled Natsu out of the way right before he could be hit by the black flames.

"What the hell are you doing?! I was gonna eat his flames!"

"And end up either burning or poisoning yourself in the process, those are the only kind of flames you can't eat. I recognize those flames."

"That's what you get for being so cocky you little shit, and now you're about to get a taste of the main course!" Zancrow unleashed another blast of black flames.

"**Dragon Sword Style: Thunderclap Strike!" **Luke held out his sword and unleashed a blast of lightning from the blade.

Zancrow was forced to evade the blast of lightning, but his arrogance didn't waver "That's what a little shit like you gets when you try to eat above your stature you lowly Dragon Hunter!"

"The term is Dragon Slayer you dolt."

"Whatever, so how did your buddy there like my divine flames?"

"It's like I thought, those black flames are a dead giveaway. You're a God Slayer aren't you?"

"So even a weak and worthless guild like yours has people who know a few things, like how my magic is way out of your league. You're up against the Flame God Slayer, so you'd better go ahead and make peace with yourself."

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All over the island, the Fairy Tail wizards continued fighting off the nameless thugs, but it was only after most of them were defeated that the Seven Kin of Purgaory decided to reveal themselves to them. Caprico appeared before Cana's group, Meldy appeared before Erza and Juvia, Azuma appeared before Mira and Lisanna, and Rustyrose appeared before Elfman and Evergreen. Only Kain was left on his own, while Ultear continued searching for Zeref in the forests of the island.

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Meanwhile, with Noah…

'_Typical, the old man beats down the Big Honcho of the enemy and then heads back to the ship to stuff his face, and meanwhile I'm left to do the dirty work.' _Noah found himself alone on the beach, brooding beside a flag with the Grimoire Heart guild mark pinned into the sand '_So from the looks of it, it's gonna be Thunderclap and the rest of his guild against the Seven Kin of Purgatory, with the exception of Ultear. Hades has spent years crafting each of them, and myself, into sorcerers of what he believes to be unrivaled power. Each one of them is a master of an art that was born from the source of all wizardry, forbidden Lost Magic. Hades believes that even the finest of Fairy Tail will crumble like dead leaves against their overwhelming power, if you can really call it that. Hades is woefully underestimating them, and as far as I'm concerned, the Kin will fall one by one. I just hope that Meldy isn't going to be the first to go, because if I want one of them to survive, let it be her. I've gotta admit though, I didn't expect Hades to drop the bombshell of him being the second master of Fairy Tail. Sure he claims that he didn't want to have to take him out, but he seemed pretty ready as far as I could tell. Leave it to them to be the only thing standing in the way of what Hades really wants: the Black Wizard himself, Zeref. All things considered, I think Makarov did a pretty good job as the guild master up to this point, if you were able to push someone like Thunderclap to get as strong as he is now. Although as much as I hate the thought, Hades plans on bringing his reign as guild master to an end. As much as I hate to admit it, even at full power I'm nowhere near the level of Hades, and I learned that lesson the hard way. Thunderclap, our upcoming showdown isn't just for the sake of wanting a good fight, it's to see if what I believe about you is true: If you're the only one strong enough to finally bring Hades down once and for all.'_

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Meanwhile, with Natsu and the others…

"You're going down you son of a bitch! **Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" **Natsu pounced at Zancrow and unleashed one fiery attack after another.

"Am I supposed to be impressed?" Zancrow dodged all of Natsu's attacks with ease and dealt him a black flame-enhanded fist that sent him flying "You left yourself wide open dumbass! I was expecting more power from a Dragon Hunter like you!"

"He's not the only one! **Lightning Dragon Talon!" **Luke blitzed in front of Zancrow and dealt him a lightning enhanced kick to the jaw, the force sending him flying back a short distance "By the way, the term is Dragon Slayer. Hey Natsu, you still good to fight this guy?"

"You know it." Natsu pulled himself back to his feet "Now that my body is warmed up, I'm more than ready to fight! This guy is gonna regret ever setting foot on this island."

'_He's got the right attitude for a guy like this, but it's gonna take more than just an attitude to take out a guy who isn't affected by any of his attacks. The black flames are a dead giveaway that this guy must be a God Slayer.'_

"You cocky little bastards have guts, I'll give you that much." Zancrow shot them both a smirk filled to the brim with insanity "But that's all you've got. Let me introduce myself, I'm Zancrow of Grimoire Heart, one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, and the guy whose black flames are gonna rip you a new one. I'm the Flame God Slayer!"

"Well I'm Luke Drako, the Lightning Dragon Slayer, and he's Natsu, the Fire Dragon Slayer. We both happen to be wizards of Fairy Tail, and we're damn proud of it."

"Oh trust me you weak little fuckers, I know damn well who both of you are. One of you is famous in the Balam Alliance because all of the destruction you leave in your wake, and the other one has a rep for taking on a Wizard Saint and coming out on top, and then Jellal too, one of our pawns."

'_So it looks like I was right, I didn't think Jellal was acting on his own if Aftershock was part of his plan, supposedly under orders. I guess it was Grimoire Heart pulling the strings behind all of this up until now.'_

"You guys were able to annihilate the Lullaby demon, you stopped us from resurrecting Deliora, you've given one of our own a metaphorical fight boner for you, and then you and the rest of your friends fucked up our plans on a whole new level when you went and wiped out the R-system and Nirvana! You took down Jellal, and then you took down Master Zero, but if you think that's enough to make you hot stuff then let me tell you know, none of those guys are anything compared to me!"

"I wouldn't be too sure about that, it seems more like arrogance is talking than any real power working for you."

"Oh please, like I want to hear that from some pathetic lowly Dragon Hunter."

"You know what's cocky asshole? Calling yourself a God Slayer!" Natsu pounced at him with his fists coated with flames "What the fuck does that even mean, you expect me to believe that you got trained by a God? Should I expect Ryuk or Beerus to show up and claim that your their student or something?!"

"Oh cut the bullshit anime references!" Zancro blocked Natsu's kick with one of his own "But I guess if you can call Master Hades a god, then yeah, because he's the one that trained me to use this awesome Lost Magic!"

"If anyone ought cut then bullshit, then it should be you! Your master isn't a god, he's just a regular old dude like the rest of us! Unlike your fake ass, everything I learned about Dragon Slayer Magic came from the actual real deal!"

"Am I suppose go give a shit about it? Dragons are just flying lizards, wanna find one and ask the little guy if he's got any magic?"

"You heard the idiot." Luke pointed his sword forward "Dragons are a lot more than just lizards, and I have no idea why the hell I'm encouraging him."

"I'd shut your tray and stay out of this if I were you, I'm a little bit busy with Pinky here, but as soon as I turn him to a pile of ash I'm gonna deal with you next." he let out another maniacal laughter.

"That's assuming you're able to even get that far."

"What the fuck does that mean?"

"Hey assclown, you don't wanna get distracted when I'm around! **Fire Dragon Talon!" **taking advantage of Zancrow being distracted and tried to deal him a fire-enhanced kick to the head, only to be blown away by a blast of black flames.

Natsu quickly rebounded back to his feet as his body started radiating flames "Luke you'd better hurry, get the others the hell out of here!"

"So what then, you're gonna bring out the big guns?"

"You're damn right I am. The flames of my right hand, combined with the flames of my left hand. Put them together, and this is what you get!"

"I ask that you scorch all from the far West to the far East, oh breath of god!"

"**Fire Dragon… BRILLIANT FLAME!"**

"**Flame God… KAGUTSUCHI!" **the two powerful blasts of fire slammed into each other in a powerful collision.

"**Dragon Sword Style: Thunder Dome!" **Luke was quick to erect a Thunder Dome with his sword, in order to protect Wendy and the Exceeds '_The sheer power and the incredible heat those two are putting out. I guess this is what happens when the power of a dragon collides with the power of a god.'_

"Dammit you little shit, you're really pissing me off!" Zancrow poured more power into his own blast, which proved to be enough to overpower Natsu's attack and send him flying.

'_Dammit that's not good, I was afraid of that.'_

"I've had enough of you little shits too, now get the fuck out of my sight!" Zancrow promptly attacked the others with another blast of flames, engulfing them in an instant, laughing maniacally as he did so "It wasn't just a bunch of cats in there, two of those puny fuckers were Dragon Hunters too right? Well too fucking bad, that will teach them not to take cheap shots at yours truly!"

"You sure about that?" the smoke cleared to reveal Luke and the others all alive and well, having been protected by his Thunder Dome spell '_To think this guy is capable of going toe to toe with the likes of Natsu, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised if he came from Grimoire Heart. Dark guild or not, Lost Magic is not something that people want to underestimate.'_

"So you withstood that, give me a few minutes and then I'll really turn you to ash!"

"You won't get the chance to! **Fire Dragon ROAR!" **Natsu let out a roar, and with it the most powerful streams of flames he could muster.

"Forget it dipshit, don't you know that it was the divine who granted the knowledge of fire to humans? It wasn't created by mankind or dragons, it was the gods!" and he was engulfed in the blast of flames.

"Oh hell yeah, now I've got- Oh you've gotta be fucking kidding me!"

As it turns out, Zancrow was consuming every last spark of flames from Natsu's roar "Nice try jackass, next time give it your A-game!" and again, the joys of TFS references.

'_There's no way, he just ate all of my flames like it was a fucking buffet! That's my thing!'_

"That's some pretty tasty fire you've got there, there's nothing like more than the flavor of violent and never ending flames! It doesn't matter if you do have enough power in you to slay a dragon, you'll never have it in you to slay a god. Prepare to witness the power of the magic that comes from Grimoire Heart! **Flame God BELLOW!" **he let out a roar of his own, and with it came a large stream of black flames, the force of it clashing against Luke's Thunder Dome, not touching those inside of it, but the force still blowing them over the side of the cliff.

Natsu on the other hand, he wasn't so lucky, as he was blowing way over the side of the cliff away from the rest of them, supposedly unconscious.

"Well it looks like those Dragon Hunters and ther losers have hit rock bottom." Zancrow glanced over the side of the cliff, and then he started laughing maniacally.

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At the same time, Cana, Lucy, Gray and Loke were having a hard time battling against Caprico of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, as it seemed that none of their attacks were able to hit or damage him, despite the fact he wasn't using magic to dodge their attacks, nor was he able to predict their movements. However, Loke seemed to recognize who Caprico was, and he started worrying greatly about Lucy.

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Meanwhile, with Luke…

Following being pushed back by Zancrow's blast and hurtling down a cliff, Luke pulled himself off the ground and took a moment to compose himself '_Okay, I think I can worry about the possible concussion later. Well the good news is that I wasn't hurt by that, but the bad news is that I got separated from Wendy and the others, and Natsu got blown to kingdom come. _I've gotta find the others and regroup." he was about to do just that, when he noticed several orange balls descending from above "Yeah that figures."

As it turns out, those orange balls were containing several dozen of the nameless Grimoire Heart soldiers, all raring and ready for a fight "Forget it Fairy Tail scum, if you wanna get out of here then you're gonna have to go through all of us!"

"...Yeah okay, so this is happening now." Luke promptly picked up his sword as the blade started surging with electricity "I don't have time for this, I have to find my friends and if I have to rip through all of you to do it, then I will." and so as the soldiers pounced at him, he thrusted his sword into the ground "**Dragon Sword Style: Iron Hammer!" **from the blade he unleashed a surge of electricity that evaporated most of the soldiers surrounding him in an instant, and then he dealt the others a series of punches and kicks that ripped through them each in an instant, only to see more of the soldiers descending from the skies above '_Dammit, this is going to take longer than I thought. I don't have time for this, I have to find the others before Natsu does something stupid and gets all of them killed!'_

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Meanwhile, with Natsu…

"Oh for fuck's sake…" by this point, Natsu had regained consciousness and was slowly limping through the forests of the island "I've gotta admit that guy was hardcore, it's been a long time since I've actually come across any sort of fire that actually felt hot. Wait a second, where the hell am I?!" but then he stopped and quickly took a whiff '_I know that sent… and it smells like blood…' _it didn't take him long to figure out what it was, as he soon found Makarov lying in the crater where Hades had left him, in a pool of his own blood "Holy fuck… Gramps… Come on, snap out of it already!" he promptly fell flat on his face in the crater.

Makarov slowly opened his eyes and glanced over at him "Natsu… it's you…"

"What in the name of fuck happened to you? Oh crap, you got hurt pretty bad didn't you? I'm kind of scared of what might happen to you if I move you, but we have to get you to Wendy real fast, of course that's a lot easier said than done because I have no idea where the actual fuck we are right!"

"Natsu…"

"How did you get your shit wrecked like this, can you tell me who did this to you?"

"Natsu… please… listen to me… The chances of us… defeating Grimoire Heart… are next to nothing…"

"You've gotta be out of your fucking mind right now, the Gramps that I know would never say anything like that!"

"You're injured… my boy… Who did that… to you…?"

"This isn't a single damn thing compared to what I'm gonna do to him! The next time I see that bastard, I'm gonna tear him a brand new flame hole!"

"Natsu… I beg you… Find the others… get them on the ship… and leave while you can…"

"Gramps will you quit talking like that? We're not done with the S-class trial, and as Master of the guild you're supposed to support us. We never ran from anyone, not Phantom Lord, not the Oracion Seis, or anyone else!"

"While that's true… there are times when… the best thing to do… is retreat…"

"Master…"

This was when a surge of black flames descended before them, and the smoke cleared to reveal none other than Zancrow standing before the two of them, laughing maniacally in his typical fashion "Well fucking well, it looks like Master Hades went and did one hell of a number on you didn't he Makarov?"

"Your master, so he's the one who did this to Gramps?"

"Please my boy… let it go… remember what I just told you…" Makarov looked up at Natsu, only to notice something '_What the…'_

"Forget it Gramps, there's no way I'm backing down."

'_Natsu… he's sweating and trembling in fear.'_

'_Dammit come on man, get ahold of yourself!'_

"Oh what's the matter?" Zancrow wasted no time in mocking him "You having a hard time right now Dragon Hunter? Looks to me like you're freaking the fuck out, you're pouring out sweat like the old man is pouring out blood."

'_Come on Natsu, get a grip on yourself already! _This feeling, I know it's fear, but-" he was cut off by the maniacal laughter from Zancrow.

"Yep you've got it, though I can't say I blame you since it's gonna be terrifying for a brat like you to face my ultimate power! I'd be standing there shitting myself too if I were you!"

"Don't get the wrong idea you Super Saiyan 3 reject. I know what I'm feeling is fear, but it's a lot more than that, and it's not the same kind of fear that Luke was talking about." crimson flames started radiating from Natsu's body "You're not the reason why I'm trembling, the only thing I'm afraid of is you and the rest of your asshole buddies doing in Gramps, Lisanna, Happy and the rest of the people from Fairy Tail here on the island. There's no way in hell that's going to happen, I'm gonna rip all of you a new one! I'm gonna make sure that all of you pay, I'll take all of you down with my bare hands, if you got a problem with that then you can suck on the flat end of my Fire Dragon!"

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Meanwhile, with Luke…

With the numbers of soldiers slowly dwindling, Luke lured the Grimoire Heart soldiers into an abandoned cave '_Perfect, this will give me the chance to take out a bunch of them with one single spell, so that way I don't have to waste the magic power on multiple spells.' _he started ripping through a few soldiers with a series of punches, kicks and slashes from his sword, but then he glanced over to see at least two dozen of them charging through the cave entrance '_And now would probably be the best time to put that to the test. _**Lightning Dragon ROAR!" **he let out a roar, and with it came a powerful blast of lightning that incinerated many of them the instant it made contact."

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Around the same time, Azuma began his battle against the Strauss sisters, mostly wanting to have a good fight. Lisanna went to fight him first, being able to cast a fast chain of Take Over spells, though Azuma was able to counterattack, and his attacks resulted in Mira getting deadly serious, and she promised him that he would regret underestimating Fairy Tail.

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Meanwhile, with Natsu vs Zancrow…

Zancrow was less than impressed by Natsu's speech and just gave a psychotic smirk as he started radiating black flames "You really think you're gonna be able to take down Master Hades you little shit?! There isn't a hope in hell of that ever happening, especially not if you can't even take me down."

"Watch me." on that note, Natsu dealt Zancrow a few hard punches with his fists coated in his flames, sending him skidding backwards in the process.

"It's like I told you before, your flames don't have any effect on me!" Zancrow stopped himself and used his black flames to stop Natsu's next attack "Try and get this through your thick skull already, your fire magic doesn't have anything on my flames since they're on a totally different level! My flames do a lot more than just burn stuff, I can turn them into a weapon of fire that can tear through any enemy and burn them to a crisp! **Flame God Scythe!" **he summoned some black flames and morphed them into a black scythe, which he promptly used to rip through a nearby tree, laughing maniacally as he did so.

"**Fire Dragon IRON FIST!" **Natsu rebounded off of some of the chunks of the severed tree, and used his enhanced strength to send part of the tree crashing down on top of Zancrow.

"GOTCHA!" less than a second later, Zancrow burst through the tree and launched a black fiery fist into Natsu's gut, causing him to cough up blood and sending him flying backwards. Too bad for him, but Zancrow wasn't done yet as he summoned more black flames "My flames love to consume a bunch of pathetic weaklings like you! You're going down once and for all you little bastard! **Flame God SUPPER!" **he morphed his black flames into a mouth-shaped attack on both hands, and he promptly engulfed Natsu in it, causing him to scream in pain "You might as well just stop fighting now, because once my blaze gets you there isn't a chance in hell of you getting out! Not until you've been turned into a pile of smoking ash!"

"Oh yeah, well that's what you think! I can still eat my way out of here anytime I well and fucking please!"

"Feel free to go ahead and try it, but there's no way with the power of a dragon could ever hope to eat a divine flame!"

"We'll see about that!" Natsu tried to consume the black flames, only to end up screaming from the pain.

"Don't say that I didn't warn ya!" but then Zancrow suddenly got grabbed from behind, courtesy of a giant hand "A giant huh?"

"What the- Gramps?!"

As it turns out, Makarov had extended his hand and increased its size to grab Zancrow from behind, using what little strength he had left "How dare you… What kind of heartless monster would harm one of my own children right before my very eyes? Let him go right now, or else I'll crush you like an insect, and when I'm done there won't even be a single trace of you left!"

"Oh really, you wanna bet old man?" Zancrow shot him a wicked smirk as he started radiating black flames "Oh come on now, you'd better let go of me soon, otherwise the only thing that's going to vanish without a trace is your arm!" he was met with only the sound of Makarov gritting his teeth "You've gotta be out of your fucking mind, let go or you're seriously gonna lose that arm for real!"

"If that's what it takes, then so be it!"

"Dammit gramps you can't be serious, just let go of him!" Natsu pleaded with him "I'm begging you, let the fuck go of him!"

"I have to say young man, I do pity you, but I won't let go! I'll never forgive anyone who harms my children, so you can burn my body to a crisp if you like, but I won't rest until my children are safe!"

Hearing Makarov's resolve, Natsu let out a primal roar as his body started radiating flames of his own.

"So this is it then…" Zancrow gave a wicked grin "Which one of us is it going to be, I can't help but wonder. Is it going to be the Dragon Hunter, Makarov or yours truly? Which one us is going to kick the bucket first?"

Natsu's roar turned into a harpy-like shriek as his flames continued to surge, but then that roaring fire died out altogether, much to the horror of Makarov.

"Looks like we have our answer, he just used up every last ounce of his magic power!" and on that note, Zancrow barked out another maniacal laugh "Looks to me like the Dragon Hunter is the first to go!"

"Don't be so sure about that!" this was when Natsu proceeded to defy logic, and promptly consumed the black flames engulfing him.

"No fucking way that's possible, there's no way a Dragon Hunter should be able to eat my divine flames!"

"It's because I'm fucking awesome is how I did it!"

Makarov however, he had a good idea of how it actually happened '_That's incredible… By using every last drop of his own magic power, he turned himself into a vessel that's capable of consuming flames that should be inedible.'_

"I think I get it now, I had no idea there was a special trick I had to use when it came to eating certain types of fire."

'_No way in hell, I wouldn't call that level of magic a special trick. He emptied his entire body of magic power while that of the enemy began to build up inside. _How in the name of hell could be so reckless Natsu, did you want to die?!"

"I have no intention of dying Gramps, not before I see Igneel again! And besides, I don't plan to let anyone else die either! No one in our guild is dying, at least not on my watch anyway! All of us are going to make it back home to Fairy Tail!" Natsu blitzed towards Zancrow and dealt him a brutal uppercut, and with a primal roar he then pounced at him as he began summoning flames in both hands, orange in his right and black in his left "Dragon and divine flames, put them together to become one, and this is what you get! **DRAGON GOD BRILLIANT FLAME!" **he put the flames together and launched the blast forward, engulfing Zancrow in the explosion that followed, despite the maniacal laughing that echoed throughout the battlefield "And for the record, the term is Dragon Slayer."

Makarov was left jaw-dropped by the sight of Natsu's victory '_I can't believe that he was able to win against him… He's grown so much… He's became an amazing wizard…'_

However, despite taking the full force of Natsu's blast, Zancrow was still conscious, albeit in a sizeable crater a short distance away "No way… no fucking way… He's nothing but a weak little Dragon Hunter… how could he beat me?"

'_He emptied out all of his own magic power in order to act as a vessel to absorb the flames of his opponent… Such a strategy seems impossible… but then again, he doesn't know the meaning of that word… Though I still need to scold him for being so reckless…'_

"Hey Gramps." this was when Natsu got his attention "I say we keep fighting… I learned something pretty important from Luke earlier… There are times when you have to know your limits, and know when to fall back… but this isn't one of those times… These people decided to make a hell of a lot of enemies out of Fairy Tail… we've gotta show them why nobody can or should do that… You can never defeat a guild that has as much heart as we do, not if you don't have any heart of your own! Not without a fight! You know I'm right, don't you Gramps…" and then he fell forward and lost consciousness.

"Natsu!"

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Meanwhile, with Gajeel…

'_So these assholes don't wanna give up do they?' _by this point, Gajeel had encountered a considerable number of Grimoire Heart soldiers in his travels throughout the island, and was fighting all of them off at once, though he quickly lost patience with this "So you assholes wanna play rough?! Well fine! **Iron Dragon Lance: DEMON LOGS!" **he hardened his skin using his Iron Dragon Scales and fired forward a large number of iron spears, piercing through at least a dozen soldiers in the process.

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It didn't take long for Wendy and the three Exceeds to track down Natsu and Makarov and quickly get to work with healing them, but they quickly grew frustrated when they couldn't succeed in this matter. Fortunately, Makarov regained consciousness for awhile and asked Wendy to remove the malevolence on Natsu's black scarf so that he may recover. Panther Lily was quick to theorize that the black haired youth that had turned Natsu's scarf black may have been Zeref himself, the man sought after by Grimoire Heart.

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Meanwhile, with Azuma vs the Strauss sisters…

"**Bleve." **Azuma simply held out his hand, and a series of explosions sent Mira and Lisanna flying yet again "If you are indeed one big family as you claim, then I suppose it's only fitting that you all fall together. Still though, all things considered, this is proving to be a rather disappointing battle."

"Dammit… this isn't good…" Mira spat out some blood "This isn't good, Lisanna you can't keep this up. The only chance I have is to use Satan Soul, but I have no idea how that's going to turn out."

"Sounds rather intriguing, I have to admit."

"The problem is, I have no idea if my body will be able to hold out."

"I know who you are, the two of you are sisters from the legendary Strauss family of the Fairy Tail guild, and if that truly is the case, then that must mean you're the one known as the so-called She Devil. However, I've been told that through unusual circumstances, you've been without your magic power for two years."

"Who could've told you about-" then Lisanna promptly froze "Don't tell me…"

"Hate to break it to you Animal Girl, but he's right." a new voice cut in, attracting the attention of both Lisanna and Mira.

"I never thought you'd be with Grimoire Heart of all guilds… Noah."

Sure enough, Noah dropped down onto the scene and cracked his neck "Sup Animal Girl, She Devil, it's been a few weeks."

"Yeah, but I never thought you would show up with Grimoire Heart! How could you keep that from us?"

"I did mention I was part of a dark guild."

"But you conveniently forgot to mention it was Grimoire Heart!"

"If I told you that then chances are you would've tried to kill me way before we ever got back to Earth Land, and judging by that look on your face you're about to try and do just that." he cranked his neck to dodge a sweep of her cat claws "As I was saying. Azuma take five, I'll take over with these two."

"I'd rather not abandon a battle once it's started." Azuma pointed out "Besides, you know that what I want is a worthy challenge."

"And these two can't give it to you, I already told you that I have a pretty good idea of exactly who can. Besides, the old man gave you orders before."  
"...Yes, I suppose. I'll just have to hope that you're correct about your assumption in regards to this opponent." and so Azuma promptly disappeared in a flash.

"Alright then, where were we? Oh yeah, as much as I'm not fond of doing this, I've found that more dire circumstances can make people fight that much harder. Observe. **Mountain Dragon Molten Coffin!" **Noah slammed his hand into the ground, and Mira was suddenly encased in molten rock.

"Mira no!" Lisanna could only look on in horror "What are you doing?"

"Five minutes, that's how long you've got before the molten rock I'm using to bind her will explode. Don't bother trying to pull it apart either, that's a waste on your time and energy, and you're going to need as much of it as you can get."

"But why trap her like that?"

"Like I said, in order to get you to fight that much harder. Like Azuma was saying, your sister is out of practice with her magic by about two years, so going up against her wouldn't be that much of a fight. But you're a different story, judging by your assault against Azuma before."

"You were watching me fight him?"

"I wanted to see how much you've improved since our first fight on Galuna Island, now why don't you come at me."

"If I have to defeat you to save my sister, then I will!" on that note, Lisanna was promptly engulfed in a white light, and when it dissipated, she was back in her Chimera form, though her mind was racing as she did so '_I don't have much magic power left after fighting Erza, but if the only way for me to save my sister is to fight, then I will!' _and so she charged forward.

"You combined the power of multiple transformations into a single form, not too shabby." and the smirk never left Noah's face, even when her foot was buried in his gut "Maybe I should've left you to Azuma after all, but oh well. **Mountain Dragon ROAR!" **he let out a roar, and with it came a powerful tornado that sent her flying backwards.

'_Darn it, this isn't good! I'm running out of time, I have to save Mira!'_

"If you have time to worry about her then use it to focus on the fight! **Mountain Dragon Molten Bindings!" **Noah slammed his hands together, and he promptly bound Lisanna's arms and legs with bindings made of rock, which promptly exploded and sent her flying into the air as a result of the blast.

Lisanna rebounded in mid air and charged through the smoke, and she launched herself directly towards Noah with a furious barrage of attacks "LET MY SISTER GO!"

Despite the ferocity, Noah dodged and blocked all of her attacks with ease '_Her speed, strength and ferocity are on an entirely different level. I usually only get the feeling of being this alive when I spar with someone on the level of Thunderclap. _You're definitely putting up a better fight than you did last time, but don't think that will be enough to beat me. **Mountain Dragon Tectonic Uprising!" **he slammed his hand into the ground, causing an earth pillar to rise up from the ground beneath her and slam into her gut, sending her hurtling into the air "And now for the follow up! **Mountain Dragon Boulder Barrage!" **he summoned a number of boulds and sent them hurtling towards her and slamming into her '_Will she be able to rebound from that?'_

"**Chimera CANNON!" **despite taking the force of Noah's attack, Lisanna rebounded and tried to blow him to hell with a two-handed blast of golden energy, instantly engulfing him in the explosion that followed. Once that was done, Lisanna slowly returned to the ground and began panting heavily '_Please let that be enough, I don't know how much magic power I have left in me right now.'_

Unfortunately for her, when the smoke cleared, Noah was revealed to be unharmed, having protected himself with a dome made of earth and rock "Let me take a wild guess, you forgot about the Mountain Dragon Terra Dome didn't you? Pretty impressive all things considered, I'm actually enjoying this fight a lot more than I thought I would, so do you wanna keep going with this or what?"

'_This isn't good, he's way stronger than I thought he would be, and after fighting Erza before and using this form twice in the same day, I don't have enough magic power to keep this up for much longer. Mira's bindings could explode at any second, and the way things are going I've only got one choice.' _she blitzed the other way towards where Mira was imprisoned.

Mira was horrified by the sight of this "Lisanna what the hell are you doing?!"

"I'm doing the only thing I can, saving you!" she threw her arms around Mira and shut her eyes as she waited for the inevitable.

"Hate to break it to you, but that won't do much good." Noah pointed out "The only chance you have of stopping it is to save me, so are you going to come over her and fight me or not?"

"I'm sorry, really I am." she slowly transformed back "I didn't want it to end this way, not after everything that's happened, but the fact is that I just don't have enough magic power left to defeat you, or even fight you any longer. The way I am right now, I'm just not strong enough to do it."

"So what then, you're giving up on me?"

"I'm not giving up hope, I know for a fact that at least one person in our guild has the strength needed to take you down. I know they will. But for me, there are times when you have to know when you've been beaten. Right now, the only thing I can do is make sure that I don't let my big sister die again." she tightened her hold on Mira and braced for the inevitable blast… but it never came, and after a moment she opened her eyes in confusion "I… I don't understand. Did the explosion not work for some reason?"

"There's a good reason for that actually." Noah snapped his fingers, and the rock bindings encasing Mira crumbled away "It's a little something called bluffing, look it up."

"Wait… what?"

"I was never gonna blow her to hell, that's more of Azuma's thing than mine. Like I said, dire circumstances can make people fight that much harder, and your performance just now was proof of that. But with that being said, you should already know that I'm not a sadist." he promptly blitzed forward and dealt Lisanna a solid chop to the neck, knocking her out cold, and then he turned to Mira "Like I said, you're two years out of practice so there's really no need for me to try and fight you."

"Yeah, you mentioned that." Mira let out a sigh "The things you say sound pretty similar to the version of you back in Edolas."

"I live by my own rules, plain and simple. All things considered though, your sister put up a good fight, and just keep in mind that this isn't personal. **Mountain Dragon Terra Fist!" **he hardened one of his arms like rock and slammed his fist into Mira's gut, causing her to cough up blood and pass out right next to Lisanna. With that done, Noah promptly walked away from the scene '_Well that's two down, I wonder how the others are holding up.'_

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Now for a quick glimpse of how one of the others is holding up.

Elfman and Evergreen had quickly encountered and started battling against Rustyrose, though he seemed to have the upper hand on them, and after striking both of them down, he went on to explain the motives Grimoire Heart had for capturing Zeref in the first place.

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While wandering through the forests of Tenrou Island, Ultear finally ended up coming across her goal, Zeref himself. She quickly paid him her respects and told him that it was his whole existence that they desired. However, Zeref was actually angered by this and informed Ultear that he didn't desire any sort of strife in this age, and he promptly ordered her to leave the island at once, to which Ultear began shaking in a mix of shock and fear at the sight of Zeref's anger being directed at her.

Zeref promptly attacked Ultear in an attempt to chase her away. However, Ultear's determination didn't waver despite this, and she struck back in order to capture him, but Zeref accidentally unleashed his Death Predation once again during the battle. With his guard down, Ultear was able to take down Zeref, though she suffered a few injuries in the process, but it didn't matter to her now.

Zeref was now in her grasp.

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At the same time, Elfman and Evergreen encountered the edge of a cliff as they were forced to run away from Rustyrose's Belcusas the Thunderclap. Being left with no other choice but to fight it, the two of them worked together in order to defeat it. Shortly after this, Rustyrose appeared before them and expanded on the Grand Magic World, claiming that all of those who cannot use magic, and the trash in the guild were useless.

This left both Elfman and Evergreen quite angered, and the two of them promptly engaged him in a two on one battle. However, despite their teamwork, Rustyrose was able to outsmart the two of them, and then he went on to explain the nature of his magic, Arc of Embodiment, before moving to finish off the two of them with the Tower of Dignir.

Before their defeat, Evergreen apologized to Elfman, claiming that she had been nothing but a nuisance to him. However, Elfman contradicted this and promptly thanked her, right before the tower exploded.

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Meanwhile, with Natsu…

Once the malevolence was removed from his scarf, Natsu's eyes promptly snapped open and he bolted upright "What the- What the hell happened?"

"Natsu!" almost immediately, Happy and Wendy threw their arms around him "You're alive, we're so glad you're okay!"

"Nevermind that now, where the hell is Gramps?"

"He's right over here." Pather Lily and Carla motioned to where Makarov was lying unconscious a short distance away "I'm afraid he isn't out of the woods quite yet."

"Dammit…" then he noticed his scarf was back to normal "My scarf is fixed."

"You can thank Wendy for that." Happy told him "She used her Sky magic in order to get the bad gunk out, and she flipped your clothes back while you were catnapping."

"Oh. I owe you one Wendy, thanks for that."

"It's no problem, really." then Wendy got creeped out by the look he was giving her "Uh… is there something wrong Natsu?"

"Hold that thought." Natsu took a whiff, then scowled and promptly bolted upright "You've gotta be fucking kidding, I know that smell!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Just take a whiff, you gotta be able to recognize it too."

"Uh… not really, sorry. It's just that there are so many new scents around here, I'm having trouble figuring out who's who."

"This one you should know who it is, just take a look over there and then take a whiff."

"Okay, if you say so." Wendy took a whiff, and then her eyes widened "Wait a second… isn't that supposed to be Noah's scent?"

"Yeah it's him, no doubt about it. He's here on the island too." Natsu looked around, and then his eyes widened "He's close, that way!" and so he promptly took off, or at least tried to.

"Natsu wait, you can't just take off like that!" believe it or not, Wendy calling out to him like that was enough to call him off.

"I may be an idiot but I'm not stupid." see if you get that reference.

"I don't understand though, why would he be here?"

"There could only be one explanation… he totally came to save us from Grimoire Heart!" he was met with everyone comically falling over "What?"

"Or more likely, the exact opposite of that." Carla told him flatly "Perhaps the fact is that he came here _with _Grimoire Heart."

"What?" Wendy's face fell considerably upon hearing this "But that doesn't make any sense. I mean, he helped us in Edolas and helped us save our guild, so why would he be fighting against us now?"

"I don't know and frankly I don't care, if he's with Grimoire Heart then I'm gonna go and tear him a new one!" and so Natsu promptly bolted off into the woods.

"Natsu hold on, don't run off like that!" but this time, Wendy's cries went unheard "But if it's true that Noah is with Grimoire Heart… you don't think Natsu will try and fight him do you?"

"Without a second thought." Carla told her dryly "But I must admit, I'm more concerned about all of this business regarding Lost Magic."

"I must admit that I'm somewhat envious of Natsu's powerful snout." Lily noted "He seems quite akin to an animal."

"Well it is Natsu, and he's about akin to an animal in terms of heightened senses, and in terms of intelligence."

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On the Magic Council warship, one that Azuma didn't blow to hell last chapter, Mest, who shall now be known as Doranbolt, appears before Lahar, who was ordering people to tend to the wounded and repair the damaged ship, about the events that were currently taking place on Tenrou Island, about the battle taking place between Fairy Tail, Grimoire Heart and Zeref on the isalnd. Lahar was quick to warn him that Gran Doma, the chairman of the new Magic Council, was very strict and would likely eliminate those he believed to be wrongdoers without even bothering with a trial, and he might resort to using the Etherion once more. Doranbolt was left shocked by this, and he begins having second thoughts about contacting headquarters.

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In the battle against Caprico, Loke quickly told the others to leave and search for the other members of the Seven Kin of Purgatory scattered throughout the island. He went on to explain to them that Caprico's magic, Human Subordination Magic, weakens their magic as humans, and as such they could not defeat him. He also went on to reveal to them that Caprico was a Celestial Spirit, just like him, Capricorn the Ram. At first, Lucy was against the idea of leaving Loke to fight by himself, but when she finally relented, she made Loke promise that he was going to come back to her, something that causes Caprico to recognize her, if only slightly.

Upon realizing this, Loke began his one on one battle against Caprico, Spirit vs Spirit. It didn't take him long to discover that Caprico's magic enabled him to capture and summon humans at will, and that Caprico had no master. The two of them began talking, and Caprico came to realize that Lucy was the daughter of none other than Layla Heartfilia, which caused him to be filled with rage and claim that Lucy could not be allowed to live.

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Meanwhile, with Natsu…

By this point, Natsu was bolting through the jungle and following his nose, his mind racing as he did so, with Happy following close behind him '_He's close, I can smell him like he's right next to me. I just don't get it though, sure Noah seemed like he was calling us out on bullshit most of the time we were together in Edolas, but he never struck me like the kind of guy that would work with people like Grimoire Heart, even back when you showed up on Galuna Island. Whatever the reason is, I know what I have to do. There's no way in hell I'm letting you lay a hand on any of my friends, and if I have to take you down to keep them safe, then I sure as hell will!'_

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The battle between Spirits didn't take too long to intensify.

Caprico summoned the Hunter of Belparaso Samagui in order to hunt down Lucy, and though the huntsman was skilled, Loke was able to intercept his attacks aimed at Lucy, and he successfully defeated him. After this, Loke went on to confront Capricorn about his absence from the Spirit World, which had lasted for 17 years. Capricorn was originally contracted to Layla, Lucy's mother, and with her death, Lucy should've become his new master, though it seems that Lucy knew nothing of this arrangement. Capricorn went on to answer that it was because he had tried to break the rule of his magic, and then he started laughing.

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Meanwhile, with Luke…

'_Dammit, these guys just keep coming after you don't they?' _growing frustrated with constantly having to deal with Grimoire Heart foot soldiers, Luke led the soldiers still chasing into a nearby crevice, and with limited ground he started ripping through them one after another, each one only needing to take a single blow before they went down "I've had enough of dealing with you guys, the rest of my guild needs me! **Dragon Sword Style: Thunderclap Strike!" **mustering as much magic power as he could, he pointed his sword forward, and from the blade burst forth a massive blast of lightning, incinerating all of the remaining soldiers in its path. With his enemies finally taken care of, Luke fell to one knee in exhaustion '_Taking care of so many enemies by myself was lot more draining and time consuming than I was expecting, not only did it take me hours to deal with all of them, but the Dragon Slayer lacrima Kaminari implanted in my back can only restore my magic power so fast. I'll need some time to recuperate before I join the others, or else I won't be able to do anything to help. Please, just hold out for as long as you can.'_

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Meanwhile, with Natsu…

By this point, Natsu was still following Noah's scent through the forests of Tenrou Island, his mind racing "I'm telling you I can smell him."

"Come on Natsu, you have to slow down." Happy told him "Don't forget that Master told us that the terrain is super rugged!"

"What the hell does that have to do with-" and then he fell down a cliffside and started sliding down the slope "Dammit this totally sucks, make it stop!" and then he started getting motion sickness again '_Dammit, of all the times for me to have to upchuck, why the fuck did it have to be now?!' _he kept sliding until he went over another cliff, and he hit the ground with a thud. After a moment passed, he was able to pull himself back to his feet "Okay, that totally didn't hurt me one bit. Nope, not feeling any pain." he took another whiff "He's close, I can smell him like he's right on top of me. But what's this other scent?"

"Natsu get down, it's below you!" Happy soared towards him and pulled him out of the way, just as a massive tree sprouted from underneath his feet.

"Thanks for the save little buddy, but where the fuck did that tree come from?"

"That was courtesy of a little trap left by one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory." a voice got their attention, belonging to Noah from his place on one of the tree branches "She left a sprouting seed hidden deep within the soil beneath where you landed, she used her Arc of Time magic to accelerate it so that it would grow within a matter of minutes."

"So I was right, it really was you after all."

"At least that black hole you call a brain is good for something Salmander, I'm kind of surprised you actually remember who I am."

"I wouldn't forget the face of people I thought were gonna be one of our friends but end up stabbing us in the back."

"You say that like I led you on by lying through my teeth, and the fact that you think that's what happened is a new level of stupid, even for you. I told you and the kid that the next time we met, we would most likely be enemies. As for the objectives, it never crossed my mind for even a second that you guys came for Zeref like Grimoire Heart did."

"What the hell do you- WAIT A SECOND!" that came out way louder than necessary "You mean that crybaby was Zeref? You mean the same guy who created Lullaby, Deliora and the other bad shit?"

"That's the guy, and for the record the Daughter of the Year, aka the leader of the Seven Kin of Purgatory already has her hands on him, and she's basically claimed him as her own."

"Fuck that, I don't even want the guy! I just wanna get my hands on your guild, you and the rest of them are gonna pay for hurting my friends!"

"Oh that's definitely going to happen, I know that much for a fact. Just remember this, like I said about us being enemies, I also said that I had no intention of holding back against you if we had to fight." he leapt down to the ground to meet Natsu at eye level "Now let's get this shit underway already."

"Oh trust me, I'm gonna get this shit under way by pounding you into the ground!"

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At the same time, Erza and Juvia were squaring off against Meldy, who promptly attacked them by summoning a series of magic blades. Juvia was initially confident that her water body would render any physical attacks ineffective, but Meldy's blades were able to cut clean through her, something that left her shocked. It didn't take long for them to figure out that Meldy was one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, but she ignored them and considered eliminating them as part of her mission.

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Back with the battle of Celestial Spirits, Capricorn began to cast Huma Raise, the spell that would allow users of Human Subordination Magic to capture a human. It was considered to be a taboo to use it against someone that wasn't actually a human, such as Loke, considering he was a Celestial Spirit, and it would cause the user to fuse with the target. It didn't take Loke long to figure out that Caprico was actually Capricorn, but he had a human fused into him. He was able to transfer Regulus to Capricorn before he ended up being possessed by the human in question, known as Zoldeo. Using the Regulus Loke had transferred, Capricorn managed to recover and then cast Zoldeo out of Loke's body, which not only defeated Zoldeo, but caused him to fade away from existence, due to committing a taboo. After this, the two of them returned to the Celestial Spirit World, with Capricorn confirming his loyalty to Lucy.

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Meanwhile, with Lucy's team…

Lucy was still running alongside Gray and Cana, but then she suddenly came to a stop when she noticed the pouch at her side, the one holding her Zodiac keys, glowing brightly "What the…?"

"Hey is there something wrong?" Cana and Gray were quick to notice her stop "Oh come on, don't tell me that Loke is in trouble or something."

"Nope, nothing of the sort. That was just his way of telling me that he won."

"About time, I knew he could do it."

"He says he doesn't want to go into all of the details right now, but apparently Capricorn has switched over to our side. Also, he says that the fight really took it out of him, so he's gonna try and recover his strength by heading back to the Celestial World for the time being."

"Fair enough."

"Hold on, what now?!" Gray's head snapped at the last part.

"Well it only makes sense, keep in mind that he's been using a lot of his magic power to stay in the human world all this time."

"But that's so fucking unfair, that backstabbing son of a bitch promised me he was gonna be my partner in the trial!"

"Yeah, well…" Lucy gave a nervous grin "He wanted me to tell you was gonna make it up to you later."

"I don't have later dammit! You know what screw it, when you see that four eyed womanizing dipshit that I don't even need his help with making it to S-class!"

That last statement from Gray pretty much struck a chord in Cana, and her face fell at the thought of what he said '_S-class… that's right, I totally forgot about the trial.'_

"Like I said, just fuck it. It's about time the three of us got moving again."

"Wait hold on a second, I've got an idea. The way I see it, if we want to find the rest of these creeps from Grimoire Heart, it might be easier if the three of us split up."

"You think so?"

"It makes sense to me."

"You've gotta be crazy!" Lucy protested "I don't want to risk running into one of them when I'm all by myself!"

"Oh come on Lucy, you don't have to worry about that. I'm gonna be there to protect you from anything and everything they throw at you."

"So that's it then." Gray's expression dulled considerably "When you said that you wanted to split up, you were basically talking about ditching me."

"How do I know you're not jealous? For all we know, you just want to watch us compare our cup sizes don't you?"

"Where the fuck did you get that from, there's no way in hell that's true and you know it! My point is that I don't think us splitting up is a good idea, keep in mind that we're a lot stronger as a group than we are on our own."

"Think for a second Gray, the only reason I suggested we split up to search for the enemy is because I want to get back to the S-class trials, and if we're going to do that then we have to wipe them out. I bet I know exactly why you're against it though, you're scared aren't you?" she was met with a jaw dropped look from Lucy.

"...Fuck it, if you're so eager to have your way then fine. Let's go ahead and split up here and go on our own."

"Just make sure you don't get yourself killed out there."

"Right back at ya." and then the three of them split up, with Lucy looking at Cana with an expression filled with worry.

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Meanwhile, with two Dragon Slayers…

Natsu dropped into a stance as he prepared to pounce at Noah, and he let out a snarl "Alright you know what, I've had just about enough of you and your guild! If you and your friends hadn't shown up when you did, my friends wouldn't be fighting for their lives, Gramps wouldn't be bleeding out, and I'd be a fucking S-class wizard by now!"

"Nice to know you've got your priorities in order." Noah's tone was laced with sarcasm "How could this situation get on my nerves anymore than it already has?"

"_Can you hear me Noah?"_

"Ask a stupid question." Noah let out a sigh and looked up '_Alright I hear you, what do you want old man? And before you say it, get it through your thick beard that there isn't a hope in hell of me calling you master.'_

"_I've come to accept as such. The time for you having to hold back the full extent of your power is nearing its end. My scouts tell me that you're currently engaging one of Fairy Tail's Dragon Slayers at the moment. I want you to crush him completely and totally."_

'_I'm getting a fight out of this to the extent I want, no more and no less. If you want a lap dog that will follow your orders however you want, go and find Rustyrose or Kain."_

"_...I expected such a response to come from you. So be it then, so long as you defeat all of those you come across, I shall leave the rest to you."_

'_Good, now get out of my head.' _with the telepathic connection to Hades severed, Noah turned back to face Natsu "I did say before that the next time we met, I wasn't going to hold back. Get ready for it Salamander, you're about to see that for yourself." he dropped into a stance.

Natsu's stance faltered slightly, his mind racing '_This dude is fucking insane, I can smell his magic power before he's even putting it out. The air itself around me is shaking, like it's an earthquake without the quake. But I can't back down now, not when Fairy Tail is counting on me to win this fight! _Show me what you've got."

"I intend to." Noah's orange-colored magic power spiked around him, shaking the entire battlefield with the sheer force of his power.

'_What the fuck?!' _Natsu found himself nearly blown off his feet by the sheer force '_This is fucking insane, how the fuck is able to put out this much power?!'_

"You've gotta give it to Hades, even if he is a fucking lunatic with plans to basically destroy the world and about 90% of the people who live in it, he knows how to train a magic to the fullest extent one can think of. I'm not normally one for arrogance but you might as well face the reality of your situation Salamander, you can't beat me."

"Don't fucking count on that! **Fire Dragon ROAR!" **Natsu's flames surged wildly around his body, and he let out a roar that accompanied a powerful stream of flames.

"**Mountain Dragon Scales." **Noah just calmly stood in place, the Roar hitting him full on, but when the smoke cleared, his body was entirely covered in rock and earth, and he didn't have a single scratch on him "I know my magic energy alone probably would've been enough to power through that roar, but I rarely get the chance to show this off, and if you've got a skill and you don't have a good reason not to use it, then use it."

'_That's just like that armor spell Gajeel used back when we fought during the battle against Phantom Lord.'_

'_He wasn't using anywhere near his full power in that Roar, which means that either he's trying to gauge my power, or he's just that hotheaded, reckless and overconfident.'_

"**Fire Dragon WING ATTACK! TALON! IRON FIST! SWORD HORN!" **Natsu launched himself at Noah with a rapid barrage of fire-enhanced physical attacks, but none of them even managed to break through Noah's scales, or even make him flinch at all "**FIRE DRAGON TALON!"**

However, the last fire-enhanced kick forced Noah to crank his neck ever so slightly, but that was it, and he kept taking Natsu's rapid barrage of attacks with ease '_He's got more power, speed and ferocity than I was expecting from him, but not by much. He's coming at me with everything he's got, burning himself out like a damn fool. Every wise warrior knows that before you try and fight someone all out, you have to find the scope of your opponent's power, understand the way he reacts, and establish your own strengths in comparison to his, and then you'll be able to use your own power and energy in the most efficient way you can. This is a lot more than just some pointless brawl, at least it is for me. I'm using this as an opportunity to test whichever warriors I can and see what they're like at their maximum power. At least that way I can enjoy myself to an extent, and see if I can push myself to the point where I actually have some fun for a chance. _You can't seriously be telling me that's all you've got Salamander."

"Not by a fucking longshot!" Natsu's flames flared into life as he surged forward and let a rapid barrage of attacks fly.

Noah simply held out a hand to block Natsu's attack "Well at the very least you got me to lift a hand against you, so you could probably call that progress." he continued block every attack being thrown at him, resulting in a crater forming around the two of them from the continuous shockwaves.

"For fuck's sake, what the fuck is it gonna take to get you to fight back?!"

"More than what you've been showing me up until now, try actually using that thing on your shoulders for once."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" now losing what little temper he had, Natsu let out a primal roar as flames exploded around him.

'_He's getting angrier the longer this goes on, which means that he's putting out more flames and more power into his strikes. But at the same time, the angrier he gets, the less focused he is, which means that it's that much easier for me to see through his attacks. Knowing what Hades is like, he's probably going to want me to make him as strong as possible for when I beat him, in order to try and break the morale of everyone else in Fairy Tail. He thinks that if they see one of the strongest in Grimoire Heart get pummeled, the rest of Salamander's guild will realize that they don't have a chance in hell of defeating us, and as a result they would lose their will to fight against us. Goddamn psychological tactics.' _he raised his guard just in time.

"**Fire Dragon IRON FIST!" **with his flames burning brightly akin to his rage, Natsu launched forward a fiery fist and sent Noah crashing through a number of trees behind him, and then he followed up with a barrage of other attacks.

"**Mountain Dragon Terra Fist!" **hardening his arm like rock, Noah slugged Natsu straight across the face, sending him flying away, followed by him blitzing across the battlefield and dealing Natsu a fierce number of attacks, but then grabbing him by the foot and slamming him through a number of trees and boulders.

"**Fire Dragon TALON!" **Natsu broke free of Noah's hold by dealing him a fire-enhanced kick to the side of the head that broke his grip, and then he leapt out of the way of the next attack as his hands were coated in flames "**Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Flame Lotus! EXPLODING FLAME BLADE!" **he pounced forward and launched a spiralling torrent of flames from both of his hands.

"**Mountain Dragon Terra Dome!" **thinking quick Noah slammed both of his hands into the ground to protect himself from Natsu's torrent of flames, and once the attack had subsided, he grabbed Natsu by the ankle and threw him to the ground, and then continued launching his own barrage of attacks, sending Natsu crashing through one tree after another, and once he stopped with that, he picked up Natsy by the hair "For the record, what I'm doing isn't personal, but a lot of it is catharsis. You really got on my nerves during the whole thing in Edolas, and pretty much every other word that comes out of your mouth makes me want to either rip out your tongue or rip off my ears. Like I said, complete and total catharsis. But in the meantime, this battle is over now. **Mountain Dragon Molten Fist!" **encasing his fist in molten rock, he promptly slammed it into Natsu's gut, which then promptly exploded (due to the molten properties), the force of the blast sending Natsu tumbling across the landscape "Well that was disappointing, at least the Animal Girl put more of a fight than you."

"Shut… up…" this was when Natsu pulled himself out of the rubble and then pulled himself back to his feet, despite the heavy wounds he was covered in, and the blood that was pouring from said wounds.

"You're still coming back for more? I shouldn't be surprised by that."

"I hope you're ready… for what I'm about to do to you… I'm gonna rip your fucking head off… no matter what it may takes…"

'_He's barely hanging on as it is. Using as much power as he did to defeat Zancrow earlier, and then taking those onslaughts from me until now, he's barely hanging on as it is. I doubt he's going to last for too much longer.'_

"You said before… the Animal Girl… you were talking about… Lisanna… weren't you?"

"I thought that was obvious, it was either me or another guy from my guild, and he would've been a lot less merciful in his approach. She put up a good fight, even if she didn't win. The same can't be said for you though. I think it's safe to say that you've seen more than enough of the power I'm packing back here, the fact is that you can't win against me. You've been taking one beating after another at less than your full stamina, you really think you can keep going as you are?"

"You're damn right I do… and I'm gonna make sure… that you go down…"

"You really can't."

"Your cockiness… it's really pissing me off…"

"Which is exactly how I feel about you."

"Shut… UP!" Natsu let out a roar as he tried to summon some flames, but whatever sparks he had were quickly snuffed out.

"See, this is exactly what I was talking about before."

"I don't need my flames… I'm more than a match for you… as I am right now!" Natsu leapt forward and tried to deal Noah a barrage of punches and kicks.

'_He doesn't have any real power behind his attacks anymore, those flames of his are nothing more than a simple spark now. _This isn't going to get you anywhere, just give up while you still have the chance."

"Shut your TRAP!" Natsu let another fist fly, only for it to be caught by Noah with ease.

"If you really wanna go down the hard way then so be it, I thought I could have some fun while I was here for work, maybe get a few good fights out of it, but then you show up." he dealt Natsu a swift yet brutal uppercut that sent him flying.

'_Dammit!'_

"Natsu no!" Happy could only look on in horror from his place on the sidelines, not getting any closer to the battle "Natsu just hang on! _He's in real big trouble, it looks like that last punch drained whatever power he has left!'_

Natsu landed in a nearby crater with a loud thud, but he gritted his teeth '_Dammit… I can't be done… not yet… I've gotta… keep fighting…' _despite the struggling, he eventually managed to pull himself back to his feet and shot a glare in Noah's direction using what little strength he was able to muster "I swear on the pride of Fairy Tail… we're gonna take your guild down… it doesn't matter what it may take… I've still got fight in me… you of all people should know… that you should never sell a Dragon Slayer short… that pathetic little uppercut of yours… it didn't hurt me one fucking bit…" he spat out some saliva mixed with his blood, and then he surged forward and left a fist fly.

"Nope." Noah promptly countered Natsu's attack with a fist to the face that sent him crashing to the ground.

"D-Dammit…" Natsu staggered back to his feet "I'm not finished with you… not yet… not by a fucking long shot…" he launched himself forward, only to be met with a kick to the chest that sent him skidding backwards, but he immediately rebounded, only to be met with a brutal barrage of earth-enhanced punches from Noah '_Dammit, every hit that he lands is like a fucking bulldozer! It's like he's ripping my body apart with every blow he lands!' _he was finally brought to his knees by a chop to the neck.

"Your chances of beating me are about the same as your stamina, absolutely 0."

"Maybe… but even if… I'm not the one… who takes you down… even if… I'm not the one to deliver… the final blow… as long as my guild… survives and wins… then I'll be able to live with that…" he grabbed Noah by the arm and tried to flip him over his shoulder.

Noah simply let out a spike of his magic power, which sent Natsu tumbling to the ground in a heap as a result "I think we both know the person you have in mind."

"Yeah… we do… but not yet…" Natsu forced himself back to his feet "I can't lose… to you… not yet…"

"And yet see what happens next. **Mountain Dragon Terra Fist." **Noah hardened his arm like rock and slugged Natsu straight across the face, sending him tumbling backwards until he was hanging off the edge of a cliff by his leg.

'_Dammit… I can barely move… or see… or anything…' _Natsu spat out some blood '_I don't think… I can keep going…' _but then certain images flashed through his mind, particularly of a certain young woman with white hair and he regained a fragment of his resolve '_No… I can't give up… I know what's at stake… I know what's gonna happen… if we lose… I'll lose her… and she'll lose her smile… the smile that keeps me going… I promised her…' _he slowly struggled back to his feet '_I promised her… I would never let her lose that smile… never again… _I'm not done… not yet…"

"You've said that at least half a dozen times now." Noah's tone was increasingly dry "You know as well as I do that in your current condition, you don't have a chance in hell of beating me, yet you keep going on despite the fact that you're barely able to stand."

"You sound so… so confused by that… it doesn't matter what it is… because even if I did tell you… I doubt you would understand… you're just a cold-blooded bastard… from one of the dark guilds… you don't know what it means… to fight to protect something… with all the strength you've got!" he pounced forward again and let a fist fly, only to be met with an elbow to the face, but he firmly stood his ground "She's counting on me… to protect her… to make sure she never loses her smile… and I can't… no… I WON'T LOSE! **Fire… Dragon… ROAR!" **so with all of the magic power he was able to muster, Natsu let out a roar as loud and as long as he could, and with it came an absolutely massive stream of flames, engulfing Noah in the explosion that followed it.

When the smoke cleared, Noah stood a few feet further back than he was before, and his Mountain Dragon Scales had all crumbled away, but aside from that and a few light burns across his front, he hadn't been damaged by the blast "So that's your final attack?"

"Oh god dammit, you've gotta be fucking kidding me!" Natsu tried to let another fist fly, only for it to be caught by Noah with ease "You're wrong about me. I understand what it means to fight to protect something, I understand it a lot better than you think I do. The only difference between us, something that Thunderclap and I both understand, is that we take those feelings we have and pour them into training, along with our very hearts and souls. Learn that and get stronger, and once you do, come and find me, and then I'll gladly take you on again." and with that, Noah dealt Natsu one final fist to the face, sending him flying one last time.

'_I couldn't keep my promise… I hate myself for that… In the end, I guess I just didn't have what it takes… I'm such a damn fool… Lisanna… Happy… Igneel… everyone… I'm sorry…' _he let a few tears flow '_Luke… Wendy… hell, even you Gajeel… the rest is up to you… you guys can't fail too…' _it was at this moment that whatever strength Natsu had left finally gave out, and he lost consciousness.

"Natsu hold on!" Happy quickly caught Natsu before he went over the cliff, then he took one last look down at Noah, and then he promptly flew away.

'_And that's another one down.' _Noah let out a sigh as he promptly started eating the earth surrounding him, and he sniffed around '_Looks like I can smell Black Steel not to far form here, let's hope he puts up a better fight.'_

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At the Fairy Tail base camp, about 20 minutes later…

Following the battles that took place, the camp had been reduced to pretty much a wreck inside of a crater.

Mira was in the middle of tending to the wounds of Levy and Lisanna while they lay unconscious in a tent '_Well they're both breathing, and all things considered it could've been a lot worse than this. But still though, part of me is shocked at how strong Lisanna has gotten, and yet despite that she was defeated by Noah so easily, and I was so helpless. _Dammit, it's all my fault."

"Don't be like that big sis, it's not anyone's fault."

Mira looked back, and her eyes widened at what she was seeing "Elfman…"

Sure enough, Elfman had made his way back to camp on foot, and in his arms he was holding the unconscious form of Evergreen "Hey big sis, we're back."

"Yeah but covered in what I hope is dried blood, what the fuck happened to you?"

"As much as I hate to admit it, we got our assess kicked. I spent so long training with Luke so that I could prevent this kind of hell from becoming a reality, and for what?! They're just too damn strong, we don't stand a chance!" tears started streaming down his face "I'm nothing but a pathetic excuse for a man! I couldn't protect my partner or my ownlittle sister against the likes of those monsters!" he was cut off by a sharp pain across his face, sending him stumbling backwards a few feet.

As it turns out, Mira had slapped him straight across the face, her eyes burning with a mix of tears and determination "Stop Elfman, that's not how a real man talks, and that's sure as hell not how a wizard of Fairy Tail talks either. I didn't spend two years in another world just to watch everything fall apart before my own eyes. It's about damn time we came together again! All of you wanted to become S-class wizards so damn badly that you let the trial drive you apart! Even if it was only for a little bit, maybe a week at the most, but all everyone was thinking about in that time was themselves instead of what's best for the guild. Well none of us can afford for you to do that, not anymore."

"She's right." this was when Happy dropped down onto the scene, still carrying the unconscious and badly wounded form of Natsu.

"Thank you cat." Mira promptly tucked Natsu under some blankets and stuck him right next to where Lisanna lay, and she turned back to the others "It doesn't matter how overwhelming the enemy might be, we're Fairy Tail goddammit! All we have to do is come together and combine our strength, conviction and feelings, then we'll have what it takes to beat them! We have to come together, because it's the only way we're going to survive this."

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Unfortunately, what no one realized was that the exact opposite was about to happen.

Lucy was still walking through the forests of Tenrou Island with Cana, though they were talking about something rather unexpected "Mavis' grave?"

"Yeah, I mean you said before that you figured out where it is." Cana pointed out "I was gonna ask you about it earlier, but then all of this crazy shit started happening."

"Well yeah, sure I'll tell you about it, but do you really think now is the best time to start thinking about that? I mean keep in mind, we are caught in the middle of a literal war between our guild and a dark guild."

"Yeah I know that, I'm just curious is all."

"Well I might as well, but I have to warn you that I could be totally wrong. There was a lot of guess work involved in this. First of all, I decided to think of a list of words that could somehow be connected with the word _grave_. There's _death_, _sleep_, _earth_, _stone_, _star_, maybe _end_. Sadly, none of those single words was six letters long."

"Wait I don't get it, where did you get the idea that there needed to be six letters in the word?"

"It came from the time limit, keep in mind that Master did give us six hours to track down the grave. I figured that number had to be important. Now I know it's a little bit of a stretch, but I thought of a word that not only has six letters, but also relates to the words _grave_ and _time_. In this case, I'm talking about _demise_. To put it simply, it essentially means to end. It's associated with death, and therefore it meets the letter requirements and there's an element of time to it." all of this left Cana slightly taken aback "Okay, now this is where things start to get a little bit iffy in my theory. This is just a hunch, but if you look at the word _demise, _there's one letter in there that's different from the others. You want to take a guess which one it is?"

"I would, but I doubt I'd be right."

"There's one letter that's used twice, and in this case it's _e. _Doesn't that look sort of suspicious in your eyes?"

"Where are you going with this?"

"Keep in mind that all of the paths that were chosen at the beginning of the trial got marked with letters?"

"You mean back in the first round."

"Yep, you got it. Route E, I think that's where…" but then she suddenly fell over and promptly passed out.

As it turns out, Cana had used one of her Magic Cards to cast a sleep spell on Lucy "You've really been a big help in all of this, so thank you for that." she then proceeded to drag Lucy into the bushes, away from from visible path '_She should be safe here.' _she started to take her leave, but not before looking back at Lucy with an expression filled with guilt '_I'm sorry Lucy, I'm so sorry. I swear I'll make this up to you.' _and despite her guilt and sorrow, she took her leave, leaving Lucy alone and unconscious.

Unfortunately, what she couldn't have predicted was that mere moments after she had left Lucy behind, she had been found by Kain Hikaru of the Seven Kin of Purgatory.

**A/N:**

**And with this chapter, we see the true battle with Grimoire Heart begin, with all of their forces arriving on Tenrou Island, including the Seven Kin of Purgatory, and the master of the dark guild, Hades, not only defeating Makarov with ease, but also revealing his true identity in the process. He is Precht Gaeblog, the former Second Master of Fairy Tail, Makarov's predecessor. And he's also a major powerhouse, even more than the likes of Jose, so you guys probably know where I'm going with this. Anyway, by the end of the chapter, we see that two of the Seven Kin of Purgatory have fallen at the hands of Fairy Tail, courtesy of Natsu and Loke, and now only five of them remain, six if you count Noah. However, all is not well at the moment, as Lucy has been abandoned by Cana, who leaves her to search for the grave of Mavis, unaware that in her absence, Lucy is found by another member of the Seven Kin of Purgatory.**

**So yes, during the course of this chapter, Luke has to deal with fighting off the foot soldiers of Grimoire Heart, rather than fighting one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory. Keep in mind that he's a lot more powerful than most of the other members of Fairy Tail, so the fight would probably be over too soon. Besides, I've got an opponent in mind for him already, but their fight is going to be closer to the climax of the overall arc, which actually should come in the next chapter or two.**

**A twist with the fight involving the Strauss siblings is that, in this case, Lisanna is the one fighting instead of Mira, and it's going to be against Noah rather than Azuma. I thought it would be a nice role reversal, and a good callback to their first fight on Galuna Island. As for another Noah fight, I decided that I would have him take on Natsu in place of Ultear. That fight has three purposes, those being to show how much more powerful Noah is than Natsu, show off Natsu's character and resolve a little bit more, and to keep him out of commission for the time being, which means that he won't be able to save Lucy from Kain Hikaru. I've decided to give that spot to another character, but I won't reveal who now. That's going to be revealed next chapter.**


	37. Tenrou Island IV

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**Jaemos: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you like this story. Tenrou Island is my personal favorite arc in Fairy Tail, but the Grand Magic Games arc is a close second for me.

**Ragnas Bredvolts (ch 35): **Yeah, looking back, Mest doesn't exactly have the best track record in Fairy Tail. Despite the rantings I see in your review, all things considered, I don't exactly blame you for not being very fond of him. As for me, I've never really given him much thought to be honest. Yes, I enjoyed writing Lisanna's fight scenes in the last chapter, but I do admit that some of the techniques need to be worked on, but it's just the first appearance of the form, so of course it can be improved on over time. That's really all I have to say for now, so you have a nice day as well my friend.

**Ragnas Bredvolts (ch 36): **Yeah, I think I've made it clear by now that when it comes to his fellow members of Grimoire Heart, Noah just doesn't give a shit. Zancrow on the other hand, he really doesn't care either, so of course he wouldn't give a damn about missing Rising of the Shiled Hero, which is totally great by the way. I never realized it, but you're right about what you said, Azuma's magic having a great deal of variety compared to others. As for the whole speech from Luke/Gildarts to Natsu, I agree that it was a missed opportunity to give him some more character development, being more mature and serious and knowing when to back off and all that, but I plan on adding that in later in the arc. I haven't been keeping up with the 100 Year Quest arc, but what you're telling me sounds very interesting, so I'll have to check that out at some point. Yep, Noah's been going to town on whatever Fairy Tail members he can find, starting with Natsu and the Strauss sisters, and he'll be running into another one next chapter, but I'm not saying who. No, Natsu is considerably weaker than Noah by a fair amount, but that doesn't mean Natsu is out of it for the arc yet. He'll be back in time for the final battle. Speaking of the final battle, I do plan on adding in at least two more people. I'm not going to reveal who's going to save Lucy just yet, or else risk spoiling it for you. That's actually pretty interesting about Hades' last name though, I didn't know about that. Anyway, that's all I have to say for now, and you have a nice day as well my friend.

**Altajir95 (ch 36): **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked the last chapter.

**Guest: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked the last chapter. Noah's fights were ones that I really enjoyed doing. I hope you continue to follow my story.

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The sun was starting to set over the skies of Tenrou Island.

Gajeel stood in the middle of a large crowd of corpses surrounding him, all of them bearing the Grimoire Heart guild mark '_Well at least that's the last of them. About fucking time too, all of these worthless lackeys are starting to get on my nerves. _When the fuck am I gonna get to fight one of the guys that can actually fight?"

"How about right now." this was when Noah suddenly dropped down in front of him and cracked his neck "Hate to break it to you though Black Steel, but if you want to get to the Seven Kin of Purgatory, then you're gonna have to go through me."

"Hate to break it to you too Aftershock, but I don't pluck the second strings."

"Says the one that's second to Salamander."

"Shut your fucking hole! I'm a hell of a lot stronger than I was back then, and the next time I get my hands on him, he's going down!"

"Sorry about that, but I already beat you to it." that stopped Gajeel in his tracks.

'_This scent, he's covered in blood, but not just any blood… _You went up against Salamander already… and you beat him?"

"He put up one hell of a fight, but he didn't do that much damage, though I mostly blame that on the brain power, or lack thereof in his case. The question is, can you satisfy in the ares where he was lacking?"

"Why the fuck don't you come and find out for yourself? **Iron Dragon Scales!" **covering his body in dragon scales made of iron, Gajeel launched himself towards Noah, resulting in a swift clash of fists between the two of them

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Meanwhile, with Lucy…

Having been left alone by Cana, and subsequently found, Lucy's eyes slowly opened just in time to see a fat white figure looming over her in the form of none other than Kain Hikaru, and about to stomp on her, and with a comical shriek she avoided it at the last second "Okay hold on a second, did I miss something?! Where the hell did the gigantic Pokemon dude come from? _Don't tell me that this guy is one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, and for that matter where the hell did Cana go at a time like this?! _Start talking Pokemon, what the hell did you do with my friend?!"

"Uh…" Kain gave a shrug "I dunno, the ladies room maybe?"

"Start talking, what did you do to her?"

"Listen blondie, there's no need for you to be worried about your little friend right now."

"And why is that? Do you know something that I don't?"

"What I know for a fact is that you're not going to live long enough to see her again."

'_Okay, I'm totally confused right about now, was I sleeping a minute ago? How the hell did I end up losing track of Cana like that? I just hope she isn't dealing with another one of these freaks like I am. I have no idea what's going on, but I need to take this guy down ASAP.'_

However, once Kain saw the look he was getting from Lucy, he suddenly started hiding behind a tree "You know glaring at me like that isn't going to save you, you might think it's intimidating but it's not!"

"Try saying that to my face instead of hiding behind a tree like some sort of stalker."

"Do you have any idea who I am? I'm Kain Hikaru, one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, I'm super strong and stuff!"

"Strength doesn't mean a damn thing in my eyes, for a member of Fairy Tail like me, facing a strong opponent is just another challenge for us to overcome. I'll gladly take you on, and I'll even defeat you!" she was met with him holding up a hand.

"Uh, first let me ask you one question. I feel something bristly on my head, do you see anything up there?"

"Are you talking about your hair?" she was met with him pointing at her like it was some sort of epiphany '_Oh joy, another lunatic.'_

"Fine, you asked for it now!" Kain promptly reached into his cloak "Prepare to face the wrath of my Witching Hour Curse Magic, you should've run when you had the chance to!"

'_Awkward and creepy, just what have I gotten myself into?' _and yet her fear turned into surprise at the sight of him pulling out what looked like a rag doll.

"Before I kill you here and now, would you mind giving me a strand of your hair?"

"Come on, if you don't give me a strand of your hair with my Cursey Doll!"

"Yeah let me think about it, there's no way in hell that's happening!"

"All I need is one flimsy little strand of your hair, and then Mr Cursey will let me control you however I want to. You'll be like puddying in my hands. Hmmm, pudding."

"You know telling me freaky stuff like that isn't going to help you get your hands on my hair right?" she was met with another one of his epiphany stares "Are you seriously just realizing this now? Besides, everybody knows that voodoo dolls are totally bogus, you can't scare me with some stupid bluff dough boy."

"Dough boy isn't his name, I already told you that his name is Mr Cursey so you'd better get it straight lady! You don't have to be rude just because I want to kill you!"

"No you idiot, I meant a bluff as in an exaggeration, you know like how you tell people that you're bloated instead of fat."

"Wait a second, are you calling me a liar, because that's even worse!" he started rubbing his own hair.

'_Is it just me, or did I just light a stick on a short of stupidity.' _she freaked out at the sight of him pulling out a strand of his hair '_It's official, this guy is a fucking lunatic!'_

"If that's really what you think, then why don't you give it a try for yourself?" he put his hair into the doll.

"You've gotta be kidding me, are you just messing with me?"

"Why don't we just use my bristle for demonstration, you just have to stick it on Mr Cursey's head and then he's ready to go."

'_You've gotta be kidding me, please don't let this guy ever reproduce.'_

"There we are, no go ahead and offer it a try." he handed the doll to her "There we are, now do you see? Do you feel the power? You can go ahead and apologize to me now, feel free to give him plenty of hugs and kisses too. By the way, I think I'm starting to get hungry, so do you think we can fight later-" he was cut off by Lucy slamming the doll into the ground, which caused the same to happen to him.

"Holy crap, it actually worked? _Oh I'm gonna get a lot of mileage out of this one.'_

"Okay that's enough lady-" he got his legs stretched in a very painful way "Hey come on, it's my turn now!"

"Break dance spin." she spun it around on its head "How about some yoga?" she started making it do several poses, which caused the same thing to happen to Kain "Yeah that's right, come on and feel the burn. I know you can do it you giant tub of lard!"

"You little witch, give Mr Cursey back to me!"

"Hey come on, what's the rush? There's still a crap load of embarrassing poses that we haven't even tried yet." she started doing more poses.

"Yeah baby! You like that? Check it."

"You're not supposed to enjoy it you idiot!"

"You know what, screw you!" and then the comedy mode sort of switched off as Kain promptly pounced at Lucy and snatched the doll away from her, and then he stomped on the ground like an angry sumo wrestler "Alright, now I'm angry, and you can forget about me wanting you to ask me out on a date, you hear me?! I won't bother to waste any of my feelings on a bully who won't share her toys!"

"Trust me pal, I'm gonna find a way to get over it."

"It's time for you to get a non-stop ride on the Kain Pain Train! Choo-choo!" he shot forward with surprising levels of speed, forcing Lucy on the run almost immediately "Chugga chugga choo choo!" he started bursting through all of the trees of rocks in front of him.

"Hate to break it to you, but I'm putting the breaks on this train!"

"Don't run away from me! Why can't you accept my feelings for you?!"

"Well there's only one thing to do, fight big and creepy with bigger and creepier!" she pulled out one of her keys "**Open, Gate on the Golden Bull: Taurus!" **she opened the gate and promptly summoned Taurus "Get this creepy Pokemon!"

Kain was quick to stop Taurus and his axe with his bare hands "Celestial Spirit magic and an axe swinging moo cow?"

"Listen up pal!" Taurus let out a snarl "There's only one bovine who gets to plow Ms Lucy's pasture, and it's the beef cake in front of you!"

"Woah… you know I haven't had a steak in a good long while, is it okay if I try to take a bite out of you?"

"No, but you can kiss my flank when I beat your ass!"

"Hey Taurus, show this doll loving sumo reject that we don't take any bullshit." Lucy told him with a smirk.

"Moo to the moo, then how's about a peak at that skirt!" Taurus pounced at Kain with his axe ready to cut him down.

"Dosukoi!" Kain dealt him a solid blow that sent him crashing to the ground.

"Ow…"

"What the hell?!" needless to say, Lucy was freaked by this "How the hell did chubby style over there get the drop on you?"

"I don't know Miss Lucy, but I'm tenderized, so smooches." and then Taurus disappeared back to the Celestial World.

'_Well this sucks, now what the hell do I do?'_

"Now then…" Kain dropped into his sumo stance "The appetite is roaring inside of me, and I'm suddenly in the mood for strip stick."

"Strip what now?!" and that was all Lucy needed to hear before she promptly started running, with Kain chasing after her at full speed.

"Get back here!"

"What the hell is with this guy, he's stronger without magic! How the hell is someone so light on his feet?! _Wait a minute that's it, his feet! _**Open, Gate of the Archer: Sagittarius!" **she pulled out another key and opened the gate.

From the gate emerged Sagittarius himself "Howdy do mt lady."

"Horsemeat, yummy!" Kain lit up at the sight of him.

"Come again?"

"Forget about that, just hurry and aim for his stubby legs!" Lucy told him "Trick him up!"

"Righty-o, I have no intention of allowing you to get your hands on Lady Lucy or your chopsticks on me for that matter!" he fired a series of arrows.

"**Dadasu Turn!" **Kain leapt into the air and dealt each of the arrows a sharp kick, sending them hurtling right back to where they came from.

'_It can't be, he was able to deflect them?!' _thinking quick, Sagittarius blitzed in front of Lucy and took the full force of the arrows for her "This is it for now… forgive me… Lady Lucy…" and then she disappeared.

"Okay, now I'm mad! **Open, Gate of the Scorpion: Scorpio!" **Lucy pulled out a third key and opened the gate.

From that gate emerged Scorpio in all of his glory "Hey now, it's been awhile, but I'm still totally wicked in all of my glory! You think we could make this quick, me and Aquarius are having our own little island adventure, and I'd hate to have to leave her hanging ten, you feel what I'm saying?"

"By all means, get back as fast as you can. I don't want to give her any more reason to start plotting my demise."

"Duly noted, wicked."

"HEY!" Kain suddenly exploded at Scorpio "Just because you're on some romantic getaway trip with your girlfriend doesn't mean you have to rub it in my face!"

"Fair enough, I've got something else in mind! **Sand Buster!" **Scorpio attacked Kain with a blast of sand from his tail, which pretty much did absolutely nothing.

"You know I could go for a grilled scorpion, but I'd rather not have all of this sand around when I do." and then he sneezed, and it was a big one.

"Oh man, that is wicked nasty, so is this gonna be-"

"**Dodoskoi!" **Kain dealt both of them an attack that sent them flying into the air.

"Hey Lucy, since my sand is worth about jack shit, I'm gonna go ahead and make the trip back over to my Bahama Mama, that cool? Wicked." and then he disappeared.

"So totally not wicked at all!" now alone, Lucy found herself freefalling '_Well this totally sucks, I'm running out of spirits.'_

"Hey lady." this was when Kain got her attention "You know Mr Cursey still has my person on his head, so what do you think would happen if I had the ability to change what his body was made of?"

'_You mean he's made cursing himself into an advantage?'_

"Change Mr Cursey, I'm getting tired of being made of iron, so for now I say we should go with light. **Shining Dodoskoi!" **from the curse doll, Kain unleashed a blast of light energy that promptly hit Lucy dead on, ripping through her outfit and sending her crashing to the ground in a heap "You can't defeat me lady, I may not look very tough, but I'm still one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory. You'd better try and summon something tasty before I _really_ get mad."

'_Well he's not much of a fighter, but I bet he'll make for a good distraction. _**Open, Gate of the Little Dog: Nicola!" **she pulled out a silver key and opened the gate, summoning Plue onto the battlefield, which actually did seem to work as a distraction.

"Oh god he's so cute I just want to die, I just want to pick him up and hold him and squeeze him and cuddle him and-" and then he started drooling, which led to him chasing Lucy through the forest while she held Plue in her arms "Give me the yummy little thingy!"

'_Well that could've gone better, I guess my plan backfired! Time for the backup plan! _**Open, Gate of the Giant Crab: Cancer!" **she opened the gate.

From the gate in question emerged Cancer in all of his glory "Long time no see Baby."

"Holy crap legs!" was Kain's reaction to seeing Cancer.

"What's the deal baby, you don't write or call, and your hair needs a trim in the worst way you can imagine. Now how's about we start with some deep conditioning?"

"I see you're just about as clueless as ever." Lucy noted dryly "Now go over and bite the tubby guy that's boiling that pot so he can cook you."

"Hate to break it to you baby, but I have a fear of pots full of boiling water."

"Well get over it, because I need you to give him a haircut so bad he's gonna end up running away in shame."

"Way ahead of you, just stand back and watch." Cancer promptly blitzed through Kain with his scissors in hand "You like your haircut baby- What the actual fuck?" he looked over to notice that his scissors had been majorly worn down "How did you manage to wear down my babies so bad baby?"

"Oh yeah." Kain gave him a thumbs up "My bristles haven't seen any shampoo since the stone age pal."

"That's not something you should be proud of."

"Too bad! **Dodoskoi!" **Kain promptly sent Cancer flying into the air.

"See you later… Baby…" and then he disappeared.

'_Dammit, at this rate I've only got one shot left! _**Open, Gate of the Ram, Aries!" **she pulled out her fifth Zodiac key and opened the gate.

From that gate emerged Aries, looking as meek and shy as ever "Hello, I promise you that I'll do my best."

This was when Kain came barreling towards her "Hey you'd better have food for me, right now my stomach is trying to eat itself!"

"I'm sorry, I wish I could satisfy you."

"Wait a minute, why are you apologizing to me?"

"Well it's because you're starving, and I can't do anything to help you. I'm sorry!"

"Please don't go!" and then they suddenly entered some sort of weird fantasy "My darling I hate to see you cry, don't you know how much I love you?"

"You do?"

"Yes, with all of my heart."

"Will you hold me in your massive arms?"

"Are you kidding me, of course I will dear!"

"Oh Kain my love!"

"Yes that's my girl, run into my arms sweetheart! Aries my dear, thank you for filling my heart with wonderful wool-covered joy!"

"I know we just met today, but I love you."

"Lay it on him." was all Lucy said.

"**Wool Bomb!" **Aries promptly blasted Kain with a Wool Bomb right in the mouth, causing him to fall flat on his back "I hope that I was able to properly serve you Miss Lucy."

"Yeah you did a lot better than I expected you to, I never even knew that you would turn out to be such a good actress. Where did you learn that?"

"Oh I learned it from Leo, he said that this sort of thing always works and that I would be a real asset to you."

"By turning on the waterworks and making men into putty in your hands, were those his exact words?"

"Well yes."

"Uh huh, remind me to talk to him about that later."

"Why Aries, just why?" the smoke cleared away to reveal Kain not even hurt, and pissed off as all hell "I know I can be clingy, but why did you have to break my heart?"

"I think you've made him angry! _You've gotta be freaking kidding me, there's just no stopping this guy is there?'_

"**Dodoskoi!" **Kain promptly sent both of them flying into the air, which also caused Aries to disappear back to the Celestial World as a result "Fine then so be it, I'll have to satisfy my hunger with a full course dinner of pain! Mr Cursey, change into gun!" he leap into the air high enough to see Lucy rolling down the side of a hill "This is the last stop on the Kain Pain Train! **Self Reinforcement: Iron!"**

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Meanwhile, with another battle between Dragon Slayers…

"**Iron Dragon Shield!" **Gajeel slammed his arms together and formed an iron shield in front of him just in time to defend himself from a breath attack, though he was still sent skidding backwards from the force '_Dammit, this guy packs one metric fuckton of a punch, but it won't be anywhere near enough! _**Iron Dragon Lance: DEMON LOGS!" **he launched a barrage of iron spikes from both of his arms.

"**Mountain Dragon Terra Shield!" **Noah slammed a hand into the ground and summoned wall of earth in time to protect him from the barrage of iron spikes "You know I have to admit, it does feel nice to fight against someone who doesn't have to resort to blowing shit up in order to win a fight. Granted I'm hoping to fight Thunderclap, but still, fighting someone who uses actual physical attacks is a nice change of pace."

"I kind of know that feeling too."

"But at the same time, you're out of your fucking gourd if you think actually I'm going all out right now."

"Whatever, don't think I'm going down as hard as Salamander did."

"Keep using that head of yours and you'll at least last longer than he did." he then noticed out of the corner of his eye that Lucy fell to the ground a few feet away from the scene

"How's this for using my head! **Iron Dragon Club!" **Gajeel morphed his arm into a club and launched it forward… only for it to slam into Kain's face right as he descended, sending him crashing into a nearby tree "What the fuck?!"

"Gajeel, oh thank god!" Lucy breathed a sigh of relief.

"Going on record here, I didn't need any help taking down this Dragon Slayer."

"What Dragon Slayer?" then she noticed Noah "Wait what, but he was-"

"Yeah yeah, already went through that. Seriously though, what in the name of fuck are you doing here?"

"Well up until a second ago, I was running for my life from a gigantic Pokemon that I think was trying to eat me."

"Okay for the record, it's Chiaotzu from Dragon Ball that looks like the Pokemon. If you're gonna reference Team Four Star, at least have the decency to do it right."

While that was going on, Noah glanced over at where Kain was picking himself up off of the ground "So dough boy, you wanna tell me what the hell is going on?"

"Oh yeah, sorry about that." Kain pulled himself up and rubbed his new giant bruise "I was trying to fight that girl over there, and I almost finished her off."

"Yeah I can see that, like how you got drop kicked by Black Steel literally less than three minutes ago."

Back with the main exchange, Lucy glanced over at Gajeel "Looks to me like Noah has been giving you a hard time too."

"Normally I'd just brush it off, but he's a lot tougher than I thought he'd be." Gajeel promptly spat out some blood "Plus word is that he took out She Devil, Animal Girl and Salamander all on his own, so frankly I call dibs on him."

"You don't have to worry about that with me."

"Good to know."

"Speaking of which though, how have you been doing with him?"

"Like I said, he's tougher than he looks."

"He's doing better than Salamander did." Noah offered his input "He might be lacking in the power department, but he's definitely got a lot more going for him in terms of brain power, and frankly he's less annoying than Salamander is."

"It's not that hard. I mean I could totally have beat him on my own, but now that blondie here has decided to show up I'll go ahead and throw her a bone. Now don't get me wrong, as far as I'm concerned we're still rivals when it comes to the S-class trials, but I don't mind calling a truce for now. It couldn't hurt to share a little bit, give these assclowns something to really worry about."

"That's something I don't have any sort of problems with." Lucy promptly tied her hair back into a ponytail "I've gotta admit though, if this were back during Phantom Lord then I never could've imagined myself teaming up with you."

"Hey don't be like that blondie, even back then you said that my singing wasn't that bad."

"I said the lyrics weren't that bad, but truth be told your voice sounded like a garbage disposal gargling broken glass."

"And even after I chose not to beat you like a pinata and even treated the injuries that you got from Jose."

"Which is why I never said anything about it out loud."

"Fair enough. So how about it, are you ready?"

"You bet I am."

"Sounds like the two of you are pretty fired up." Noah shot them a smirk, but then he glanced over at Kain and rolled his eyes "For fuck's sake you idiot stop chewing on your cape, none of us can understand what the fuck you're saying!"

'_So we're really taking on two of them at once, and one of them knows us personally on some level, which means that he's got a better idea of how to handle us.'_

"So we're taking on two of them at once huh?" Gajeel gave a confident smirk "I've gotta admit, now I've got a fire in my belly."

"You know what, that's it!" Kain suddenly exploded "I'll take care of these bratty kids myself, just leave them to me! First I'm gonna filet the blonde girl, then I'm gonna go ahead and barbecue the goddamn hedgehog and have him for desert!"

"Forget it you fat dipshit, we're sticking with two on two! And if I'm a hedgehog, then you really are a Pokemon."

"Actually I don't think I would mind taking them on one at a time." Lucy commented.

"Well I do. Think about it blondie, this is just us killing two birds with one stone, and I get the chance to one-up Salamander."

"You already did by not annoying me." Noah told him dryly, then shot a glance over in the direction of Kain "Alright big guy, I'm leaving it to you. See what you can do to them, I'm gonna go see if I can track down the one I actually want to fight."

"Good luck with that." Kain quickly applauded him "What about the others?"

"Zancrow got his ass kicked, Zoldeo basically Hakai'ed himself, and I think Ultear actually managed to track down Zeref." he then glanced over at Lucy and Gajeel "Word of advice, when you finish with the tub of lard here go after Ultear. You'll recognize her, she's the sadistic bitch in the tight battle armor with boobs as big as her ego. I don't really pay attention to their rantings, but they want to use Zeref to bring about this Grand Magic World and kill all the people who can't use magic."

"Trust me we'll take down your girlfriend, but not before I take you down and pound your ass into the ground!" Gajeel promptly charged at him as his skin turned to iron once again.

"Wait for it…"

"Dosukoi!" Kain suddenly blitzed in front of Gajeel and dealt him a palm strike to the face, the force of the blow sending him tumbling backwards.

"And there it is. Whoever is gonna start kicking ass just don't waste any time, keep in mind that we are on a schedule here and I'd rather not have to come back to do any damage control. So yeah, someone just kick someone's ass and clean up after."

"No way, I've got a stomach to fill and the main course just got served. There won't be anything for me to clean up after."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself." and so Noah started making his way off the scene.

"Dosukoi."

"Bring it on. **Iron Dragon Club!" **Gajeel morphed his arm into a club, but rather than use it to attack, he instead used it to repel himself away from Kain's next attack "I'm gonna take the dough boy for myself blondie!"

"And that leaves me with Noah then!" Lucy tried to chase after him, only to be met with a sharp glare from Kain, only to suddenly find herself frozen in place.

"What the fuck are you doing, he's gonna get away!"

"Look I'm trying to move, but I can't seem to budge!"

"See here, this is how." Kain held up his curse doll, which happened to have a certain strande of blonde hair attached to it "I snagged one of your hairs from when I was chasing you earlier."

"What the- How did you-?"

"Now that you and Mr Cursey are connected to each other, it's time for me to serve out your just desserts. Now what was the first thing you did to me? Oh yeah, it was this!" he stretched the doll's legs painfully, which caused the same thing to happen to Lucy "Go ahead and show us those funky moves of yours!" he started spinning her like a top, earning more comical screams of pain.

Gajeel just watched the entire situation, confused as all hell '_Okay so now this is happening, and frankly I haven't been this confused since I saw Thunderclap crash Phantom Lord's open mic night. Shit, who would've thought he could sing like Bryan Adams.'_

"You can forget it blondie, there's no way I'm letting you ask me out now."

"Keep dreaming you bristle hole!" Lucy was promptly sent flying through the air thanks to the curse doll.

"Oh come on now, don't be so shy. You love to dance for me and pose for me don't you?" he made her pose in a bunch of different ways.

"Cut it the hell out already!"

"Looks like you're enjoying it if you ask me."

"It's totally in your thick fat head!"

Gajeel's eyes narrowed at the sight of what was happening in front of him '_Okay this is weird, whenever the fat guy does something to that doll it happens to Lucy too. Is this some kind of voodoo bullshit? I thought that was a myth.'_

"Hip to the hop you little rabbit!"

"Oh come on, just knock it off already!" Lucy found herself hopping like a rabbit, much to her inevitable humiliation.

"Why don't I make you tickle yourself silly?"

"Do you wanna die?!"

"Actually you know what, I think that's exactly what you should do." with a quick sweep of his hand, Kain sent Lucy hurtling forward.

"GOD DAMMIT! GAJEEL GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

"I've got eyes, I don't need you to scream that." Gajeel promptly leapt over Lucy, placing a hand on her back to balance himself.

"Are you trying to cop a feel?!" and yet she was forced to aim a kick at Gajeel's jaw.

"**Iron Dragon Club!" **Gajeel quickly held up one arm and morphed it into a club made of iron to protect himself from Lucy's kick, which was quickly followed by the sound of a loud and sickening crack '_Gotta give it to the stripper, he's got good ideas for offensive and defensive spells.' _he's talking about Gray in this case.

Lucy promptly let out a comical shriek and clutched her now throbbing foot "What in the name of hell are you doing?!"

"I could ask you the same thing, you trying to go for my manhood?"

"It's not me you idiot, it's the creepy doll!" and then she was forced to repeatedly punch him in the face in a comical fashion "You know I'd be a hell of a lot more sorry about this if you didn't break my foot!"

"It's my face, you think I was gonna let you anywhere near it? It's bad enough I don't have any eyebrows, I'm not proud of that, but I don't need you fucking up my money maker! Half of a successful music career comes from the looks dammit! Look at John Stamos for proof! Okay you know what, fuck this. **Iron Dragon Chains!" **he summoned some chains made of iron from his arms and bound Lucy in place "Just stay the fuck still dammit! For crying out loud, when did you get so strong? Either you've been doing some push ups, sit ups and drinking plenty of juice, or you're getting a major boost from that power."

"HEY!" Kain suddenly exploded at the two of them "For crying out loud, don't the two of you have any sort of decency?! Quit being all cuddly and kissyfaced in the middle of a battlefield already!"

"Neither of us are doing anything like that you fat tub of lard! One more crack like that and you're going down tubby!"

"...Tubby? Tubby?! NOBODY CALLS ME TUBBY! Now you've got me really mad, you wanna get handsy in front of me and you call me the T word?! Fine, then go right ahead and take this!" he forced Lucy to take Gajeel into a bear hug "I'll have your girlfriend hug you so hard that your spine turns into jelly! Mmmm, jelly." he had Lucy bend him in a variety of comically painful ways "Yeah there we go, put the squeeze on your main squeeze! Stretch him like he's made of taffy! Mmm, taffy. This is just a taste of the power of my Witching Hour Curse Magic, and your future is looking very dark indeed!" but then he noticed a certain something was missing from his hand "MR CURSEY! Why the hell does everything I love always run away from me?!"

"Probably because they like guys that don't look like they stuff themselves with donut holes, or guys that look like donut holes themselves!" as it turns out, despite Lucy being forced to bend him in ways he didn't know were physically possible, Gajeel was still able to morph one of his arms into an iron club "Well at least I got this creepy little thing away from him, now what the hell do I do with it?"

"Alright Gajeel, way to go!" Lucy lit up at the sight of him holding the object that was torturing her, only to scowl at the sight of him smirking "Don't even think about it."

"Oh I'm thinking about it blondie."

"Give my back my doll!" Kain pounced at Gajeel in a blind rage.

"You can forget it pal, this thing belongs to me! **Iron Dragon Sword!" **Gajeel quickly spun around, which also sent Lucy flying, and he attempted to decapitate Kain by morphing his arm into an iron sword, which then sent Lucy flying into the air.

"Dosukoi!" Kain promptly dealt Gajeel a brutal headbutt, which sent him flying high into the air at high speeds.

"Dammit what gives, how the hell is he so fast? _I guess the ram and the chicken guys were right about what they said, these Seven Kin of Purgatory are on a whole other level.'_

"Did you honestly think that some pathetic and wimpy official guild like you would be able to overpower the likes of us?! DOSUKOI!" Kain blitzed up into the air and dealt Gajeel a palm strike to the face, the force sending him crashing into a nearby cliffside, which resulted in him crashing to the ground.

'_Dammit!'_

"Gajeel no!" Lucy was left horrified.

"Dammit I'm stuck, I can't get myself loose!"

"Just hold on, I'll summon Virgo to get you out of there!" Lucy reached for one of her keys, but then froze as she came to a horrible realization "No… it can't be… of all the times for this to happen… of all the times for me to… to run out of magic power…" she failed to notice the towering form of Kain looming over her.

"Dammit blondie he's behind you, get the fuck out of the way!"

"Dosukoi." Kain dealt Lucy a brutal chop attack that drove her into the ground, causing her to cry out in pain.

"You son of a mother fucker, you get your hands off of her!"

"Relax hedgehog man, you're gonna get a front row seat for tonight's execution."

"I said let her go you bastard! When I get my hands on you there isn't gonna be anything left of that ugly sack of shit you call a body!" Gajeel tried to force himself free, but under the force of so much rubble, he didn't have any luck "Listen blondie you've gotta get the hell out of here, you've gotta get out of here or you're gonna get yourself killed! Forget about what happens to me, just keep running and don't look back!"

"No… I can't…" as a result of her defiance, Lucy was met with Kain firmly stomping down on her back, causing her to cry out in pain, and she was picked up by the head "I absolutely refuse to run away… I won't do it… I won't leave one of my friends behind… I'd never be able to forgive myself… if I left one of you behind…"

"Blondie… Lucy…"

"I guess that's one way of saying goodbye." Kain promptly started squeezing Lucy's head, the look on his face filled with malice "I can't wait to take that cute little head of yours and pop it right off."

"You get your fucking hands off of her!"

"Take it easy hedgehog, you'll break my concentration! I might not squeeze her enough the first time." he squeezed tighter, earning a squeal of pain.

"Why you son of a mother-" but then Gajeel suddenly noticed something out of the corner of his eye: Mr Cursey lying a few feet away "Speaking of concentrating…" he picked up the doll and took control of Lucy, making her swing her legs around and deal Kain a sharp kick straight to the face, then a fist across the cheek.

"Dosukoi!" Kain aimed a palm strike at her.

"Dodge the bastard!" Gajeel made Lucy bend over, and then doing a lot of other stuff that included either making her dodge or attack Kain in painful ways for both of them "And just like that, available for the first time ever is the fully functional Lucy action figure! Huh, maybe I have a career in advertisement.

"Did you forget that I've got joints to think about or are you trying to be a cruel and heartless bastard?!"

"Hey me being a cruel and heartless bastard is helping you beat his ass into the ground! Don't complain about this, just enjoy the effects!"

"...Holy crap you're right, I might win this after all."

"Hold on, let me try something. If I can control her physical abilities, then maybe if I combine my Dragon Slayer magic with her. **Iron Dragon Sword!" **the doll's hand transformed into a sword made of iron, which caused the same thing to happen to Lucy, which of course caused her to freak out.

"What in the name of fuck did you do to me?!"

"Nothing I don't do to myself all the time, this is gonna be more awesome than me discovering Avatar the Last Airbender for the first time! You know, if you live."

"What the hell do you mean by IF?!"

"Watch and find out! **Iron Dragon Chains!" **Gajeel morphed one of his arms into an iron chain and attached the doll to the end of it "I'm gonna see if I can get this shit up to mach speed!"

"Please stop, I don't wanna do this!"

"I stopped listening to you when you said that my voice sounded like a garbage disposal, it's payback time, both for you and for him!"

"Okay you know what, you totally suck!"

"Just get that Celestial Whip thing out and get ready to wreck some shit!" Gajeel promptly started swinging around the doll in mid air, sending Lucy flying through the air and screaming in comical terror as she did so.

Kain was growing rather nervous at what he was seeing "Uh this isn't good, I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Screw you Black Steel, when this is over I'm lighting you on fire!" and yet despite this comical threat, Lucy pulled out her Celesital Whip and morphed it into a sword, the blade radiating magic energy "**Special Attack: Double Celestial BLADE DANCE!" **she soared downwards at full speed while spiralling towards Kain with both blades pointed at him, resulting in her drilling into him and leaving him lying in a crater, unconscious and with a gigantic hole in his stomach that was pouring out blood. Lucy on the other hand, she was left reeling from the impact herself, and promptly fell to her knees as a result "Okay… I'm out…"

"And so is the tub of lard, he's down for the count!" Gajeel pumped a fist from where he was still trapped under a ton of rubble "You know I'm pretty tempted to do a victory pose."

"Don't even fucking try it, I say I've been through more than enough today."

"You're not the one trapped under a crapload of rocks you can't even eat."

"Why don't you just use your Iron Dragon Slayer magic to cut yourself free?"

"Why do you think, we had a gigantic tub of lard trying to eat us before."

"So what then, do you want me to try and pull you free now?"

"And have you rip my head off while you do it? Forget it. **Iron Dragon Sword!" **using his Dragon Slayer magic, Gajeel morphed his arm into a sword made of iron and cut himself free of the rocks, being careful to avoid another landslide "Well that was fun, is shit always this crazy whenever you team up with Thunderclap?"

"I don't really get to team up with him too often, but no not really. That's mostly because he's sane."

"Hey! Oh wait, no that's actually fair."

"Yeah I figured. Anyway, now that the tub of lard is out of the way, we should probably focus on trying to find Noah and stop him. You think you can track his scent?"

"Only one way to find out." Gajeel quickly took a whiff of the air, but then he scowled "Nope, it's no good. I know for a fact that I can still smell him from when he was here, but he must have done something to mask his scent, so I can't tell which way they went."

"Don't forget about Cana, I don't have a clue where she is right now." Lucy's leg suddenly sprouted up next to her.

"And I'm sure that high kicking like a line dancer is gonna turn out to be the answer to all of our problems. Well mine actually, I was gonna try and turn you and Levy into chorus girls for my next performance when we get back to the guild."

"...We're gonna have a good long talk about that later. As worried as I am about Cana right now, we're gonna have to deal with all of this business about Grimoire Heart and Zeref first."

"Fine by me. But seriously, I've got bunny girl outfits picked out and everything-"

"Ignoring that! From what I understand, the main plan of Grimoire Heart for taking over the world completely revolves around Zeref."

"Well that hasn't been done, why the hell do the bad guys always want to take over the world or some bullshit? It sounds like such a huge pain in the ass as far as I'm concerned. Seriously, stick me with my music career and I'd be totally fine."

"Yeah, good to know you've got your priorities in order."

"Enough about that then, let's go track them down. We've gotta settle the score with these bastards for the crap they've been giving us up until now. When I get my hands on those sacks of shit, they're gonna wish they never set foot on the sacred ground of Fairy Tail."

"How did they even get here to begin with?" then Lucy felt it hit her "Hey wait a second, they must have travelled on some kind of ship to get here right? And Noah said that one of his comrades was planning to take Zeref back with her to her master didn't he? I have to guess that whatever ship they came here on is anchored somewhere near the island. That has to be where they're going to end up. It's too bad we don't have Happy or Bolt here, they'd be able to fly around and look for it."

"We can't afford to dwell on that right now, all we should do for now is head back and check on the others. Maybe Lily and the others can take a look once we manage to track them down."

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Meanwhile, Gray was in the middle of exploring the forest on his own, when he heard rustling and he came across a woman that he thought was Ur, his deceased mentor. However, it was actually just Ultear, carrying the unconscious form of Zeref on her shoulders. After he got over the shock of how she resembled Ur, he decided to follow her.

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Meanwhile, on Route E…

"_One of the many tunnels that wind through Tenrou Island, also known as Route E."_

On the route in question, Cana slowly wandered through the tunnels of this route, her mind focused on only one objective '_If Lucy was right about this, then I should be able to find Mavis' grave somewhere down here. I'm gonna be the first one out of anyone to find it, I'm gonna be the one who passes the trial this year. I'm going to finally make S-class rank. I have to become an S-class wizard, and then I'll finally be able to look him in the eye, and I'll finally be able to tell him the truth. I have to become an S-class wizard, because I can't do it until then.' _she continued wandering until she saw a light at the end of the tunnel, and her eyes widened at the sight that awaited her "Is… Is that it?"

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Meanwhile, with a certain Dragon Slayer…

The sun was still setting over the skies of Tenrou Island.

Noah stood on the edge of a cliffside, his mind drifting as he felt the breeze blowing through his body '_So Zancrow, Caprico, and now Kain have been taken down, and Thunderclap hasn't had to get involved in those fights once.' _he felt a pulsating in his pocket, and he promptly pulled out a communication lacrima "What do you want?"

"_I take it you're aware of the situation already. Of my elite Seven Kin of Purgatory, three of them have already been bested. It would appear that Makarov has trained all of his children quite well up until now."_

"You shouldn't be surprised, I told you about their power that I saw during my time with them in Edolas. You knew this wasn't going to be any easy win."

"_Yes, I did take that into account."_

"And you promptly ignored it."

"_Anyway, as I said, three of the Kin have already fallen. Bluenote has made it quite adamant that he intends to get involved in the battle himself. I ordered him to stand down, but he's already made it quite clear that regardless of my orders, he intends to join the battle himself if another one of the Kin should fall at the hands of Fairy Tail. As for you, I see that you're making effective work of some of Makarov's children."_

"I'm looking for a good fight, something I have in common with Azuma."

"_I'm aware. As for Bluenote, if he does indeed end up joining the battle, you had best be prepared to damage control."_

"Duly noted." he stuffed away the lacrima and let out a sigh '_Dammit, Bluenote actually getting up off his ass and joining the fight? Sorry Thunderclap, that's one thing I didn't count on seeing happen today.'_

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Elsewhere on the sea, Lahar reached the conclusion that he would contact the HQ of the Magic Council about the events taking place on Tenrou Island, especially with the information about how Bluenote Stinger was among the ranks of Grimoire Heart.

However, Doranbolt was quick to contradict him and ask for a little bit more time, and as such, he promptly teleported out with the communication lacrima.

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Meanwhile, back on the island…

Wendy looked down over Makarov's unconscious form, with Carla and Lily by her side, her mind racing '_Master is so badly hurt, but I can't do anything to help him. Right now, the only thing I can do is wait for Natsu to get back.'_

"Hey shrimp!" this was when Gajeel and Lucy promptly showed up on the scene "I heard about what happened to Master, how is he holding up?"

"I've been trying to heal him, but he's hurt so bad I don't think he's getting any better."

"Dammit."

"Although it would seem that the Master's wounds are turning out to be quite serious, for whatever the reason may be, I don't feel as though is life is truly in danger." Lily noted "Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that this island is considered to be sacred ground."

"At least it's an explanation."

"Wouldn't surprise me."

Wendy and the others looked up, and her eyes widened "Noah…"

Sure enough, Noah dropped down onto the scene "Sup." he quickly rose a Terra Shield to block an attack from Gajeel "Take it easy Black Steel, I'm not here to pick a fight. I just came to check and see if Makarov was in as bad of a condition as I was led to believe." he looked down at the unconscious form of Makarov and let out a scoff "Typical, it takes the old man forever to get off his throne and once he does he doesn't know how to hold the fuck back."

"So then… you really are with Grimoire Heart… but why?"

"That's gonna have to wait, you've got more incoming right about now." Noah promptly jerked a thumb back behind him.

As it turns out, that was exactly where Mest appeared before the group, the communication lacrima in hand "Oh good, you're all still alive."

"So the traitor has returned." Lily noted, his tone filled with disdain.

"Friend of yours I take it?"

"That would be Mest, apparently he's a spy for the Magic Council." Lucy told him.

"To be quite honest, my name is Doranbolt actually." he was met with a number of pissed off looks, with the exception of Noah.

"To be honest, none of us give a shit what your name is." Gajeel stepped forward as his skin was covered in iron dragon scales "What the hell do you want?"

"You don't have to worry about me, I assure that I'm not here to cause any trouble. I guess you could say that I came here on a rescue mission. I can use my teleportation magic to send you and all of your guild members somewhere safe, I'll get you as far away from his island as I possibly can, but first I need to know where everyone is in order to do that."

"...Yeah, I got this." Noah promptly stepped up to Doranbolt "I don't need to be a member of their guild to know that they're essentially going to tell you to fuck off. Dark guild or not, I know that they wouldn't have any reason to trust anyone acting in the interest of the Magic Council of assholes? This problem has nothing to do with you, so do the world a favor and get the fuck out of here."

"Step aside, my business is with Fairy Tail right now." so Doranbolt turned to the others "Please just listen to me, I guarantee that when the Magic Council finds out what's going on here, they won't hesitate to do whatever it takes to neutralize the threat that's presenting itself."

"You mean they might resort to using Etherion like they did back in the Tower of Heaven, but I'm guessing cut out the six hours of debating and the requirement of the reveal of the revelation of the plan to resurrect Zeref. They used it before back in the Tower of Heaven during that whole thing with Jellal. Add it to the list of proof of how this guild ends up in deep shit no matter where they go or what they do, something I bet you have no problem with."

"You're wrong! Look I admit it, I infiltrated Fairy Tail in order to find dirt on them to bring them down, but all I wanted was to get the guild disbanded, not blow all of them straight to kingdom come. I will never act to put people's lives in danger, I'm not a killer! Not that I expect you to understand." he was met with a fist to the gut.

"That's the difference between us dipshit, I don't resort to lying or fucking with people's heads when I do my business. I'm blunt and straightforward, I told these guys flat out that we'd most likely be enemies when we met again, and now here we are." Noah glanced over at Gajeel and the others "For the record, this just means that you're gonna have to hurry up and take care of business fast, and I'm gonna do likewise."

"What?!"

"Trust me Aftershock, that was the plan." Gajeel shot him a smirk.

"Be realistic about this! Your master has already been defeated and Grimoire Heart has a number of incredibly powerful wizards on their side, so there's no chance in hell of you being able to defeat them."

"So what then, we just go ahead and blow this entire island to kingdom fucking come, is that what you're saying?"

"You're out of your mind!"

"So are you if you ever thought that they would agree to run away." Noah told him flatly "If you think that any of these people would ever dream of running away, then you're living in a fucking fantasy. Here's a message for the council on behalf of Fairy Tail: Tell them that they had better make like Lori Loughlin's integrity, credibility and respect, and disappear from the face of the Earth for good. They're sure as hell gonna regret it if they don't. Fairy Tail knows how to take care of themselves."

"Is that a threat to the Magic Council, a threat from some lowly wizards like you, and one from a dark guild no less?"

"Blow it out your ass." Gajeel spat out at him "Dark guild or not, he understands our guild a metrick fuckton better than you ever will. You've got a hell of a lot to learn about us, because whether it's Grimoire Heart or the Magic Council, the fact is that Fairy Tail doesn't dream of backing down. You try and attack us, it's going to be the last mistake you ever make. We'll rip you apart and put you deep in the ground before you ever knew what hit you." as if on cue, he was followed by the sound of thunder rumbling above him.

Noah glanced up to see storm clouds gathering overhead "Looks like there's a storm coming over the island, whether it be figurative or literal. I'd better get moving." he prepared to take his leave, but he stopped and glanced back at Wendy "For what it's worth kid… I'm sorry." and then he took his leave.

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At the same time, Erza and Juvia were experiencing trouble in their battle with Meldy, and with the latter down, Erza decided to take Meldy on herself. However, Meldy continued to aim her attacks at Juvia, claiming that she was #13 on the list of people to kill. She then went on to add that Erza was only the fifth, Luke was the fourth, Gildarts was the third, Makarov was the second, and the first on her list was Gray, the person she wanted to kill the most because he was the one that she blamed for killing Ur, Ultear's mother. Hearing Meldy's declaration of her desire to kill Gray caused Juvia to rise with newfound power, determination, and most of all, terrifying levels of rage. She then asked Erza to leave and continue with searching for the others, while she was left to battle Meldy alone.

Meldy simply thought it was fortunate, seeing how she came to the island mainly to fulfill her purpose of killing Gray, and she found someone who had strong feelings for him. She then proceeded to cast her Sensory Link on Juvia and Gray, a spell that enabled the senses of two people to be merged into one, which enabled them to feel what the other did. Juvia was initially left enthralled by this, but as Meldy attacked her, she discovered that it also resulted in them sharing pain, so what hurt Juvia would also hurt Gray. This angered Juvia, which in turn caused her magic power to rise. As a last resort, Meldy decided to cast her Three Spread Sensory Link, a spell that allowed Meldy herself to be connected to the link between Gray and Juvia. She then went on to declare that it didn't matter if it was her or Juvia that died in their battle, because thanks to the link, if one of them died, then Gray would die too.

Now that Meldy was in a three way deadlock, she concluded that even if she were to end her own life, she would also be able to end Gray's life, for the sake of Ultear. She attempted to use her swords to slice her throat, but Juvia attacked herself in order to stop her. Despite being in pain from this, Meldy tried again, insisting that the only option left was for her to die. As her swords descended, she recalled the memories she had with Ultear.

Meldy remembered the day that Ultear took her in to save her, and the time that she had once called Ultear her mother. Her emotions from these memories ended up flooding through the link, and Juvia intercepted the blade and hugged her, claming that Meldy should try her best to live for the ones that she loved, and that she intended to do the same. Juvia's emotions ended up flooding through the link as well, which caused Meldy to burst into tears as Juvia did, and then she conceded defeat as a result. The two of them then collapsed in the water, unable to fight each other anymore.

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Meanwhile, with Luke…

As the rain poured down from the skies above, Luke finished dealing with a few scratches and minor wounds across his body, and then he pulled himself back to his feet '_Okay, that's enough of that. My wounds are taken care of, the Dragon Slayer lacrima in my back restored enough of my magic power. I'd better get going and help the others before it's too late.'_

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At the same time, Gray took a moment to notice that the extra senses and the mark on his arm that resulted from Meldy's magic had disappeared. However, Ultear suddenly appeared behind him. He was wary of her, though she admitted that she actually was Ur's daughter, and she smiled at him, saying that she had wanted to see him for so long, and she assured him that she was on his side. He accused her of lying to him, claiming that Ur must not be pleased with what her daughter was doing. However, Ultear countered this by claiming that the actions she was taking were exactly what Ur wanted.

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Meanwhile, with another team…

As a result of the rain, Gajeel and the others were forced to take some shelter and wait it out, though he was getting impatient '_Dammit I can't stand waiting around like this, we should be out there tracking down the others.'_

"Hey guys!" this was when Happy suddenly bolted into the cave "I left Natsu back at the camp and I spent like an hour trying to find you guys."

"We had to take shelter from the rain, we couldn't bring master back to camp like this. But on the plus side, we've taken down at least three of the Seven Kin of Purgatory now."

"So how about it guys, what do you think?" this was when Lucy suddenly stepped out and revealed herself to them, clad in a new white and blue outfit "So what do you think, do you like the new look?"

"You look most satisfactory Princess." Virgo noted "Clothing from the Celestial World truly does suit you quite well. This is our latest fashion. Do you like it?"

"You bet I do, thanks."

"Of course princess, happy to be of service." Virgo then turned her attention to Wendy and presented a new pink outfit for her "Your turn now."

"Oh you didn't have to do this for me." Wendy assured her.

"Please think nothing of it, now change before you catch cold."

"Okay, thanks a lot."

"Would you like some assistance with getting out of your clothes?"

"I think I'll be fine, but thanks for offering." she went and hid behind a large rock.

Lucy glanced out the entrance to the cave "Looks like the rain just doesn't want to let up, we could be in here for awhile."

"It is nice to be dry, but I feel kind of helpless."

"I know what you mean." this was when Lucy glanced up and noticed Carla flying back towards the group "Hey Carla, what happened with Lily? You didn't lose him did you?"

"No, we decided to split up." Carla told her "We decided to stop by the base camp on the way here. Natsu, Levy and Lisanna are in pretty bad shape, so Lily decided to stay with them while they were recovering."

"I hope they get better soon." Happy muttered.

"As do I, but the good news is that we spotted the ship of Grimoire Heart sitting off the east coast of the island."

"Well we have an idea of where the enemy is, so that's good." Lucy noted.

"I know what do to." Gajeel pulled himself to his feet "I say we head out and start busting some skulls in."

"Hold on a second Gajeel, I think we should head back to base camp first. If Cana and Gray show up, then we could really use their help."

"But-"

"She's right." Wendy stepped out in her new outfit "If it's up for a vote then I'm with Lucy, we should go and check the camp."

"...Fine fuck it, let's get moving. I'll carry the Master myself." Gajeel promptly slung Makarov over his back.

"And what about me?" this was when Doranbolt got their attention.

"You just keep the council from blowing us to hell. We don't need their help or want it either, we can take down Grimoire Heart and Zeref without their help. Above all, make sure they don't fire that Etherion thing."

"And you think they'll listen to that?"

"Probably not, so in that case just try and buy us some time. We're counting on you for this, as ridiculous as that sounds."

"You're the ones who are being ridiculous, you can't beat them! There isn't a single guild that's faced Grimoire Heart and lived to talk about it, do you even have a plan?"

"The only plan that actually matters, we're giving them everything we've got." and so they took their leave out into the pouring rain, leaving Doranbolt dumbstruck.

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Meanwhile, with a certain S-class wizard…

By this point, having departed to search for her comrades on her own, Erza was wandering through the woods of Tenrou Island, calling out to anyone who would hear "Wendy! Luke! Can any of you hear me?!"

"The famous one herself, Erza Scarlet, Titania."

'_This magic power…' _sensing the presence of another, Erza quickly whipped around and her eyes hardened "Whoever is there, come out and show yourself!"

"Very well then." with his eyes glowing red, Azuma made himself known as he emerged from the side of a nearby tree branch "At last, I've finally come face to face with a true warrior from your guild in the form of you, Titania. I assume that you were referring to the young girl with the cats, correct? Well she's gone, I made sure of that."

"What was that?" Erza clenched her fists and gritted her teeth "If what you say is true… then I have no reason to let you live."

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Meanwhile, with a certain Dragon Slayer…

Noah stood in the middle of a muddy field, his gaze aimed up at the storm clouds pouring down rain above him '_The scent of the wind has changed… Meldy, don't tell me you… I have a bad feeling about this…' _he pulled out his communication lacrima "Give me some good news, am I wrong about this?"

"_I'm afraid not. Meldy has indeed been defeated in battle. I'm as pained by such a thought as you are. To think that even she would be bested in combat."_

"Yeah yeah, you never thought that even half of the Seven Deadly Kins could fall at the hands of your former guild. Just tell me…"

"_She has been defeated, but she still lives."_

"Uh huh. So then…"

"_Bluenote stayed true to his word, and it appears that he has already left. I had hoped that I would not have to send him into the fray, but it would seem that the end is near."_

"So I can see. _Meldy…' _at this, Noah crushed the communication lacrima in his hand and gritted his teeth as a single tear rolled down his cheek '_Meldy, I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you… I promised I would always be there to protect you… And I'm sorry to you too Thunderclap, I had hoped that he wouldn't have to get involved in this.' _he paused impressively, then took a slight whiff of his nose '_This scent… Wait I know that scent, that's the drunk chick that Thunderclap has the hots for, even if he doesn't know it. Why would she be on her own? Something doesn't seem right about this. I'd better go check it out.' _and so he promptly took off through the rain in search of the source of that scent. For those of you who didn't get it, he means Cana.

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Meanwhile, at Fairy Tail's camp…

Mira looked down at Natsu and the others, then back at Panther Lily "So Gajeel met up with the others, and now they're on their way back? At least now we have an idea of where most of the others are."

"Yes, and they should be here soon." Lily told her "In fact, they should be following Carla back here to camp even as we speak."

"That's a good thing too, now that so many of ours are out of commission we're gonna need as many as we can get, and I can't take care of the rest of the enemy by myself."

"And we'll be adding one more to the wounded when they arrive with the Master."

"I still find it kind of hard to believe that those bastards beat him down like that. Speaking of which, do you have any idea where Luke is right now?"

"Unfortunately no, I don't know where he is."

"Just great. Well it doesn't matter if he's here or not, we're gonna send Grimoire Heart straight to hell by showing them what a true demon is capable of. We've got what it takes to pull it off, I know that for a fact." she was met with the sound of footsteps approaching them, and she whipped around and her eyes narrowed.

As it turns out, it was Rustyrose approaching them "I have a suggestion for all of you, why don't you just surrender? There's nothing wrong with that, differences in power are quite obviously bound in this unbalanced world of ours. Feel your drums pound faster against their cages and prepare yourselves for oblivion, because that is where all of you are headed."

"Oh yeah, well that's what you think scoundrel!" Lily promptly transformed into his big form and readied himself for the fight to come.

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Meanwhile, with Wendy's group…

By this point, Wendy and the others were making their way back to camp through the storm, but their was still a sense of dread looming over them "I have to admit Carla, I'm still pretty worried about all of this. What if Doranbolt fails?"

"Just forget about that creep, we don't need him." Carla told her flatly.

"I guess."

"I'm worried about Luke and Cana too." Lucy commented "We don't have any idea where either of them are right now, I just hope they managed to find their way back to base camp."

"You think Erza might be there too?"

"I hope so."

"Maybe, but I think we're gonna have to hold that thought for the time being." Gajeel promptly screeched to a halt, which caused the others to do the same "We've got another problem right now, and it's in the form of the really big dude in front of us, and I'm pretty sure that he's being showered by either the rain or his own magic power. If it's the former then it totally sucks to be him, but if it's the latter then I would say we're pretty much fucked. _Dammit, the other guys we've seen so far don't even hold a fucking candle to this one. _Start talking big guy, are you one of the Kin?"

The big dude in front of them was none other than Bluenote Stinger himself, being bathed in his own magic power mixed with the rain "Tell me, have any of you learned to fly?" he received a numerous of WTF looks "Am I to take that as a no? A pity then." he held out his hands as his magic power subsided, and the rain literally stopped falling in mid air around him.

'_Holy shit, I'm getting Avatar vibes right now.' _it's true, this exact scene reminds me of the scene where Katara confronts the man who killed her mother, and then she literally stopped the rain in mid air. It was epic.

"So be it then. **Fall." **Bluenote's magic power exploded around him, crushing Gajeel and the others under the incredible pressure as a result.

'_Fuck, I can't move! It's crushing us! Is this some kind of gravity magic, or is this just the force of his magic power?'_

"You know personally, neither the Fairy Tail guild nor any of the plans we have for Zeref mean much of anything to me, if anything at all. But there is one thing I've been longing to do on this island for so long now. Tell me, where can I find the grave of Mavis Vermillion? I wish to pay my respects to the First Master of Fairy Tail!"

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Meanwhile, with Luke…

Amidst the pouring rain, Luke perched himself high atop a cliffside as he took a whiff around himself '_Okay, back to full strength and I'm detecting the scents of multiple enemies. I think the closest one is…' _his thoughts were cut short by the sudden explosive increase in magic power coming from Bluenote '_New plan, forget about the closest source of magic and focus on the biggest one instead.' _he promptly started moving towards that source, his mind racing '_The power I'm sensing from him is insane, he must be even more powerful than Jose was by a longshot! I'm gonna have to use Dragon Force at least to take him down, maybe even try and use __**that **__too if it doesn't work. It's a longshot, incredibly risky, and it might destroy my body in the process, but if I have to do that in order for me to protect my guild, then I will without any sort of hesitation.'_

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Meanwhile, with Cana…

'_Is this it…?' _Cana slowly and surely made her way closer to the exit of the tunnel '_At long last, I've finally found it… the grave of Mavis. The day has come where I'm finally going to become an S-class wizard, and then I'm finally going to be able to face my father… and then maybe you too Luke.' _she went through the exit, and sure enough, in the clearing ahead of her stood the grave of Mavis Vermillion, and she was quick to notice the golden flame burning in the hole in the center of the headstone '_What is this… What is this light…? Am I seeing things?' _she slowly made her way forward, and looked up when she noticed something '_It's weird, but it's like this place is being protected from the rain. This light is it so intense… is it some rare kind of magic power or something?' _she slowly reached for the light, only to suddenly be repelled by a burst of energy as runes started appearing in front of here "These runes… Here I sealed the Fairy Glitter, one of the three grand Fairy Spells. May it forever shine in the darkness." her face fell as she read this, and a horrible realization came over her "This isn't her grave at all."

"So this is where you ended up."

Hearing a voice behind her, Cana quickly spun around, and her eyes widened at the sight of who was standing before her "It's you…"

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Meanwhile, with Bluenote vs Fairy Tail wizards…

"Son of a…" Gajeel tried to pick himself up out of the crater Bluenote's attack had left him in, but he didn't have much luck "Start talking asshole, what the hell are you after? What the hell do you want with us?"

"It's as I already told you." Bluenote told him "I want to learn the location of the final resting place of Mavis Vermillion."

"You're gonna be looking for awhile asshole, even if we did know where it was there's no way in hell we'd tell you."

"I wonder what he wants with the First Master." Wendy muttered "Do you think it might have something to do with the second part of the trial?"

"Hell if I know."

"Wait a second!" Happy suddenly lit up in realization "I think I just figured out what this guy is really after!"

"If you're anything like Salamander then chances are that we're gonna end up losing brain cells when we hear what you have to say, but since we're already being crushed you might as well go ahead."

"The crazy guy in the ponytail wants to be an S-class wizard just like the rest of us, so he came out here to make us accept him as a member of the guild!"

"...Yep, you're totally Salamander's cat, and I can feel my brain cells dying." this was followed by a sudden surge of magic power crushing Happy "Thank you ponytail."

"Alright that's enough, I've had enough of your worthless prattling." Bluenote wasn't putting up with any of this "I only intend to say this once, so listen and listen well. I don't know anything about a trial, and I have no intention of joining you pathetic fools in your guild."

"The only fool here is the dipshit in the ponytail!" Gajeel spat at him "That grave is more than just a headstone dammit, it's sacred ground to this guild, so even if we knew where it was, there's no way in hell of us ever telling someone like you!" he was promptly met with a surge of increased gravity, but he was still talking despite this "What is it… that you want…? Just spit it out… and tell us already…"

"What I want is the sparkle of fairies, what you know as Fairy Glitter! One of the three grand spells of your guild, a spell just as powerful as Fairy Law itself, if not moreso."

"So what then, you're another fucking lunatic obsessed with power?" Gajeel was met with another surge of increased gravity "If glitter is what you want then why don't you try hitting up a craft store?" another surge "You're just proving my point you assclown!" surge.

"I want to have that merciless light for myself, now tell me where I can find it or I fully intend to squash you until you pop.

"As if there's a fucking chance in hell of me telling you!" and cue another surge '_Dammit, this guy just won't let up!'_

"So tell me then, which of your friends would you like to see be crushed to death first?"

"I am Gajeel Redfox… son of Metallicana, the Iron Dragon…" Gajeel slowly pulled himself back to his feet "It's gonna take… a lot more than what you've got… to keep me pinned to the ground… like some kind of pushover… I'm not gonna lose so easily… sure as hell not… to the likes of you! You can push me down with as much gravity as you want, but like that song says from Kelly Clarkson, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!"

"I heard that Fairy Glitter had been was sealed away with Mavis where she had been buried, so tell me where it is and I'll leave all of you in peace."

"**IRON DRAGON ROAR!" **Gajeel pounced at Bluenote and tried to deal him a full power breath attack, only to be sent flying with a shockwave and sent crashing to the ground.

"You know you really should listen to someone when they're talking to you, otherwise it's just considered rude."

'_Dammit, I couldn't even fucking touch this guy, and none of the others can move. Now what the hell are we supposed to do?'_

"I see that you've brought Makarov with you as well. This is perfect, if you won't give me the answers I need, then I'll just ask him where the grave is located."

"Like hell you will, you mess with the old man and I'll cut you down like a goddamn turkey you fucker! Our conversation isn't over yet!" Gajeel was met with another surge of gravity, with the same happening to Lucy and Wendy.

"We're done with talking when I say we're done with talking, now are you actually going to be helpful to me or do I have to squash all of you flat?"

'_Dammit this isn't good, even if I can stand up I can't hit this guy, and none of the others can even move under his power! What in the name of fuck are we supposed to do now?!'_

"Well?"

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"So this is where you ended up."

Hearing a voice behind her, Cana quickly spun around, and her eyes widened at the sight of who was standing before her "It's you…"

As it turns out, Noah was standing above the clearing on a high tree branch, and he promptly leapt down next to her "I followed the scent of shampoo with lilies mixed with booze, and I ended up finding you. What are the fucking odds?"

"Yeah yeah, very funny. So you're with Grimoire Heart then?"

"With being the operative word, I'm only in it for one person. I thought you were paired with the blonde with the Zodiac keys and the rich fantasy life."

"You've been tracking us?"

"I've been keeping tabs on everyone I think is worth watching, mainly because either they're strong or they're connected to Thunderclap, so imagine my surprise when I saw you hit her with a sleep spell and bail on her, all to find the grave of your first master. Why? What's so important to you about finding this grave?"

"I… I did all so that I could become an S-class wizard. I hated doing it, but I've come too far to turn back or just give up. In order to do thagt, I had to find this grave, and for what? It's just a spell, not the real thing. I feel like this is some sort of sick joke. I'm not looking for some stupid spell, I'm looking for the real grave dammit! How the hell am I supposed to finish the trial and become an S-class wizard? I need answers dammit!" she received no reply, and her face fell from rage to grief "Am I just not good enough to become an S-class wizard? After everything I've been through, do I just fall short at the finish line? Am I just not good enough? Have the past 12 years of my life been nothing but a big fat lie, a waste of time and energy? It's like it's meant to be, it's even raining like it was then too."

"I'm not sure I follow."

"I don't expect you to." Cana looked back at the grave as tears started streaming down her face endlessly "It was a rainy day like this 12 years ago, when my mother passed away. I was only 6 back then. When her will was read, I learned that my father was still alive, so I set out on my own to look for him, and I found myself at the front door of Fairy Tail. All I knew about my father was his name… Gildarts."

'_...Okay, wasn't expecting that.'_

"I was so excited when I met him, but… he didn't recognize me. He didn't even know that he had a daughter. Whenever he went out on a job, he was gone for weeks or months at a time, and before I knew it I ended up joining Fairy Tail. As time I went on, I always tried to tell him the truth, but I never had the heart or courage to. The one thing I couldn't say eventually became a crushing weight I couldn't ignore. I learned how to predict fortune telling cards so that I would learn when my father was finally going to come home. Eventually I started learning Card Magic, and I took to it so easily, hoping that somehow being able to master it would bring me closer to him, but it didn't. My father was the best wizard in the entire guild, he was placed on some kind of metaphorical pedestal and everyone down below basked in his radiance. I was buried beneath all of them, out of sight and out of mind."

"Not surprising, I could tell right from the first instance I sensed him that this guy was nothing to scoff at. That, and he looks a lot like Shanks from One Piece." this was ignored.

"Years went by, and I still never had the courage to tell him who I was. I found myself scared of the thought of telling him. What if he rejected me? What if I wasn't good enough? Then they announced the candidates for the S-class promotion trials of that year, and I was chosen as one of them. My father said that he was rooting for me, and so that was when I decided that I would tell my father the truth, but only after I became an S-class wizard."

"I take it that didn't go well."

"I got run over by Laxus in the first year, and in the three times I participated in the trial after that, I've only known defeat in that trial. Even people like Erza, Mira and Mystogan, who joined the guild after I did, managed to become S-class wizards. Then there's Luke, the one who made it on his first try."

"And speaking of Thunderclap, does he know about this?"

"He found out after me third failure in the trials. He was sympathetic, and he even tried to help me become an S-class, but in a clean sort of way without bending any sort of rules. That was the day when I realized something as important as meeting my father… Luke was more than just someone important to me… I had fallen in love with him, I had grown to love him more than anything… That gave me even more incentive to become an S-class wizard."

"To prove yourself to your father, and to prove to yourself that you're worthy of the affection of the man you had grown to love." Noah's gaze softened ever so slightly.

"Even after everything I've been through with everyone… I'm nothing but a failure… a worthless drunk who can't even make S-class after 5 tries… my father could never be proud of me as I am now… that's why I decided to make this my last attempt… Luke didn't want to accept that, and he even gave up his photography for me."

"He's into photography? Huh, that does explain that camera he always keeps around. I guess he's deeper than even I gave him credit for." then she heard a pulsating sound coming from her bag, which she quickly took out her HELP LUCY card, which was going off loudly.

"Okay that's just tacky." again, Noah was ignored.

"Lucy's in trouble… she's been helping me this entire time… solely out of the goodness of her heart… and how do I repay her? I knock her out and leave her in the bushes… and I totally abandoned her…" she started shaking and fell to her knees "What have I done… What have I done…? Lucy… Luke… all of them… I betrayed all of them…" that was all she could get out before she finally broke down crying.

Noah could only watch her break down in silence.

"No… It wasn't supposed to be like this! I never meant to betray my friends! I can't do this… not anymore… being S-class isn't worth it… if it means hurting them…"

"So there we have it." Noah promptly snapped her out of her grief "You fucked up in one of the worst ways people can, you abandoned your friends when they needed you, and you pretty much spat on everything your guild believes in for the sake of your own goal. So what are you going to do now?"

"...I'm gonna do the only thing I can. I'm gonna give it everything I've got to protect my friends and make things right." Cana slowly pulled herself back to her feet and her gaze hardened in the direction of the grave "It's okay if I don't become an S-class wizard… it's okay if I never tell my father the truth… as much as I want to…" she reached towards the grave and touched the golden light at the center "They don't mean anything to me if I have to sacrifice my friends and my principles to do it!" the light began surging with magic power, ripping apart her jacket in the process "Please I'm begging you, I have to save them! That's the only true purpose that I have right now! It doesn't matter if I tell my father the truth! It doesn't matter if I become an S-class wizard! It doesn't even matter if I can tell Luke how I feel about him, or if I can even stay in the guild, because no matter where I end up or who I become, my heart is always going to belong to Fairy Tail! I'm begging you, I need the power to protect my friends, and you're the only one who can give it to me now! I don't have the strength to do this alone!" her guild mark on her hip started glowing golden "Give me the strength I need to protect my guild, the people that I love more than anything, the people that I call my family!" she was suddenly enveloped in a bright golden light.

"_If that is the case, then you have nothing to fear. Mistakes are not shackles that keep you from moving forward, but rather they sustain one's heart and allow it to grow."_

'_That voice… could it be her… Mavis… First Master…?' _when the light subsided, Cana found herself with a new red marking on her arm, and she gave a small smile "Right." then her face hardened as she levelled her gaze on Noah "So what about you then, am I gonna have to go through you to get to them?"

"Who said anything about that? All I was gonna say was, do you want a ride?" Noah slammed his hand into the ground, and two slabs of earth rose up in front of them "This way you can get there faster."

"You're really okay with taking me to take out your guild mates?"

"Right now I'm just giving them a gigantic metaphorical middle finger because, to be totally honest, I hate just about all of them, except for two people." Noah waved his hands, and the two of them were riding away in identical slabs of earth.

"So what gives then, why stay with them? How did you end up with them in the first place?"

"...It's not rocket science. Hades found me after my dragon Jishin disappeared, he took me in and trained me, and he did a damn good job of that. But things got bad after about three years, when I discovered what he really wanted: to bring about this Grand Magic World that required us having to sacrifice 90% of the world's population. I wasn't cool with that and I wanted out, but he made it clear that I had to fight my way through him to get out. I didn't hesitate and I went at him with everything I had, but even with the power of Dragon Force, I was lucky to have lasted as long as I did. He tore into me and went to finish me off, but as he did, my life sort of flashed before my eyes… I kept seeing her face… she was the only one in the guild that actually understood me and my feelings, and believed that my dragon was real… I didn't know what to make of it at the time, but eventually I realized… I loved her."

"So then… you stayed for her."

"I guess you could say that."

"I guess I get it then." Cana looked ahead as her gaze hardened "I could be heading straight to my death right now, but frankly I don't care. I've got twelve full years of kindness that I have to repay, and you'd sure as hell better believe that I intend to deliver!"

'_...Is it bad that I'm kind of turned on right now? No forget it Noah, focus on Meldy. If you have to, you can masturbate to this one later.'_

"I know it's this way! Just hang on Lucy, I'll be there soon, and I'm going to be bringing the big guns with me in the form of the grand spell Fairy Glitter! Whoever is attacking my friends, they're about to get a face full of it!"

"I can already smell him, it's Bluenote, the second in command of Grimoire Heart, and not only that, but he's just as strong as I am, even in Dragon Force."

"It doesn't matter how strong he is, with the power of Fairy Glitter at my disposal, I'll be able to protect everyone in my guild! Now who the hell do I need to squash?!"

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"Now who the hell do I need to squash?!"

Lucy and the others looked up, and they promptly lit up "Cana!"

Sure enough, Cana was standing above the rest of them on top of a slab of earth Noah had been using to take her to the battlefield "Sorry I'm late."

"Yeah you are by a long shot, but better late than never, and I'm just glad you're okay."

"I'll be better once I know all of you are safe, and there's no way in hell I'm letting this guy lay another finger on my friends!" she leapt down onto the battlefield and threw forward a barrage of magic cards.

"Am I supposed to be impressed?" Bluenote simply held out his hand and deflected the magic cards with ease.

"You're going down asshole!" her arm started glowing "And this is how I'm gonna make sure you stay down! **Fairy…"**

'_That spell… it can't be!' _with a quick flash, Bluenote sent Cana crashing to the ground in a heap with his gravity magic "Tell me what that magic is, or you die here and now."

'_D-Dammit…'_

"It couldn't be…" Carla was the first one to figure it out "Is it possible that she actually learned how to use Fairy Glitter?"

"Yeah…" Cana slowly pulled herself back to her feet and turned to face Lucy "I'm sorry I just up and left you in the forest like that. I betrayed you and our friendship. I don't have any good excuse, and I know that I have a lot to answer for. But at the very least, now that I have this, I can begin to atone. All I need is one clean shot with this spell, and it will make sure that this creep isn't going to hurt anyone else!"

"Alright!" Lucy lit up when she heard this "So what then, does that mean that you were able to track down the grave."

"Yep, you were right on the money."

"Wait a second, she did?" Gajeel let out a groan "Well so much for the shrimp getting the chance to go to S-class. Well it wasn't all that anyway, I only cared about beating the crap out of these people anyway."

"The trial isn't even important anymore Gajeel, and it wasn't important then either. Right now, what is important is that I need your help to beat this guy. I just need you to keep him distracted long enough for me to gather the power to blow him straight to hell."

"That's not likely to happen." Bluenote held ou both hands and unleashed two simultaneous surges of magic energy that sent everyone flying "You're such a foolish little girl, you've gravely misjudged the gravity of your situation." he unleashed another surge of powerful gravity to keep everyone pinned down "I have to admit, I never thought that Fairy Glitter would be delivered directly to me personally."

"Not like you're gonna get it. I'm gonna go track down Thunderclap, later asshole." so on that snarky note, Noah promptly gave Bluenote a certain finger gesture and promptly took his leave from the scene.

"Now if you would be so kind, and if you value your life, the time has come for me to take that spell off your hands once and for all."

"Forget it asshole." Cana spat at him "Unless you actually plan on joining the Fairy Tail guild, there's no way in hell that's going to happen. This spell is useless to anyone else."

"If you knew anything about the origins of magic, then you would come to realize that all spells are fundamentally the same. Every single type of magic that exists in this day and age was once part of a single unified whole."

'_A single type of magic?' _Lucy frowned in thought upon hearing this '_I feel like I've heard of that somewhere before, but I don't know why.'_

Bluenote promptly lifted Cana into the air with his gravity magic while also binding her with it at the same time "I've approached the abyss of sorcery, and as such I don't need to join your guild in order to use that spell or any other." he tightened his hold, causing Cana to scream in pain as a result.

"Cana! Let her go!" Lucy was met with another surge of gravity magic.

"I have a question for you little girl, and you will answer it. Did you honestly believe that you were truly capable of wielding an advanced spell such as Fairy Gliter?"

"So what if I did…?" despite the crushing pain of being under his gravity magic, Cana shot him a dirty look full of defiance "You've got a problem with that bastard?"

"Fairy Glitter is an ultra-level spell that uses pure light to deny the existence of anyone that is deemed to be an enemy by the user of the spell, so you bet I've got a problem with it, especially with a pathetic amateur who thinks that she has what it takes to control such power." he tightened his grip on his magic, causing Cana to scream in pain "You don't have to worry though, I fully intend to relieve you of it in a method as painful as possible.

"Dammit… I can't…" with a primal roar, Gajeel suddenly slammed his entire head face first into the ground '_I can't force myself out of the gravity on this level, but maybe… I'm only gonna have one shot at this, who knows if it will work again. _**Iron Dragon ROAR!" **he unleashed a powerful breath attack underground that caused the ground underneath the battlefield to explode.

Bluenote wasn't damaged by this, but it did cause him to lose his hold on them "You're quite the cocky little brat aren't you? I'll be sure to fix that soon enough!" he unleashed a surge of magic energy that sent Gajeel flying, along with the others.

"Sucker."

"Nice one Gajeel, I owe you." Cana quickly pulled herself back to her feet.

"GO! DO IT NOW!"

"Oh believe me,I plan to. Guess what asshole, this amateur is about to rock your whole fucking world!" Cana then rose up her right arm "**Assemble, oh river of light guided by fairies!" **the mark on her arm started glowing golden, and then her entire body was engulfed in a golden light that shot up through the storm clouds above them "I hope you're ready, because you're about to see what a member of Fairy Tail can really do!"

'_It can't be, this isn't possible!' _Bluenote was left in a mix of awe and disbelief '_She's actually doing it, but how can this be?! She's just an amateur!'_

"**May your radiance shine and vanquish the fangs of wickedness!" **Cana summoned a golden halo overhead "Adios you bastard, this is why you don't want to mess with Fairy Tail! **FAIRY GLITTER!" **with a wave of her arm, she guided it down towards the ground as the halo closed in on Bluenote, causing him to scream in pain "THIS IS FOR MY GUILD! FOR THE PEOPLE I LOVE! THE PEOPLE I VOW TO PROTECT! THIS IS FOR MY FAMILY!"

The golden halo binding Bluenote turned into a golden light, causing his screams to intensify, but rather than kneel, he simply slammed a hand into the ground "**FALL!" **he unleashed a powerful surge of gravity magic, causing Gajeel and the others to be sent flying.

Cana herself lost her balance and she was sent crashing to the ground, her arm covered with blood as a result '_How…'_

"So that's the level of skill that's required to use Fairy Glitter? Don't make me laugh. I suppose that even the most powerful magic is next to worthless when it ends up in the hands of lowly trash like you. Your magic is far too weak, you own body couldn't even handle it. When you acquire a spell as powerful as that, you can't expect to master it after one attempt. You need months, if not years of practice to develop your magic to use it properly, and you clearly lack such experience. Even with my gravity magic, it took me years to master it to the level it's at now."

'_Oh god, he's right… I failed again…'_

"I'm going to be taking the spell from you now, and the good news is that I don't need you to be alive to do it."

'_That was it… my last chance and I blew it… I guess in the end… I just didn't have what it takes after all…'_

"Yet another day comes and goes, and I still don't get to fly, despite my search for a truly worthy opponent. Maybe sending you to the depths of hell will be enough to lift my spirits." and so he reached for her.

'_So this is it… this is where it ends for me… Everyone… dad… Luke… I'm sorry…' _Cana could only shut her eyes and wait for the inevitable… but it never came, so she opened her eyes, and she was shocked by what she was seeing.

As it turns out, Luke was holding her in his arms bridal style, clutching her close to his chest like his life depended on it, with Gildarts (incredibly pissed off) having sent Bluenote flying with his Crash magic. Once he knew that Bluenote was a safe distance away, Luke immediately pointed his sword at him while still holding Cana "I'm going to say this once, so listen and listen good. If you ever lay a hand on any of my friends, especially her, I won't hesitate to cut you down."

**A/N:**

**And with this chapter, we see more members of the Seven Kin of Purgatory fall at the hands of Fairy Tail, this time being Kain Hikaru and Meldy. However, despite this success, things take a turn for the worst, as Bluenote Stinger, one of the most powerful mages in all of Grimoire Heart, has decided to enter the fray in search of the power known as Fairy Glitter, a power which has now fallen into the hands of none other than Cana Alberona, who has revealed her reasons for her obsession with becoming an S-class wizard, but also realized her mistakes and now she aims to redeem herself by saving her friends. Also, in addition to learning of Cana's reasons, we also see Noah's reasons for joining Grimoire Heart in the first place, and why he chose to stay with them.**

**While it didn't really amount to much, I did show a little bit of a fight scene between Noah and Gajeel, two Dragon Slayers that really haven't interacted too much up until now. Sure I didn't get to show a lot of it, but I think I showed enough to prove a certain point: While Gajeel being as strong as Natsu is somewhat debatable, he's definitely the smarter of the two, and I think that gives him a fair advantage over Natsu.**

**So yes, rather than Natsu and Happy in this fic, Gajeel was the one who had the chance to make the save. Like I said, one of the few quarrels I have with the Tenrou Island arc is that Gajeel has so little screen time in the arc, whether it be before or after he and Levy fight against Yomazu and Kawazu.**

**Also, I'm fairly certain I've said this before, but I'll say it again. I do not apologize for any of the TFS references I've made in this chapter, any previous chapters, or any future chapters. I'm a hardcore fan of TFS, and even though DBZ Abridged may have come to an end, I feel that's it's my responsibility as a fan to try and spread the joy that I've been given by them to whoever I can in any way I can.**

**So yes, after seeing Cana's valiant yet failed attempt at defeating Bluenote with Fairy Glitter, we see the return of both Luke and Gildarts, and both of them are beyond mad and ready to raise some hell. But that's going to have to wait until next chapter, seeing how this one has just about surpassed 17k words. Also, this chapter means that this story has reached the 500k word count, something that hasn't happened to any of my stories before this! I wouldn't have gotten this far without all of your support, so thank you for that.**


	38. Tenrou Island V

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**Jaemos: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you like the story so far. And yes, addressing certain movies and anime makes it a lot more fun to write.

**Morregen: **Yeah, if I don't have Gildarts fight Bluenote, then truth be told there really isn't anything for him to do during the war against Grimoire Heart. Don't worry though, I already have an opponent in mind for Luke, so don't worry about that. But yes, there will be epic entrances for both Luke and Laxus in the battle against Hades.

**Guest: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you like the story. Yeah, I wanted to give Gajeel more time to shine than he had in canon. The interactions between Noah and Cana were something I hadn't planned on, but enjoyed doing. Yep, next chapter is going to see Luke and Gildarts finally back in action.

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'_So this is it… this is where it ends for me… Everyone… dad… Luke… I'm sorry…' _Cana could only shut her eyes and wait for the inevitable… but it never came, so she opened her eyes, and she was shocked by what she was seeing.

As it turns out, Luke was holding her in his arms bridal style, clutching her close to his chest like his life depended on it, with Gildarts (incredibly pissed off) having sent Bluenote flying with his Crash magic. Once he knew that Bluenote was a safe distance away, Luke immediately pointed his sword at him while still holding Cana "I'm going to say this once, so listen and listen good. If you ever lay a hand on any of my friends, especially her, I won't hesitate to cut you down."

'_Luke… dad… you came…'_

"Sorry I took so long to get here, I've been stuck dealing with the numerous lackeys of their guild for hours, and once that was done I needed some time to recover."

Bluenote quickly stopped himself and his gaze hardened at the sight of those before him "So this is the legendary Gildarts, and the Thunderclap of the Fairy Tail guild, Luke Drako."

"So you've heard of me. I'd be a lot more flattered if it wasn't for the fact that you've been trying to rip a bunch of my friends a new one."

"Save the smalltalk for later." Gildarts calmly levelled his furious gaze on Luke "You need to go, take the others and get out of here now." then his magic power started surging around his body, taking on the form of a very thick and potent white aura, which complemented Bluenote's black aura "I'm going to handle this one myself."

'_He's so intense and serious… I can't remember the last time I saw him this serious, but the amount of power he's putting out right now is like what he showed me back during my S-class trial years ago. _Alright, I'll leave you to it Gildarts, but remember this: If you let this guy beat you, then there's no way in hell I'm letting you live it down."

"Duly noted, now go!" Gildarts promptly charged into the fray, countering Bluenote's gravity magic by severing a large chunk of land he was standing on and propelling it into the air, and then he shattered it using his Crash magic, and then he charged at Bluenote and their fists collided, the force of their clash ripping apart the landscape surrounding them and nearly sending the others flying.

"So yeah, if him being pissed wasn't enough incentive for you, stay out of the way when he goes on the war path, and we should really get the hell out of here. Any objections to that?" he was met with various simultaneous groans "I didn't think so."

Bluenote promptly threw away his jacket after seeing Gildarts' level of power '_I don't believe this, to think he was able to push me back.'_

"Okay yeah, now both of them are getting pissed, so if we're gonna get the hell out of here, then we should do it now. Cana…"

"You don't have to say it Luke, I know." Cana told him quietly "He can handle this on his own, and we'd only get in the way if we stuck around."

"Good, glad you understand."

"I do, at least I do now." Cana spared one last glance over at Gildarts '_Just be careful and make sure you don't get yourself killed… dad.'_

"Come on, we'd better get moving." Luke reached down and picked up Makarov's unconscious form, and then he turned back to Gildarts "Just remember what I said, you lose to him and none of us will ever let you live it down." and so he left, with Cana, Gajeel and the rest of the group right behind him.

'_Oh trust me Luke, that's exactly what I intend to do.' _Gildarts gave a quick smirk, then turned furious as he levelled his gaze back on Bluenote "You know you interrupted something very important. These kids were in the middle of something very important, they were working to make the world a better place than the pile of crap we left them. They've been putting absolutely everything on the line for the sake of salvaging the future, and then you and your buddies came along and trampled all over it. I'm gonna make sure you pay for that."

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Meanwhile, with Luke's group…

Having left Gildarts to fend for himself, Luke was leading Cana and the others through the pouring rain, while he was carrying Makarov on his back "Alright, I think for the time being we should head back to camp and regroup with the others."

"Probably a good idea." Cana muttered quietly "From what I've heard, Natsu and Lisanna are in pretty bad shape."

"So I've heard, and Aftershock was the one that did it. If I had to guess as to why, aside from trying to gauge their power for the sake of a good fight, he wants to get me riled up so I'll give him the best fight possible, even if it isn't out of malice."

"And don't forget that Mest, I mean Doranbolt, promised that he would do his best to help us get off this island." Wendy pointed out.

"Not sure how I feel about that, especially if he's really a spy for the Magic Council." he then glanced over at Cana "So what about you, are you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, I think I…" then she stopped in her tracks, which caused the others to as well "Actually no, I'm not okay. I need to say this before we go any further." so with a deep breath, she decided to come clean "I'm sorry guys… I'm so sorry. I was so focused on my goals, so convinced that I had to do it, that I ended up losing sight of what's really important. I get that now, and I'm gonna take responsibility for what I did, and no matter what happens, I'm always gonna do everything in my power to protect the guild."

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Meanwhile, at the Fairy Tail base camp…

By this point, Rustyrose had confronted those at the camp, and he was still talking "The Seven Kin of Purgatory have come calling. My name is Rustyrose, I spy a feast of dreams waiting to be devoured."

"And you're gonna keep waiting." Mira turned back to the others "We can't let this guy get near any of the wounded, and frankly he's getting on my nerves."

"I'm fighting too." Levy suddenly pulled herself back to her feet "I can't just sit by and do nothing when I know my friends are in danger."

"Just don't overexert yourself."

"It's only right that I should warn you now, I don't have the energy stay in my battle form for that much longer." Lily told her.

"Which means that if we're gonna put an end to this, we're gonna have to do it fast."

"Two young girls and a cat guarding the infirmary." Rustyrose noted "Oh dear, and here I was hoping that I would get the chance to be involved in a more epic battle. Well no matter, for this is the hand fate has chosen to deal me, so I intend to play it unencumbered by mercy."

"People like you not only annoy me, as much as you do, but you make me sick. What, you think that you got to be the strongest just because you pray on those who can't fight back? You think that's what makes people think you're strong?"

"Such a thing has to be done, those poor and futile souls would never have even the slightest prayer of surviving in the Grand Magic World, so we simply decided to help nature run its course by speeding along the inevitable."

"And what, you think that creating an ideal world means that you have to kill whoever you think doesn't deserve it? It's exactly what the king was trying to do in Edolas, and it ended with a bunch of ours and even one of yours ripping him a new one."

"Then by all means, you should use your righteous conviction to try and stop me, for the most effective weapon against darkness is the light that you claim to wield. **Jet Black Sword!" **he summoned a black sword on his arm and blitzed forward, tearing through Levy and Lily with significant ease.

'_Shit!' _Mira was the only one able to avoid his attack by activating her Satan Soul, though it quickly faded '_Dammit, I don't have enough magic power left to sustain it. I'm totally useless right now!'_

"What sounds, cries and screams! They shall provide such a perfect soundtrack to the very end of your dreams!" he burst forward and aimed another attack at Mira, only to suddenly be sent tumbling backwards by an attack from behind "Who dares to silence my symphony?"

"You mean aside from anyone who happens to have ears? Freed and Bickslow."

Sure enough, Freed and Bickslow stood before the lot of them, both of them looking mad as hell and ready for a fight "Sorry we kept all of you waiting."

"I thought the two of you went with Gildarts back to the guild, what the hell gives?"

"We saw the red flare in the sky that the rest of you set off before, and so we returned as fast as we were able to with Gildarts."

"So he came back to the island with you guys?"

"Indeed he did, but I'm afraid that he is preoccupied elsewhere. I'm afraid we'll have to do for the time being."

"But it won't be enough." Rustyrose pulled himself back to his feet and promptly summoned his Jet Black Sword again "Though the numbers in your ranks may swell, you're still going to be swept away by my Arc of Embodiment, and all that will remain of you is going to be the unrecognizable fragments of tragically fading memories."

"I think you'll realize quite soon that we don't always intend to follow the rules of our guild, at least in very rare occasions. We'll do whatever we deem necessary to defeat you. To put it as simply as is necessary, since you are responsible for harming a member of the Thunder Legion, the rules no longer apply."

"Is that so? Well then, come and prove that."

"Believe me, we intend to."

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The great Tenrou Tree provided shelter for the entire island, and among its roots, two warriors on opposing sides were sure to entangle in the heat of battle, those being Erza and Azuma in this case.

Erza was beyond pissed at what she was hearing "So you're telling me that I'm supposed to believe you actually eliminated Wendy?"

"Indeed, but she hasn't fallen on her own." Azuma told her "Several of your comrades have joined her, and the rest of them are all being dispensed with as we speak."

"What nonsense! There's absolutely no chance you could overpower Luke, Natsu and any of the others."

"I can't vouch for a number of your comrades, but as for the She Devil, I imagine that a certain Dragon Slayer comade of mine dealt with her some time ago."

"Dragon Slayer… you mean Noah don't you?"

"Oh yes, he did mention he met you face to face. Tell me, do you doubt my words?"

"I can't say that for certain, so I'll have to test your abilities myself before I decide whether or not I should believe you. **Requip!"** with a flash, Erza promptly requipped into her Flame Empress Armor.

"Well I can't believe my luck. First I face the She Devil and her younger sister, who actually provided more entertainment than her older sister, and now I get to face the mighty Titania in the flesh. It truly is amazing, what lovely trophies for the hunt of this day." and then Azuma pounced at Erza, starting their battle.

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While Freed and Bickslow were dealing with Rustyrose and defending the camp, and Erza was battling against Azuma in the roots of the Tenrou Tree, Gray was still having a hard time processing the fact that Ultear didn't hold any grudge against him over the death of Ur. Despite the fact that Ultear admitted that their guilds were sworn enemies, she went on to say that there was more to life than just a guild, and that Ur lived on in both of them, seeing how they were both taught under her guidance.

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Meanwhile, back with Erza vs Azuma…

The battle on the Tenrou Tree raged on.

"**Moon Flash!" **Erza requipped from her Flame Empress Armor to her Black Wing Armor, and with two axes requipped into her hands, she charged at Azuma and aimed a series of slashes at him.

"**Bleve!" **Azuma leapt over Erza's attack, used his magic to catch Erza by the ankle using a nearby vine, and then he held out his hand and ignited an explosion that sent her flying backwards as a result.

"**Requip!" **Erza rebounded and flashed into her Morning Star Armor, then promptly surged forward amidst a series of vines attempting to grab her "**Photon SLICER!" **she brought both of her sabers together and hit Azuma with a powerful blast of magic energy, sending him flying backwards, only for her to be met with a smirk "What's the matter, does something about this amuse you?"

"Not quite amused exactly, but I have to admit that I am quite intrigued. I've heard a great many tales of your skill and valor, and I believe that you and I are cut from the same cloth. The reason we seek out warriors is because fighting means everything to us."

"Is that so?" Erza promptly requipped back into her regular Heart Kreuz Armor "I'm afraid that's not quite the case, I don't go looking for warriors to fight."

"No? The only way that you could reach this level of strength is by facing off against powerful foes."

"Perhaps, but all that I've ever wanted is the strength to protect those that I hold close to my heart, and I would give up all of my strength if I could still guarantee their safety. It may be strange, but it is true."

"It is a shame though, I find you to be quite interesting. I had hoped that the two of us would have a fair fight."

"What exactly do you mean by that?"

"I mean that we've reached a different stage in our battle." and then the entire area around them started shaking.

"What is this, what's going on?"

"I am connected with nature, with the earth and with the forest itself! The Lost Magic that I use is the Arc of Tree!" he waved his hands and set off a number of explosions "I can take the explosive power from the land and channel it into the heart of the wood!" roots began sprouting up from underground, and his body began merging with the roots in question "But where the true power of my magic lies, is that it gives me the ability to become one with the land and control the magic energy that lies within!"

"You mean you can control the energy of the land itself?"

"That is the reason why I was the first on my guild to arrive on this island, to harness the magic energy that is contained within your sacred ground!"

"No… that can't be, it's impossible!"

"This was not my choice, but I have to follow the orders that I was given."

"What are you talking about, what are you going to do? Answer me!"

"To put it bluntly, this." his body pulsed slightly, and then it happened. The Tenrou Tree started falling over.

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The chaos was spreading itself all over the island, with the sight of the Tenrou Tree being toppled causing a massive amount of panic. Observe one example, featuring our main characters.

"Dammit this is bad! Come on you guys, keep moving before it crushes us!" so yes, Cana and the others were running like hell at the sight of the Tenrou Tree falling "We've gotta hurry and get back to camp ASAP!" but then she suddenly fell over, with the same happening to Gajeel and the others too, even the Exceeds, with one exception.

Luke was the only one of them still standing, but he quickly screeched to a halt at the sight of the others keeling over "What's the matter?"

"I don't know… it's like all of my magic power just got sucked right out of my body…"

'_They're all losing their magic power? It must have something to do with the Tenrou Tree being toppled over, but why isn't it effecting me? Dammit I don't have time to dwell on that, if they can't outrun the thing then I've only got one choice. _**Dragon Sword Style: Thunder Dome!" **he drew his sword from its sheath, blitzed in front of the others and thrusted his sword into the ground, erecting a dome of electricity around all of them, preventing them from being crushed by the massive roots and large amounts of debris.

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Unfortunately, Luke's team wasn't the only one experiencing problems, as all of the Fairy Tail wizards on the island could feel themselves being drained of their magic power, which ended up causing big problems for the likes of Gildarts, Freed and Bickslow, and it put them at a major disadvantage against Bluenote and Rustyrose respectively.

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Meanwhile, on the Grimoire Heart airship…

Hades watched from his place on his airship as the Tenrou Tree slowly but surely fell all the way over "I must admit, it's quite the impressive pawn that Makarov has created in the form of that wizard Gildarts. To think someone other than myself or Noah, at least when he's at full power, would be able to stop Bluenote in his tracks, if only for a moment. Although it did take a bit longer than I had originally intended, the magic power of all of Tenrou Island is now under our complete control. And with that, any chance that Fairy Tail has of surviving this battle has been completely evaporated." he then let out an evil laugh that echoed throughout his entire chamber.

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Meanwhile, with Erza…

Amidst the chaos of the tree collapsing, Erza was forced to move from one root or branch to another to find her footing '_Dammit, he's actually doing it?'_

"Master Hades holds a vast amount of knowledge about this island." the voice of Azuma was echoing throughout the area.

"Does he now?"

"Indeed he does. At the center of the island stands the great Tenrou Tree, it blesses all who bare the mark of the Fairy Tail guild with divine protection from harm and death, while at the same time, it amplifies their magic power and allows them to use extraordinary abilities."

'_So that's why the Master chose to hold the trial on this island. _But then you just felled the Tenrou Tree!"

"That is correct, and as a result, not only has this protective spell over every Fairy Tail wizard been nullified, but all of your magic power will rapidly drain from your bodies."

"If that is the case, then at least tell me this. Why do I still stand despite your claims?"

"This may be the end for your guild, for it will die along with that tree. However…" he slowly emerged from the side of the root he was connected to "Seeing how I control all of the magic power on this island, I've decided to keep your power intact, along with one other at the request of one of my comrades. Now Titania, all of your friends are at death's door, weak and helpless and unable to defend themselves, and you are the only one who can save them. You strive for the power to protect those close to you, so come and show me what that means."

"...Your name is Azuma of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, correct? And you claim you're acting under orders?"

"This is part of the plan that Master Hades devised, yes. Felling the tree was the easiest way to deal a death blow to Fairy Tail."

"I see, but if you could dispatch us so easily, then why bother to keep me around?"

"You know exactly why, now are you going to give me the fight I want or not? I want you to give me your answer."

"...I suppose I don't really have a choice in the matter, now do I? You insist on having a fair fight against me, so I expect you to return our powers once you've lost."

"You have my word, and believe me when I tell you that I'm not fond of having to use these methods either. Of course, that still means you have to win."

"The lives of my comrades hang in the balance, I have no intention of losing. **Requip!" **with a quick flash, she charged forward towards Azuma and also requipped into her Heaven's Wheel Armor "**Heaven's Wheel: Scattered Petals!" **she summoned a number of swords and sent them forward.

With a wave of his hands, Azuma summoned a series of vines to protect him from Erza's swords, blocking every blade "**Folium Sica!" **he summoned a massive funnel of leaf blades and hurled them forward.

Erza fended off as many of them as she could with the two swords she was holding, though they still managed to land a few cuts on her.

"**Ramus Sica!" **Azuma sent forward a flurry of sharp blades made from tree branches, which forced Erza on the defensive "**Tree Fist!" **he summoned a fist formed from a tree that slammed straight into her, the force of the blow sending her tumbling backwards "Come now Titania, I'm not even sweating yet, now get serious already. If I have to force you then I will!" he sent a series of vines forward.

"**Requip!" **Erza quickly leapt out of the way of the vines and requipped into her flight armor, blitzing through Azuma over and over again and leaving a series of deep gashes across his upper body.

'_Yes that's much better, she must be using her flight armor. _**Tree Fist!" **he summoned a series of Tree Fists that closed in on Erza from multiple directions, with one of them coming down right on top of her.

When the smoke cleared, it was revealed that Erza had managed to protect herself with a new set of armor and a powerful shield "Adamantine Armor."

"The impenetrable shield, it's been claimed that the shield is powerful to stop a direct blast from a Jupiter focused magic cannon. Excellent. **Folium Sica!" **he sent forward another barrage of leaf blades "Now what do you say we put it to the test?!"

Erza was forced to put forward her shield to defend herself from the onslaught, her mind racing as she did so '_I can't hide behind this shield forever, and this armor drains a great deal of my magic power. I'll only have one shot at this. _**REQUIP!" **with a flash, she requipped into a new suit of armor, obliterating all of the projectiles with a surge of lightning. She then dove down towards Azuma in her Lightning Empress Armor and brought down her lightning spear.

Azuma dodged the attack, and then used his Tree Merge ability to appear in front of Erza and slam his fist into her face, the force of the blow sending her crashing through several trees behind her "The Lightning Empress Armor? It seems you're pulling out all the stops. I see it then, you truly have earned the name Titania. Your speed with requipping is unmatched, and your sword technique is noticeable flawless. Very impressive, you're obviously everything that I wanted in an opponent."

Erza rebounded on the edge of a branch and steadied herself, her mind racing '_His Arc of Tree magic is overwhelming, this isn't good. _It seems to me that you're a lot more than just inflated ego and talk, your obsession with strength is quite obvious now."

"Are you saying that you intend to fight me seriously?"

"You had best be careful, getting what you want can be detrimental to your health." she flashed back to her Heart Kreuz Armor.

"Which makes it all the more enticing to me." the two of them charged towards each other and began trading even blows across the battlefield in a round of fisticuffs, landing several brutal blows on each other, which ended when Azuma used his magic to grab Erza by the wrist with one of his vines "**Bleve!" **and then he unleashed an explosion, only to be met with a flaming spear bursting through the smoke, which landed a large burn on his side.

"Take this!" Erza suddenly grabbed him by the ankle using her Giant Armor and threw him down onto one of the large roots below him, and then she charged towards him.

With a wave of his hand, Azuma sent forth a number of vines that pinned her to the side of a tree, causing her to cry out in pain, and then the tree in question fell on top of her.

"**REQUIP!" **Erza burst out of the wreckage in her Purgatory Armor and burst forward in an attempt to cut down Azuma with her spiked mace.

'_Her magic power has increased exponentially.' _Azuma quickly dodged every blow from the spiked mace, and when he couldn't, he used vines to protect himself.

'_Not even the magic power of the Purgatory Armor is enough to defeat him. If things keep going like this, then I'll have no choice but to use Armadura Fairy. But that one uses a great deal of magic power, and I need to use the magic power I have left carefully.'_

"You let down your guard!" Azuma suddenly grabbed her by the ankles using his Tree Merge ability "You overestimated the effectiveness of your armor, and as such you left the weak spot wide open! **Tower BURST!" **he unleashed a tower of explosive flames, engulfing Erza directly in the middle of it and causing her to scream in pain.

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Meanwhile, with Luke's group…

As a result of the destruction of the Tenrou Tree, most of the others, including Cana and the group, were left on the ground unable to move "What is this… what the hell is going on… I can barely move… It feels like all of my strength… got sucked out of me… and it feels like my head is spinning in circles… I might hurl… I haven't done that since I was 16…"

"Yeah, and the last time you did hurl it was on me." Luke pointed out dryly as he tried to steady her, but then he looked around "Still though I don't get it, all of you are drained dry and practically passing out from exhaustion, but I feel perfectly fine."

"You think it's because… because you're a Dragon Slayer…?"

"If that was the case then Gajeel and Wendy would be totally fine, but one of them is already passed out and the other one is barely hanging on." he frowned in thought "I wonder, does it have anything to do with the Dragon Slayer lacrima Kaminari implanted in me?"

"Nope, the only reason you're fine is because I asked him to make it so."

Luke glanced back at the sound of that voice, and he let out a sigh "You know something, you really have to work on picking your moments Aftershock."

Sure enough, Noah was standing before the group, and he shot a smirk at Luke "I show up when it's the most convenient."

"It's clearly not right now."

"I said convenient, I never said who it was convenient for."

"Fair enough. Anyway what are you talking about, do you know how this happened?"

"It's not that complicated actually, the old man had one of the Seven Kin, Azuma if I had to guess, take down the Tenrou Tree and the protection spell it had on all of the members of your guild, and then nullify all of the magic power of every Fairy Tail wizard on the island. Now all of them are pretty much sitting ducks with the exception of you and whoever is confronting Azuma right now, and if I had to guess as to who that is, then judging by the scent and the magic power I'm picking up, I'd say he's going toe to toe with Titania."

"Then he's already lost. Why me too though?"

"Why do you think, so you and I can finally go at it. I've been waiting for this moment for months, for the moment when you and I finally go head to head at full power."

"...I shouldn't be surprised by that."

"No you really shouldn't, so what's your answer?"

"You don't have to coerce me into doing it or anything, I did promise you the last time we met that this would be the time where I gave you the fight you wanted. If I do beat you, does that mean the others will get their magic power back?"

"I'd like to say yes, but truth be told it's not up to me. The only way they get their magic power back is if Titania takes out Azuma, which will most likely happen. But even if she beats him, you still have to beat me."

"And I plan on doing that, for the sake of protecting those I hold dear."

"Glad to hear you actually do have your priorities in order, unlike a certain other Dragon Slayer that really gets on my nerves."

"Speaking of which, let's move this somewhere else. I don't want the others to get caught in the crossfire while they can't protect themselves."

"No problem, I've already got a fix for that. **Mountain Dragon Terra Dome." **Noah slammed one hand into the ground, and a sphere of rock surrounded Cana and the others "There, that way they can't be hurt by our battle and they still have a limitless supply of air."

"Good, at least I don't have to worry about that now."

"Good thing too, you've got other things to worry about. **Mountain Dragon Scales." **Noah then covered his body in brown-colored scales, hardening himself like rock.

"Believe me, I know." and the battle began as the two of them started running across the battlefield and clashing with each other, Luke and his sword against Noah and his literally rock-hard skin.

Luke aimed his sword and thrusted it at Noah's side.

Noah stopped the blade from advancing with his forearm and leapt onto the side of a nearby cliffside.

"**Dragon Sword Style: Thunderous Blade Dance!" **Luke fired a series of slashes from his sword infused with his lightning magic.

Noah leapt along the cliffside dodging every sword slash, and once he saw Luke blitz in front of him bringing down his sword, he leapt off the cliffside towards him, clashing his hardened arm against Luke's blade, only to see his scales cracking '_He's piercing through it already, he did that faster than I expected.'_

"**Lightning Dragon Talon!" **seeing Noah's scales cracking, Luke dealt Noah a sharp kick to the side, sending him hurtling along the cliffside.

Noah was quick to rebound and dodged the next series of strikes Luke was dealing him, and with his hardened skin he soon caught the blade of the sword and hurled it aside, taking Luke with it as a result "**Mountain Dragon Talon!" **and once Luke stopped himself, Noah dealt him a fierce kick to the face that sent him tumbling off the cliffside.

Luke quickly stopped himself once he hit the ground and wiped the blood from his lip "I've gotta admit, you know your stuff."

"Say what you will about Grimoire Heart, they don't cut corners on training their forces, and I used that to my advantage."

"I doubt anyone in my guild will object to that." Luke promptly charged forward as his fist started crackling with electricity "**Lightning Dragon IRON FIST!"**

"**Mountain Dragon TERRA FIST!" **Noah met the charge and the fist with one of his own, the collision resulting in a powerful explosion that sent both of them skidding backwards, along with sporting light burns on their dominant arm "All things considered you're pretty impressive yourself, keeping up with me so easily."

"You haven't seen anything yet, keep in mind that Dragon Force be damned, I'm still fighting at my lowest possible level."

"Then kick it up a notch, I told you that I wanted you at your best, whether it be physical or emotional."

"And thanks to you and the effort you put into saving my guild during the whole thing in Edolas, that's exactly what you're going to get. **Thunder Drive!" **Luke activated his Thunder Drive technique, his body crackling with golden-colored electricity "You ready for me to bring out the good stuff now?"

"I'm dying to see it for myself."

"Then get ready, or you might actually die. **Lightning Dragon Stream!" **Luke slammed one hand into the ground and sent out a currenct of electricity towards his opponent.

Noah quickly found himself forced on the evasive, leaping across the battlefield to avoid being electrocuted, and once he found a clear area he slammed one hand into the ground "**Mountain Dragon Terra Shield!" **he summoned a wall of earth in front of him, which proved to be enough to disrupt the current and result in an explosion.

'_What's his next move?'_

"**Mountain Dragon MOLTEN FIST!" **Noah charged through the smoker faste than Luke was able to react and slammed a fist into his face, a fist encased in molten rock, the collision causing the molten rock to explode, the force sending Luke tumbling backwards.

Luke quickly stopped himself and wiped the blood from his face, though he couldn't do anything about the light burns across his face "Well that's gonna hurt later."

"Don't tell me that's all it takes to bring you down."

"Not by a long shot!" Luke returned his sword to his sheath, then blitzed behind Noah and aimed a kick at his head.

Noah dodged the kick, resulting in the two of them trading even blows, which resulted in the two of them gaining a few noticeable bruises, but this ended when Noah blitzed behind Luke and tried to deal him a solid fist to the face, sending him tumbling into the cliffisde, while Noah then pounced towards him "Don't tell me this is all you've got, the guy who defeated one of the Ten Wizard Saints?!"

"If you think this is all I've got, then you're way too big of a damn fool!" Luke was quick to throw Noah off of him "**Lightning Dragon ROAR!" **he let out a roar and a powerful blast of lightning at Noah while he was still in mid air.

"**Mountain Dragon Terra Shield!" **Noah summoned a wall of earth in mid air to protect himself from the roar, and then he used the wall to propel himself forward towards Luke with his fist readied.

Luke was prepared for this and met Noah's fist with his own, the force of their clash creating a powerful shockwave that also resulted in the formation of a large crater surrounding the two of them.

"So tell me something Thunderclap, how does it reveal to finally go up against an opponent that can not only fight you on equal ground, but doesn't want to rip your guild apart for shits and giggles?"

"I've gotta admit, a fight like this does feel pretty incredible."

"I see, so you're as excited for this as I am. It's taking you some time to fathom what it means to really enjoy a fight." Noah blitzed towards Luke and aimed a kick at his head with his hardened skin.

Luke blocked the kick from Noah with his forearm and slammed his fist directly into Noah's chest, resulting in the two of them trading fierce yet even blows with each other.

This ended with Noah gave Luke a brutal earth-enhanced headbutt that sent him tumbling across the battlefield, and he quickly blitzed after him with his teleportation magic, continuing the clash with several fierce yet even blows.

This next clash came to an end when Luke dealt Noah a brutal kick to the chest, sending him crashing into a cliffside, and then he went after him.

Noah quickly pulled himself out of the cliffside and retreated up to the ledge of the cliff, and he wiped the blood from his face "Oh fuck yeah to the fuck yeah, now this is exactly what I wanted to get from you. Now you're getting into it."

"That's one way of looking at it." despite their battle, Luke appeared to be unsatisfied.

"What's the matter? You seem disappointed in our fight so far."

"I don't know if that's the way I would describe it, but whenever I'm around I just find myself thinking about it."

"Thinking about what exactly?"

"You know, part of me feels like… like our roles could've been reversed… like you are what I could've become if it wasn't for Fairy Tail."

"I'm not sure that I follow what you're saying."

"The reason I'm at the level I'm at now is because I've been training for so long and for so hard so that I could protect Fairy Tail and everyone in it."

"And when you look at me, you think that I'm what you would be like if you had never joined Fairy Tail, how it would be like if you never had the proper motivation to get stronger… how you wouldn't be who you are now if it wasn't for them… especially _her_."

"Yeah, you pretty much took the words out of my mouth." on that note, Luke charged at Noah at full speed, and the battle began anew, with the two of them trading even blows

"You know your power isn't the only thing interesting about you, the stuff you say really catches people's attention! Aren't you happy to have people by your side that you care about and who care about you, people that actually make you happy?!" he dealt Luke a sharp kick to the side, sending him spiralling to the ground.

Luke quickly rebounded in time to avoid an uppercut and kicked Noah in the jaw, sending him flying back "Yeah of course I am, but it still makes me wonder. What would I have turned out like if I had been where you are, in a guild full of people doing things that make you sick to your stomach, being surrounded by people you hate rather than people you love, not knowing what it's like to be part of a real family like Fairy Tail? No offense."

"None taken."

"It's just that… that thought scares me, it really shakes me to my core."

"Why bother to think about that now?"

"Well to be honest, while it does shake me to my core, stuff like that gives me a newfound level of appreciation for what I do have now. It's why and how I'm as strong as I am now, and it's how and why I'm going to win this battle, and then I'll take your master down with my own two hands."

"I'm gonna make you live up to that claim of yours, so don't expect me to go easy on you anymore!" Noah blitzed forward and slammed his fist into Luke's gut, causing him to cough up blood, and then he dealt him a series of blows that ended with a sharp kick to the neck, sending him soaring across the battlefield.

Luke stopped himself on one of the abandoned roots of the Tenrou Tree just in time to be kicked in the face and sent flying into a nearby forest and crashing through several trees

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Meanwhile, with Erza vs Azuma…

When the explosion of the Tower Burst subsided, Erza was left on the ground with her Purgatory Armor practically shredded, and she spat out some blood '_Incredible… I can't believe the amount of power that he has at his disposal… I don't know how to counter him… my Armadura Fairy armor requires a great deal of magic power, and I doubt any of my remaining armor will do the job. Think Erza, you have to think. Well actually, there is __**that. **__I may have bought the Seduction Armor for private use, but perhaps… _Do I look like Lucy to you dammit?! I have my pride as a warrior, I won't stoop to such underhanded and scandalous tactics!"

"...What the hell are you talking about?" was all Azuma could say.

"Nothing, just forget I said that. _Come on Erza, you have to think this through. If I'm going to find a way to overcome his power, then I'll have to sacrifice my defense and start focusing on my attacks. In fact, it might be best for me to forego defense entirely for the moment. _**Requip!" **with a flash, she swapped out her Purgatory Armor for her Clear Heart Clothing '_This might be the only way, I may end up having to put all of my magic power into my sword, the blade that can't be held without shedding all of my armor. Come forth spectral sword, the Crimson Blossom, the Benizakura!' _she summoned a single katana in hand, carrying with it a faint red color but surging with raw power "If I lose this battle, then all of Fairy Tail is going to pay the price. The fate of our entire guild is resting in my hands! I can't afford to lose this fight! For the sake of my friends and for the sake of my guild, I will end this with one stroke!" with a mighty roar, she charged forward with her sword raised.

"Yes that's it, now show me!" with a roar of his own, Azuma sent forward a large series of tree roots.

Erza managed to cut through a few of them, but that was all she was able to do before she was caught by the roots '_Dammit!'_

"I'm afraid that you just lost your chance, and now you're going to end up facing all of the power of Tenrou all at once!"

'_I can't break free, at this rate I'll have to use it!'_

"Hear the outcrying of the Earth itself! **Terra Clamare!" **Azuma slammed his hands together, and then he released a massive explosion from within the Earth itself, causing Erza to scream in pain and agony from the blast. When the blast subsided, Azuma was left panting heavily from the amount of power used, but he smirked at the sight of Erza lying on the ground in a heap "So this is it then, at long last the great Titania finally falls.

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From his place in his prison, the amnesiac form of Jellal was able to sense Erza's condition, but his muttering caught the attention of the guards watching over him, and they began torturing him because they mistook his muttering for an attempt at casting a spell or using magic.

However, despite the pain he was in, Jellal simply paid them no mind and called out to Erza, telling her not to lose, much to the confusion of the guards.

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"_Erza… don't give in… you can do it… I know you can… Erza…"_

'_That voice…' _Erza's eyes snapped open at what she was hearing from where she was sprawled out among the vines, and she slowly pulled herself back to her feet, using her Benizakura sword as a crutch.

"What?!" Azuma was clearly taken aback by the sight of Erza rising again '_She lives, but that shouldn't be possible! I hit her with all of the power of Tenrou! How is it that she's still standing even now?!"_

'_I could hear it… the voice of Jellal… but how? Was I just dreaming… No, stop it… you don't have time to be selfish… Clear your mind… don't cling to phantoms and memories… Now that you've found the strength to stand, find what you need to win this fight. _**REQUIP!" **with a roar filled with pain and strain, Erza swapped out her Clear Heart Clothing for a certain pink suit of armor complete with dual swords, and she charged forward at full speed, cutting through all of the vines that Azuma put in place to stop her with ease.

Azuma dodged her first attempted assault and rose some vines to protect himself, only to be forced to retreat at the sight of Erza cutting through the vines and nearly cutting his head off with the same stroke '_Those eyes of hers… _**Tree Fist!" **he summoned a hand from a tree to try and grab her.

Erza didn't even have to look back to cut through the attempted grab '_I was almost able to close the distance, but even if I'm able to get that close again, I'm not sure I have enough magic power left for me to take him down. But then again, what I lack in power, I make for with conviction and a sense of purpose, a purpose that he forced on me. He's the one who backed me into a corner, and that's what's going to be his downfall. I will protect what I hold dear in the form of my guild, my friends and comrades, and I will win for them! I have to! _This is Armadura Fairy, the strongest armor in my arsenal, named after my guild to symbolize my pride and love in being a member of Fairy Tail!"

"Show me its capabilities then."

"I fully intend to, but only as I cut you down!" Erza blitzed forward and aimed both of her swords in an attempt to cut Azuma's head clean off.

Azuma ducked underneath the attempted decapitation and dealt Erza a sharp kick to the torso that sent her hurtling upwards.

Erza rebounded and cut clean through the vine Azuma was standing on, and she easily cut through the onslaught of Folium Sica being hurled at her without taking a single scratch, and then she went on to fend off a series of vines, which she had more difficulty with.

"It's been a long time since I've feared an opponent." with a wave of his hands, Azuma used his vines to bind Erza's arms and legs "Titania of Fairy Tail, miss Erza Scarlet, the so called Queen of the Fairies. I have no intention of forgetting your name for as long as I live."

"I'm not done with you, not yet! I'm not going to let it end this way!"

"You don't have a choice in the matter! I've won this battle, and there isn't anything you can do about it! **Terra CLAMARE!" **he unleashed a second Terra Clamare blast, engulfing Erza in the explosion that followed.

'_So this is it… after everything… this is how it ends…' _Erza could only shut her eyes and accept her supposed fate '_Everyone… I'm sorry…'_

"Is that it? Is that really how the great Titania falls? Come on Erza, you've got more fight in you than that."

Erza's eyes snapped open, and they widened at the sight of the one standing before her "Luke…"

Sure enough, Luke was standing in front of her, albeit with various minor wounds and burns from his own battle "Yeah I'm kind of in the middle of something too, but the difference is I'm not giving up. Why are you?"

"Luke, I… I've fought him with everything I have… he has the power of all of Tenrou Island at his disposal… I'm not good enough… in the end, I'm just…" she was met with a hand slapped over her mouth.

"Enough of the doubts Erza, just listen, mainly because Aftershock sent my flying and I've got about 30 seconds before he finds me. All I want to say is that if you don't do this, master is going to die. Natsu and Gray are going to die. Everyone in Fairy Tail is going to die. But before all of that, if you don't do this, then you are going to die. And you're better than that, you're better than him, you're better than all of us."

"You're…"

"One of god only knows how many people inspired by your strength in spirit, your inspiration is what helped me to become as strong as I am now. You are more than just another member of Fairy Tail, you are Erza Scarlet dammit! Now get yourself back up, plant your feet, grit your teeth, and eat that mother fucking horse!" and on that note, he promptly disappeared in a quick flash of electricity.

'_Luke… you're right… you're right about all of it… I can't afford to give up… not as long as I have so many people depending on me…' _with renewed determination, Erza burst back to her feet and surged forward, both of her swords glowing with green magic energy '_I'm sorry, I've been such a fool up until now. In my arrogance, I forgot the most important thing of all: I wasn't the one protecting everyone around me, they were the ones protecting me all along! This is just my way of returning the favor, and I can't do that if I just lie down and give up! _This battle ends here and now!" she surged forward and cleaved through every vine that was being sent towards her without even batting an eye.

Azuma could only watch her surge towards him, his mind racing '_This can't be! All of the magic on Tenrou Island should be under my control, and yet she's cleaning right through it! Is this the strength she was talking about, the power that comes not from physical strength, but mental and emotional strength, the power to protect those that she holds dear? It comes from strength of heart then does it? It seems that this guild truly is something special…' _seeing her close in on him, he could only smile "Well done."

"**TWIN FAIRY BURST!" **she blitzed through him with two simultaneous Fairy Burst attacks, one for each sword, and she cut clean through him, leaving him to spurt out blood from both massive holes in his chest and shoulder, and then fall to the ground in defeat, while she steadied herself on a nearby branch behind her, but then that balance quickly faded as she fell and hit the ground herself.

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Meanwhile, with Luke vs Noah…

After leaving Erza to fend for herself, Luke stood waiting on a tree branch '_He'll be here any second now, so what's he going to-'_

"**Mountain Dragon ROAR!" **a powerful brown colored tornado shot through the forest towards him, ripping clean through a large number of trees, courtesy of Noah as he blitzed forward at full speed.

"**Dragon Sword Style: Thunderclap STRIKE!" **Luke thrusted forward his sword and unleashed a blast of lightning to cancel out the roar, and then he used his blade to block an earth-enhanced palm strike "**Lightning Dragon TALON!" **he aimed a lightning-enhanced kick at Noah's head.

"**Mountain Dragon TALON!" **Noah countered Luke's enhanced kick with one of his own, the force creating a powerful shockwave that resulted in the formation of a large crater surrounding the two of them "Not too shabby of a speech to Titania before."

"You heard that?"

"Dragon Slayers have enhanced senses that go beyond just the nose, why do you think we can never listen to heavy metal? Speaking of which, **Mountain Dragon MOLTEN FIST!" **he encased his fist in molten rock, blitzed towards Luke faster than he could react, and slammed his fist into Luke's gut, causing him to cough up blood right before the explosion that followed sent him tumbling backwards across a great distance, out of the forest and into a rather large clearing that looked mostly like a desolate desert area.

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Meanwhile, with Erza and Azuma…

The battle was long and brutal, but at last it came to an end, with both combatants sprawled out on the ground.

Azuma lay on the ground sprawled out on the grass, but his body suddenly began merging with the ground around him "So this is it…"

Erza was able to lift her head just enough to see what was happening to him, and her eyes widened at the sight "What is this… What's happening to you…? It's as if… as if you're being swallowed by the ground…"

"I shouldn't be surprised by this. Looking back, I suppose I was a bit too careless with my actions earlier. I'm sure it comes as no surprise that using Lost Magic takes a heavy toll on the user. I'll honor my word, and the power of your comrades will be returned to them."

"Thank you for that. Let me ask you though, do you know a man by the name of Jellal?"

"Yes I do. Supposedly he lost his mind after being possessed by the spirit of Zeref, or that's what he was led to believe. It resulted in him being left as an empty shell, living a life without any sort of meaning. Tell me, was he close to your heart as well?" he received no reply "I see. I offer you my condolences, for that was also the doing of Ultear. All of it was part of an elaborate scheme that spanned over the course of several years, one that was meant to distract the Magic Council from the actions taken by Grimoire Heart at the time. Her skills are truly terrifying, so perhaps that is the reason why Master Hades chooses to keep her closest to his side, and make her the leader of the Seven Kin of Purgatory."

"Then tell me something else, why is it that your guild seeks Zeref so intently?"

"It was to get closer to the Primordial magic, the magic that has existed since the creation of this world we live in. And that is why…"

"The Primordial magic… and what would happen if you were ever able to attain such a magic as that?" that question went unanswered.

"Jellal had dreams… he was dreaming of a paradise… of heaven…" and with that, Azuma's transformation into a tree was complete, and he went out with a smile.

"Magic from the creation of this world…" Erza was left in thought, until a golden light began shining over the island.

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Meanwhile, with Luke vs Noah…

'_Come on man, stay focused!' _Luke quickly stopped himself on top of a small plateau, and he spared a quick glance over to the side '_I can sense the magic power of everyone else in the guild, I guess that means that the guy who was draining has been dealt with. Nice work Erza, I knew you had it in you.'_

"Don't let yourself be distracted! **Mountain Dragon TERRA FIST!" **Noah charged forward at full speed.

'_Dammit!' _without enough time to counterattack, Luke was forced to block Noah's attack using his forearms, leaving a shallow cut on his cheek.

"So you think I'm what you'd be like if you didn't join Fairy Tail?"

"To put it simply, yes!" Luke blitzed forward and tried to land a fist on Noah's face, only for that fist to get caught and for the collision to send out a powerful shockwave.

"Sounds to be like you've got a metric fuckton of pride about that subject. Pride can be your best friend."

"Or it can be your worst enemy."

"And in case of Vegeta, it's both, and the same logic applies with you! **Mountain Dragon TALON!" **Noah dealt Luke a hardened kick square in the jaw, the force of the blow sending him tumbling backwards down towards the island's coastline, and then he took off after him and attempted to follow up with a smash attack.

"**Lightning Dragon SURGE!" **Luke recovered from the initial attack, blitzed above Noah and hit him with a point blank range blast of electricity, blowing him clear through, sending him crashing into the sea below and divinig the waters surrounding them "And apparently that saying about pride can go both ways faster than either of us realize, and it's pretty rare to meet someone who doesn't allow it to consume them!"

"No arguments here." the two of them descended through the ground beneath them, continuing to trade blows with each other.

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Meanwhile, on the coastline…

"Come on, I can smell both of them coming this way!" Gajeel led Cana and the others down to the coastline, just in time to see their clash diving the ocean surrounding them and for them to descend underground "You've gotta be fucking kidding me."

"I know." Wendy muttered "Their level of strength is so hard to believe."

"No not that, I mean how they're hogging all of the good fights while we're stuck taking a bunch of cat naps in a rock dome!"

"Luke wouldn't risk fighting if it meant putting us in harm's way." Cana pointed out "So he probably had Noah put that dome around us to protect us, and then he's been gradually leading the fight away from us."

"Do you think Luke will be able to beat him?" asked Lucy.

"That depends on whether or not they start to take it seriously. The way things are progressing right now, it's almost like they're just training each other."

"So then when are they going to get serious?"

"My guess is as soon as we start making it back to camp. Come on, let's get going. We've gotta get Master medical treatment as soon as we can, and we'd better make sure the others are okay too."

"Right." so they promptly started making their way back to camp and away from the coastline.

But not before Cana spared one last glance down at the coast '_Luke… just beat him and get back to us soon.'_

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All over the island, the incapacitated wizards of Fairy Tail started feeling the return of their energy and their magic power, which resulted in them turning the tides of their various battles.

One example of this Gildarts sending Bluenote flying, but not before shattering his Black Hole technique, only to collapse afterwards.

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Meanwhile, at the Fairy Tail base camp…

"Very good, so our magic power is finally back." Freed and Bickslow pulled themselves back to their feet after taking a brutal beating themselves "I believe this means that we're suitable for battle once again."

"Way ahead of you, now let's rock babies!" Bickslow sent his dolls forward, which quickly resulted in Rustyrose being sent flying, along with a stroke of Freed's sword.

"It does seem strange, I can't think of any sort of explanation for what just happened."

"Well whatever the case is, the fact is that our magic power is back to normal now. And not only that…" Mira slowly stepped up into the fray and gave a smirk "But I'm feeling up for a fight myself now."

"Excellent. Looking back, perhaps this bizarre phenomena is the main reason why the others haven't returned yet. Whatever the case, we'll worry about that after we deal with him."

Rustyrose quickly pulled himself back to his feet and wiped the blood from his lip, his mind racing '_What have you done Azuma?! All of them were supposed to be reduced to dead leaves that should've been blown away by the wind! No, I'm far from being through with them yet! I refuse to accept defeat to these wretched fools! _**Come forth, Dark Tower of Dingir!" **he then summoned forth the massive tower that bound all of the wizards he caught in it "Turn all of your sorrow unto the foolish fairies, and return them to the refuse from wence they came!"

'_What is this spell? I can't move anything below my torso, we're all trapped in this tower!'_

"This sacred ground that you hold so dear will serve as your graves!"

"You're forgetting one thing."

"And what would that be-" Rustyrose was cut off by a claw burying itself in his chest, causing him to cough up blood, which caused his tower to disappear.

As it turns out, Mira had flashed into her Satan Soul and stuck one of her claws clear through his chest "That I'm still standing you fool. **Evil Explosion!" **she unleashed a blast of dark magic energy at point blank range, the force of which sent him tumbling across the landscape "Yeah that's right, you don't fuck with the She Devil, and more importantly, you don't fuck with Fairy Tail."

"Well said." this was when Freed and the others returned to the ground, just in time to see her collapse.

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Meanwhile, with Luke vs Noah…

Luke and Noah continued their clash as they hit the watery depths of an underground cave beneath the island "So yeah, pride is like people, capable of doing great good or great evil, so really it's a matter of circumstances."

"Sounds about right to me." Noah cracked his neck and his knuckles.

"You can't forget that there are a lot of other people in my guild obsessed with their pride, whether it involves being part of Fairy Tail or not. Take Natsu or Gajeel for example."

"The difference between the two of them being that Black Steel actually has a little something called a brain."

"I call that shameless stupidity shaming, even if it is kind of true."

"I mean just take a look at before, he's the one who came to me looking for a fight, so I gave him a fight."

"And left him somewhat comatose in the process. I do respect him for fighting to the end like that, I mean it was a bitter choice to make, but he did it anyway, because he knows that there are times when you have to walk away, and times to fight with everything you've got to protect the people you hold dear."

"I understand that better than he realizes. But speaking of walking away, you did that when you left to train with that Wizard Saint for a year and a half."

"That's not exactly something I'm proud of, but it was something I had to do. I had to train and grow, and it's led me to become the person that I am now."

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Meanwhile, with Cana's group…

"Come on you guys, we have to get back to camp and fast!" Cana had now resorted to carrying the unconscious form of Makarov, with Gajeel and the others following right behind her.

"I can't believe all of us felt so horrible and weak just a minute ago." Wendy muttered "Speaking of which, are you sure that all of us are back to normal right now? I don't think we should rush into anything we're not ready for."

"I know that, but right now the main thing we have to focus on is getting Master somewhere safe where we can help him, and keep in mind that we won't have any sort of clue about what's going on with the others back at camp until we're actually able to see them for ourselves."

This was when Happy chose to start complaining "I don't think I can make it, I might actually die of starvation before we even get there."

"Get over yourself cat, it's not like the rest of us have been stuffing our face up until now either you know."

"Maybe I'll just die from a sympathy overdose instead."

"More like an underdose of sympathy, because you're sure as hell not getting any from us right now."

"Actually I'm getting pretty hungry too." Gajeel noted "I haven't had any fire or anything to eat since I swallowed that iron Levy gave me earlier."

"...Actually now that I think about it, just something to hold me over wouldn't be too bad of an idea. Master is heavier than he looks, and I've been running on empty for hours."

"Wow." Wendy muttered "You know Cana, you should probably be glad Master can't hear you because that's kind of rude."

"You wanna try and carry him to see for yourself?"

"No thank you."

"And there we go."

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Concurrently, Ultear was seemingly able to convince Gray to use his Iced Shell in order to take out Hades, in order to fulfill Ur's mission of avenging her husband, Ultear's father. After that, she left with Zeref, after which she met up with Meldy, and with plans of betraying Hades and Grimoire Heart, she told her that she had converted Gray into her pawn by feeding him a bunch of lies. She then noticed Juvia lying unconscious by the side and attempted to kill her, only for her to be foiled by Gray, who saved Juvia from her and revealed that he never fell for any of her lies. Ultear went on to declare that he should not underestimat her, seeing how she was the leader of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, but Gray didn't bother to heed this, and he ended up landing the first blow.

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By this point, Cana and the others made their way back to the base camp, only to see the wounded forms of Natsu and the others "Oh man, this is a hell of a lot worse than I thought it would be."

"Holy crap." Gajeel muttered "So he was right, Salamander really did go down hard, the same with the Animal Girl."

"Elfman and Evergreen are looking pretty bad too."

"Don't worry you guys, I'll use my Sky magic to heal them." Wendy quickly knelt down in front of Natsu and the others and set to work healing them.

"What about the others?"

"What about us?" this was when Mira came up to them.

"Oh hey Mira, glad to see that you're still okay."

"I've been a hell of a lot better, but I've been worse too, so yeah let's go with okay. Hey by the way Wendy, I appreciate what you're trying to do as much as the next guy, but I don't think it's a good idea right now. God only knows how much of your own magic power you've already used up until now, try and rest for a little while like the rest of us."

"I side with you on this Mira, but what the hell happened anyway?"

"You see the greaser guy over there?" she pointed at where Rustyrose was tied up to a tree near the campe "That freak over there showed up and attacked us, and then all of a sudden we lost our magic power out of nowhere, like we all got sucked dry at the same time, and not in a good way either. Freed and Bickslow fought the guy with everything he had, but with all of the others injured we were already at such a huge disadvantage. Shit hit the fan big time, so what the hell are we supposed to do?"

"We're gonna do the only thing we can, we're gonna find a way to figure this out."

"Yeah I know, we're gonna raise all sorts of hell on them for what they did. They're all gonna pay for what they did."

"We'll be damned if we don't try, but for now we've gotta count Master among the injured with the others." Cana let out a sigh "I don't get how they got the upperhand like this."

"The airship of Grimoire Heart is stationed right off the shoreline, it should be just east of the camp." Lily told her "I propose this strategy, that we split our group into two separate teams. One of the teams will be offense, and the other team will be defense."

"Count me on the offense…" this was when Natsu suddenly pulled himself back to his feet, albeit with a great deal of strain "I'm going with you guys…"

"Natsu you can't, you don't have the strength." Cana told him.

"I just need some fire, and then I'll be good. You're not talking me out of this."

"Of course not."

"Just hold on everyone, I'll heal you once I recharge myself." on that note, Wendy took a deep breath inwards and consumed the air around her, recharging herself, and then she quickly set to work on healing Natsu and the others.

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Ultear ordered Meldy to take Zeref and leave, while Juvia ended up pursuing her due to orders given by Gray, and once they were gone, Gray and Ultear resumed their battle, with the latter quickly gaining the upper hand due to her Arc of Time magic neutralizing Gray's Ice Make abilities. When Ultear declared that she learned how to use Arc of Time magic in order to kill mages like her mother, Gray was enraged to the point where he proclaimed that he was going to defeat Ultear using Ur's magic, and he broke his own flesh, freezing his own blood and landing a direct hit on Ultear with a bloody version of his Ice Blade: Seven Slice Dance, with Ultear being unable to manipulate it due to it being a living entity.

Much to Gray's surprise, Ultear struck back at him with an Ice Make spell very similar to Ur's, known as the Ice Make: Rosen Krone. She quickly became furious when he commented on how she was related to Ur by blood, and their confrontation sent the two of them tumbling down a cliffside. As they fell, Ultear recalled how she was abandoned and then replaced by her mother, and was painfully experimented on in a facility, led by Brain of the Oracion Seis. Her anger led her to join Hades and Grimoire Heart. The two of them resumed their battle in an underwater setting. However, her train of thought was interrupted by the voice and memories coming from her mother.

This led to Ultear seeing the past through the eyes of her mother, how she was informed and lied to by Brain about Ultear dying, and she was distraught over it. This proved to be enough of a distraction to give Gray enough of an opening, and he was able to defeat her through the use of his Ice Make: Gungnir. Now that she was trapped, Gray told Ultear that Ur once said that her daughter was her happiness, and was the proof of her life. Ultear could only admit defeat, along with the fact that all she wanted as to see her mother again.

When Ultear recovered, Gray decided to head off to his next battle, and next time he wasn't going to be alone.

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Meanwhile, with Luke vs Noah…

The battle had reached a temporary stalemate, if only for a moment, with both combatants taking a moment to size each other up.

At last, Luke finally broke the silence "You don't look happy, I figued you'd be fucking thrilled that we're finally fighting each other for real."

"I was at first, you finally taking me seriously." Noah let out a sigh "But to be honest, my excitement has sort of faded."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that to be totally honest, I'm not anywhere near using my full power right now. I've still got a major trump card to play in this fight."

"That makes two of us. I've still got a trump card of my own to play, so really I've been taking it easy on you up until now."

"Yeah I noticed, I know what it takes to take out a Wizard Saint, and this sure as hell isn't anywhere near that level. Show me."

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours first."

"Fine by me." Noah dropped into a stance, and with a primal roar he let out a powerful surge of brown and orange colored energy, causing the entire cavern to shake from the sheer force and intensity. When everything subsided and the smoke cleared, Noah was revealed be standing where he was, only now his body was covered in brown dragon scales, "Here it is Thunderclap, this is my Dragon Force. So what do you think, do you like what you see?"

"To be honest, I think I do. Well Aftershock, now that you've shown me yours, it's only fair that I show you mine."

"Oh fuck yes. Whip out your power, let me feel it."

"Oh yeah, now you're speaking my language. But here's the thing, I don't give out that kind of power so easily, so if you want to see if, you're going to have to earn it from me."

"If you're gonna play hard then fine, I'll just have to start fighting seriously." and so the second round began as Noah burst forward towards Luke, dealing him a rapid and powerful barrage of attacks, quickly forcing him on the defensive "How's that Thunderclap, are you taking me seriously now?!"

"I think you're about to find out!" Luke dealt Noah a sharp kick to the face, right before his Thunder Drive technique disappeared.

"**Mountain Dragon Molten SPEARS!" **Noah slammed his hands together and summoned a barrage of spears made of molten rock from the ground around him, and he sent them hurtling forward at full speed.

'_Dammit, his attacks are so much faster now!' _Luke was forced to leap into the air to avoid the spears, and then he went on to use small concentrated bursts of his lightning magic to avoid the spears while he was in mid air, and then he returned to the ground, only to find the molten spears closing in on him '_I'm only gonna have one shot at this! _**Dragon Sword Style: Thunder DOME!" **he quickly drew his sword and thrusted it into the ground, creating a dome made of electricity that caused the spears surrounding him to explode around him, the blast blowing him backwards and leaving him with more minor burns across his body, and he spat out a small amount of blood as a result '_Well all things considered, that could've turned out to be a hell of a lot worse.' _he quickly blitzed through the smoke and debris and tried to deal Noah an attack from behind.

"Attack from behind? That's cheap in pretty much every sense of the word." Noah quickly stopped Luke's sword with one hand, the same with the kick aimed at his head that followed, and he quickly threw him away.

Luke suddenly blitzed out of Noah's grip and dealt him an uppercut kick to the jaw, allowing him to break away and gain some distance.

"So a little bit of teleportation magic huh? You're better at that than I was expecting, which makes this all the more fun for me! **Mountain Dragon Bouler Barrage!" **with a wave of his hands, he ripped a number of large boulders out of the cavern walls and started hurtling them forward at rapid levels of speed.

"Oh come on, you didn't tell me we were back hurling shit at each other!" Luke was quickly forced on the evasive, dodging and weaving his way around the boulders hurtling towards him, and cutting through the ones he couldn't dodge using his sword, until he found an opening and blitzed through Noah with his sword, leaving a deep gash on his shoulder, which also just happened to be where his Grimoire Heart was located, though the gash was so large it wasn't even visible anymore "There, since you hate being in that guild so much I got rid of that mark for you."

"And just for that, I'm gonna show you the newest spell I created! **Mountain Dragon MOLTEN ROCK BRIGADE!" **he summoned and subsequently fired off a massive barrage of boulders made of molten rock at an absolutely massive amount and level of speed "So how do you like this for earning it?!"

Luke was again forced on the defensive, fighting off the molten boulders and those that were closing in on him, until he was finally buried within the series of boulders, and he let out a truly primal sounding roar "I WON'T LOSE TO YOU! I'LL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO PROTECT MY GUILD!" and with a primal roar, he instantaneously ascended to his full power in the form of Dragon Force, his raw magic energy alone enough to allow him to soar right through the rock and boulders surrounding him and out of the underground cavern entirely "Now COME AT ME!"

"Oh believe me, I PLAN TO!" Noah soared right out of the cave after him, the two of them taking their clash to the skies "So this is the power that I've been waiting to see, the power that defeated one of the Ten Wizard Saints, the power that defeated Tempesta in one shot, and the power that represents the pinnacle of Dragon Slayer magic!"

"Oh trust me, what matters isn't the power, what matters is how you use it!"

"Team Four Star?"

"Danny Phantom!" the two of them continued clashing throughout the skies, trading swift yet brutal blows with each other, though Luke was landing a considerably greater number of blows during their clash, elbowing him in the face and kicking him in the chest, their clashing taking them well into the skies high above Tenrou Island.

"Oh fuck yes, now this is what I'm talking about!" Noah dodged a few strikes and landed an uppercut to Luke's jaw, sending him flying away a short distance.

"If you're so excited to see me bring out the big guns then fine, how about I show you one of my best!" Luke dodged a few more strikes from Noah, using small amounts of teleportation magic to divert his attention, until he finally appeared directly below him, fully ready to attack "Now this is what happens when I bring out the big guns! **Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Indra's Wrath: ROARING THUNDER!" **he fired at Noah with an absolutely massive blast of lightning at nearly point blank range.

Noah could only raise his arms to try and block the blast right before the massive explosion went off.

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The resulting blast could be felt all over the island.

Meldy was still dealing with Juvia chasing her over Zeref, only to look up at the sight of the blast raging above them '_This magic power… this familiar sensation… Noah… are you finally getting the fight you desire… Just please, don't allow yourself to die…'_

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Meanwhile, at Fairy Tail's camp…

Cana was now in the middle of being healed by Wendy, when she and everyone else looked up at the sound of the explosion raging overhead '_This power… I think that's Luke when he's using Dragon Force… You'd better not lose, or I'm never letting you live it down…'_

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The explosion raging from Luke's Roaring Thunder went on for several moments.

Luke himself was left panting slightly as a result of unleashing the attack '_Okay, maybe I used more magic power than I was expecting to.'_

When the smoke cleared, Noah was revealed to have blocked the majority of the blast, although he wasn't unscathed. His body was suffering from some noticeable burns, and all of his Mountain Dragon Scales had been blown clean off, but he was still raring and ready to fight, as proven by how he grabbed Luke's ankle during his attempt to kick him "Oh yeah, now this is definitely the good shit."

"So you still want to go? Keep in mind that I do want to have enough power to take on Hades too when the time comes."

"I get that, but first you're gonna have to prove to me that you've really got what it takes to take him down, and I know exactly how to do that!" he summoned a small black orb in hand and held it over his head, and it started sucking in massive amounts of rubble and debris "**Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Planetary DEVASTATION! **Madara Uchiha, eat your heart out!"

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me!" clearly exasperated and running out of juice, Luke just let himself fall for a few feet until he landed on a piece of rubble "For fuck's sake, I thought you were just joking when you used that spell back in Edolas!"

"I don't joke about Naruto stuff."

"I can see that! _Dammit, right when you think you've got him figured out he just gives you one gigantic middle finger, and now I'm about to get sucked into a black hole! No come on Luke, you have to get a grip. I have to figure out how this works, then I have to calm down and think it through properly. Okay, from the looks of it it's definitely true to the Planetary Devastation, starting with the strong gravitational pull. If it's really true to the original, then I have to assume that black sphere he created is the center core of this gravity, which means that I have to destroy it before this thing gets too big. I have to use my strongest long range attack on the thing, which really narrows it down. Most of my attacks are close combat to mid range, but then again it will hit even if I don' aim, thanks to the gravitational core. Still though, I need to use something that won't require me to get close to unleash it.'_

"You claim that you're going to defeat Hades, but that takes a lot of walk to back up that much talk! I fought him once myself and he totally demolished me, and since that day three years ago I've been training myself until my bones cracked, not just for the sake of surpassing him, but also to find the one warrior who may be able to defeat him! After more than two years went by I gave up on that search, and I decided to bide my time and wait for the moment when I could strike and end him myself, but then I met you on Galuna Island and you were able to defeat me, counter me at almost every turn, and you have been ever since then. I never thought it was possible, but even by the standards of a Dragon Slayer, you're a true prodigy like few I've ever seen."

"I only wish that I could be happy about that or appreciate the flattery, but I think it's safe to say that I've got bigger stuff going on right now!"

"Then stay focused and find a way out of this if you're so confident!"

"What the fuck do you think I'm trying to do?! _Wait, that's it! I never thought I would hear myself think this, but thank you Laxus. _**Lightning Dragon Demolition Fist!" **he fired upwards a massive blast of lightning in the shape of a fist, which guided towards the gravity core and left a noticeable crack in it "Okay, so far so good. **Lightning Dragon Heavenward Halber!" **he fired upwards a halberd made of pure lightning at the gravity core, which cracked it even further than it already had "And now for the finisher! **Lightning Dragon ROAR!" **he let out a roar, and with it came an absolutely massive stream of lightning, ripping clear through the core and shattering it when the roar made contact, resulting in an absolutely massive explosion.

When everything subsided, Noah had returned to the ground and looked up at the form of the Planetary Devastation crumbling into simple debris "So he figured it out, he's smarter than I gave him credit for."

"And faster too."

"I figured. **Mountain Dragon Terra Fist!" **fully aware of Luke standing behind him ready to attack, Noah hardened his arm like rock, whipped around and aimed a fist at him.

"**Lightning Dragon Talon!" **with his Dragon Force still surging, Luke grabbed Noah by the wrist and weaved his way around his attack, and then he dealt him a lightning-enhanced kick to the chest that sent him skidding backwards a fair distance, and then Luke drew his sword and charged in to finish it.

"Don't think I'm out of this just yet! Even if that Planetary Devastation did take up more than half of my magic power, I've got one last trick up my sleeve! **Mountain Dragon MOLTEN BURST!" **Noah slammed his hands into the ground and unleashed a burst of molten energy from within the rock and earth surrounding him, resulting in a powerful explosion, burning Luke even further and sending him tumbling back as a result, but immediately after, Noah fell to his knees and coughed up a considerable amount of blood '_Dammit… I must have used up too much of my magic power, and combined with how much blood I've been losing from this fight… shit, I guess I overexerted myself. Oh well, the only thing I can do now is bluff. _It's too late for any sort of last resort tactics you've got now, you don't have a chance in hell of winning against me, so why don't you just give up."

"I say you give up!" Luke steadied himself with one final blast of lightning in hand, and he used a burst of lightning from his foot to propel himself forward "You give up on me EVER GIVING UP! **Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Indra's Wrath: ROARING THUNDER!" **he slammed one final blast of lightning into Noah's chest, and then sending him flying into a nearby plateau as a result, and then crashing to the ground with a loud thud, while Luke himself fell to his knees in exhaustion '_Okay, that was fun…'_

The battle was over, and Luke was victorious.

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About an hour passed, and things had calmed down a little bit.

Luke tied some bandages on the part of Noah's arm where he had cut him down and removed his guild mark "Sorry about this, basic first aid is all that I know how to do, and I don't have Wendy here to fix you up."

"As far as I'm concerned, me not bleeding out is enough for me." Noah told him dryly "I've gotta admit though, as much as I wanted to fight you, I never thought you'd be able to do this much of a number on me."

"Then you shouldn't have ripped some of my friends a metaphorical new one."

"Fair enough." Noah glanced up at the storm clouds raging overhead "I guess this is it for me though."

"I wish I could say the same, but I've still got work to do."

"I figured. Anyway I'm a man of my word, I'll leave the island in peace, as soon as I manage to track down Meldy."

"Fair enough. I'm not gonna turn you in or anything, as long as you do leave the island in peace with your friend."

"I will. You're going after Hades now aren't you?"

"I can't quite yet, I have to recover as much of my magic power as I can if I want to stand a chance in hell of beating him."

"It's not gonna be that simple. I know for a fact that even with Dragon Force, you still won't be able to beat him on your own."

"That's about what I expected, but the thing is I'm not alone."

"Yeah yeah, power of friendship and all that good shit. But the thing is, even if he can't be beaten in a straight up fight, there is a weakness of his you can exploit. His source of power, I know where it's hidden. It's called the Devil's Heart, it's hidden beneath the engine rooms on the airship. Hades is the only one who knows where it is, at least until I found it about a year ago, but he has no idea that I found it. It sort of acts as his life support and it grants him almost limitless magic power. It's also ridiculously invulnerable, it would take the power of one of the three great spells of your guild to destroy it. Let me put it another way, your girlfriend would have to hit it with that magic nuke she's got attached to her arm."

"You mean Cana, and she's not my girlfriend." the pink tinge on his cheeks tended to say otherwise however "Anyway I'll be sure to keep that in mind, but even if Dragon Force isn't enough, I do have one last trump card up my sleeve."

"Duly noted, but don't forget that nothing comes without a price, which is the entire moral of Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood."

"I know that all too well, but it may be the only choice I've got. It's a long shot, incredibly risky, but it may be my chance, and Fairy Tail's only hope."

"Well you'd better be right about that, if you're not then there's no way in hell the others will let you live it down." Noah spat out some blood and pulled himself to his feet "Well I'd better get going and track down Meldy and make sure she doesn't try and do anything stupid to try and please Ultear. Before I go though, you remember what I said to you back during the whole Edolas thing?"

"About how you couldn't fucking stand Natsu?"

"No not that, before the whole thing started. Back when I tried to fight my way out of Grimoire Heart a few years back, ask your girlfriend for the details since I already told her."

"Not my girlfriend."

"Shut up, I'm giving meaningful life advice for once. I was on the ground in a bloody heap, and I saw Hades preparing to finish me off, and you know how they say that your whole life flashes before your eyes in a near-death experiences? Well it doesn't. You don't see everything. You just see the things that are the most important to you. The people you really love. Don't ever forget that Thunderclap. It's how I realized that Meldy was the most important thing in my life and I wanted to stay by her side. You never know what it might mean if that ever ends up happening to you." and with that, Noah disappeared from the scene in a flash.

"Don't worry Aftershock, I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Luke glanced down at the coastline and breathed a deep sigh "And besides, like I already told you, I know for a fact that I'm not alone. I can feel it, the same burning desire in Cana, Natsu and everyone else in Fairy Tail. They know just as well as I do, that the time has come to end this. It's time for us to end this war once and for all."

**A/N:**

**Now THIS is the chapter that I've been looking forward to writing almost since day one. Not only do we see Luke and Gildarts finally return to action, along with Freed and Bickslow to a lesser extent, we also get to see two fights that I've been looking forward to for a damn long time: Luke vs Noah, and Erza vs Azuma. We even get to see Gray vs Ultear, which means that almost all of the forces of Grimoire Heart have finally been defeated. Now there's only one opponent left, and that's their guild master, Hades himself. The final showdown with the master of Grimoire Heart is going to be coming next chapter, and it is going to be glorious.**

**I have to say, the Luke vs Noah fight is the one that I've been looking forward to the most since I created the character of Noah in the first place. Not only did I love writing out the fight scene, but I enjoy describing the parallels between the two of them, as well as the similarities and differences between each other, and how in the end, they really aren't that different from each other.**

**If there's one thing that I've learned in my time as a fan of Fairy Tail, aside from the fact that the people involved in shipping certain characters are pretty much toxic in every sense of the world (people who write those fics about Lisanna being a heartless bitch, I'm looking at you), it's that Erza is considered by some to be a Mary Sue. I know that technically means perfect with a tragic past, but I consider the reason for this belief to be because of the way she wins some fights in this anime, through what they consider to be plot armor. It's my belief that there are three fights that fall into that category: Erza vs Azuma, Erza vs Kyoka, and Erza vs Irene. The first one is in this chapter, and it's pretty easy. Rather than have her win with what is believed to be the power of friendship, I just had her use her Armadura Fairy armor, mainly because it's a simple fix, and it's my favorite of all of Erza's armors. The others are going to be harder though, mainly for the little things involved like certain throwaway lines that are supposed to be a joke, but are badly misunderstood (because she's Erza), or certain feats that are involved (Erza blowing up a meteor with her sword), but I think I can make it work when the time comes.**

**Like with a few others in this arc, I glossed over the Freed & Bickslow vs Rustyrose fight since there really wasn't any sort of significant difference from canon, at least for the most part. For the parts that are actually different from canon, those I write about for sure, such as the part after they get their magic back. That's really the only part that's different from canon, as in Mira helping them win instead of the likes of Elfman and Lisanna.**


	39. Tenrou Island VI

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**Jaemos: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you enjoyed the chapter. Yeah, Luke and Noah have a pretty strong mutual respect for each other.

**Altajir95 (ch 37): **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. Yeah, I like to make a few changes from canon here and there.

**Altajir95 (ch 38): **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. Yeah, the Luke vs Noah showdown was something that I was looking forward to for a really long time, and when the time came, I really enjoyed writing it out.

**Guest: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked the chapter. I assume that what you're referring to is me having Natsu take the place of Rogue as the evil future counterpart. I have to admit, that idea does sound very interesting. I suppose only time will tell.

**Guest: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked the chapter. Yes, Luke vs Noah was one fight I've been looking forward to for a long time now, and I really enjoyed doing it.

**Ragnas Bredvolts (ch 37): **Yes, TFS references are a beautiful thing in any piece of media. Yes, Kain is a bit odd in comparison to the other members of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, and he does look a bit like a fatter version of Chiaotzu. Gajeel and Lucy teaming up isn't the sort of thing you would expect to see, but that doesn't necessarily make it a bad thing. I have to admit though, while I am a devoted shipper of Gajeel x Levy, you do bring up an interesting point. Seems like a good idea for another fanfiction. Yes, Bluenote is kind of a badass, but your rather colorful description of him is fairly accurate. No, it's still going to be Gildarts vs Bluenote. I already have an opponent in mind for Luke. You'll see who it is in the next chapter.

**Ragnas Bredvolts (ch 38): **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. I'm glad to see that you share in my opinion of Erza's Armadura Fairy armir, and that you approve of how I used it. Yes, her Clear Heart Clothing does represent her not hiding behind her armors anymore, but her armors still have a lot of uses going for them. As for the enchantments you were talking about, I haven't been keeping up with 100 Year Quest so I wouldn't know, but it sounds promising. I'm also glad to see you enjoyed the fight between Luke and Noah. I enjoyed writing everything about it, from the dialogue to the drama, to the old fashioned fist fight. You do raise some interesting ideas in regards to Noah's Dragon Slayer magic, though I have to be careful and make sure they fit with his personality. I do like the names you came up with though, the Land Genesis one sounds the best to me though. I haven't really heard much about Eden's Zero before now, but it does seem interesting. I'll have to check it out when it gets adapted into an anime. That's all I have to say for now, and you have a nice day as well my friend.

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"_Fairy Tail guild was hosting their annual S-class trials on Tenrou Island, the sacred ground of their guild, when they suddenly found themselves forced into an all out war with Grimoire Heart, the mightiest dark guild in all of the land. After several long and brutal battles against their forces, including the legendary Bluenote Stinger and the fearful Seven Kin of Purgatory, Luke was able to defeat his fellow Dragon Slayer Noah, while Gray emerged victorious from his battle against Ultear, leaving Master Hades as the only remaining foe on the battlefield. Despite the extraordinary power that he demonstrated, power capable of leaving Makarov near death within a matter of moments, the wizards of Fairy Tail will soon launch head first into a final showdown, one that can easily leave Tenrou Island in utter ruin."_

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Things had turned calm yet considerably uneasy for everyone at the Fairy Tail base camp.

Lucy and Levy were standing outside of one of the tents, gazing up at the storms raging throughout the skies above them "You know when you think about it, storms can be kind of relaxing."

"You think so? They kind of put me on edge." Levy muttered, then glanced over to see Lily was shaking violently as lightning flashed overhead "Wow Lily, you're really shaking pretty bad aren't you?"

"I think I know why too." Carla gave a smirk "He's afraid of thunder and lightning."

"Oh man, that's just adorable!"

"Hey!" Lily promptly rounded on the two of them "I am not adorable or precious, or anything of that sort!"

"Oh come on, it's funny."

"Hey!" this was when Gajeel broke into their conversation "No making fun of my cat, if anyone gets to then it's me."

"Alright alright." Levy calmed herself down and let out a sigh "So did you and the others get anything out of him?" she looked over at where Rustyrose was tied up to a tree nearby.

"You mean him? He didn't give us shit, just spouting some more crap about the Grand Magic World and all that."

"Well I say we've done enough waiting around." Natsu pulled himself to his feet, now mostly healed of his wounds and exhaustion "I think it's time for us to pay a visit to Hades, you got a problem with that?"

"Fuck no, in fact I was thinking the exact same thing."

"Happy you in?"

"Aye sir!" Happy soluted him.

"Alright then."

"I'm coming too." Cana pulled herself to her feet "I've got a lot to make up for, and I think the old man has this coming big time."

"What about the others?" asked Lucy "Don't you think we should wait for Luke, Gray and Erza to get back?"

"Knowing them I'd say they're probably on their way to see Hades themselves right now, and they probably know that we plan on going there too."

"We, as in me too? But wouldn't Freed be a better choice?"

"We need him for the defense team, he's gotta write an enchantment and stick around to protect the others in case any more of the enemy forces show up."

"I'm going too." Wendy stepped forward "I've done what I can here, so I'll do what I can to help all of you."

"Absolutely not child, you will do no such thing!" Carla protested.

"This is one fight where they're going to need every bit of support they can get."

"I… I'll come too!" Lily spoke up with some hesitation "I owe him a beating on behalf of everyone else in the guild, and I want to stand by Gajeel."

"Right." Cana glanced around at the others "Levy, stick around and help Freed write out his enchantment, and Mira stick around and act as defense in case any more of Grimoire Heart's thugs show up."

"I've gotta admit I'm kind of surprised." Mira commented "I didn't think you were the type to really take charge like this."

"I'm just trying to think about what Luke would do since he isn't here." Cana glanced up at the storm raging above them "We've got a tough fight ahead of us, we just need to think about exactly what Luke would do, and probably is doing, in these types of situations."

"So he would." Freed noted "And it would appear that we have a proper plan of action. To put it quite simply, we'll be holding down the fort, while the rest of you face him in battle. Just be sure to come back safe and sound."

"Oh trust me, we plan to. Now that we're all back to full strength, or as close as we can get, I say we're ready for a fight." Cana gave a smirk as she looked around at Natsu and the others "Hades is the last opponent we have to face, we're gonna show him why you don't mess with Fairy Tail and get away with it."

"Hate to break it to you Mocha, but that's gonna be easier said than done."

Cana glanced over at the sound of a new voice, and her eyes narrowed "So you showed yourself again, Noah was it?"

Sure enough, Noah had appeared on the scene before the others, considerably bandaged and heavily wounded from his previous battle with Luke, and his appearance alone was enough to cause the others to get into defensive positions "Relax, I'm not here to fight. I've already had enough of that for one day."

"You look like you got run over, I take it that means you found Luke and finished your fight against him?"

"While the rest of you were passed out from your magic power being drained, I knew he was gonna be strong, but even then I underestimated him."

"So if you're not looking for a fight, then why are you here?"

"To put it simply, you can call this my little victory prize to you guys for Thunderclap beating me down so hard. I know for a fact that you guys are planning to take down Hades right now, am I right?"

"And if we are?"

"I'm gonna be blunt with you, even with all of you together, there's no way that you'll be able to defeat Hades in a straight up fight."

"I thought you knew us better than that." Natsu let out a growl "You know damn well that we can't, don't and won't give up against anybody, no matter who it is."

"Of course I know that you idiot, but no amount of nakama power or plot armor or hitting it harder isn't going to be enough for you to beat him. I fought him once, he went through me like a hot knife through butter. You can't beat him in a straight up fight, but there's a weakness you guys can exploit."

"Which is what exactly?" asked Cana.

His source of power, I know where it's hidden. It's called the Devil's Heart, it's hidden beneath the engine rooms on the airship. Hades is the only one who knows where it is, at least until I found it about a year ago, but he has no idea that I found it. It sort of acts as his life support and it grants him almost limitless magic power, not to mention it powers his entire airship. It's also ridiculously invulnerable, it would take the power of one of the three great spells of your guild to destroy it. To put it in terms so simple that even Salamander could understand it…"

"You're saying that I have to use Fairy Glitter to destroy it."

"Calm, cool, collected, strong and smart. Looks like Thunderclap has good taste." this caused her to blush "I told Thunderclap about this too, but he's not deterred. He says he's got one last trump card up his sleeve, and even after everything I've told him about how powerful Hades is, he's still confident he can beat him with it."

"Do you believe him?"

"I don't have a reason to believe he can't, not after the thrashing I got from him. Anyway I'll leave you to it, for now I've gotta go track down Meldy and the others before any of them do anything stupid. Later." and so he disappeared in a flash.

"...We'll keep that in mind. Come on guys, let's get going. We've got one hell of a fight on our hands right about now."

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Meanwhile, with Juvia…

"Stop… running!" by this point, Juvia was still chasing after Meldy in a method that made her seem like something out of a horror movie "Give… me… ZEREF!"

Of course, as a result of this, Meldy was not only running as fast as she could, which really wasn't that fast given her condition "What the hell is with her, is this lady possessed or something?"

"Just hand him over!"

"So what does that then, was all of that talk about love and life just a ploy to save your own skin or something?"

"I don't want to fight any more than you!"

"Then stop chasing me like something out of the Walking Dead!"

"Truth be told, this looks more like something out of the shining to me."

Meldy looked ahead and let out a slight sigh of relief "At least with you I can find some sanity on this island Noah."

Sure enough, Noah was standing before her "So should I even bother asking what the hell this is about?"

"I'd honestly rather you didn't, but to put it simply, Ultear entrusted me with Zeref, but this lady is chasing me like something out of… wow, the Shining does seem more fitting."

"I do what I can, but I think we've got other problems right now."

As it turns out, that was the moment when Zancrow dropped onto the scene, looking as psychotic as ever "Well fucking well, what do we have here?"

"An annoying douchebag who doesn't know how to bathe."

"Suck on the flat end of my (bleep) Noah! Hey Meldy, you do realize the airship is in the other direction right?"

"No, I didn't actually-" Meldy was cut off by a glare from Zancrow.

"Don't even try feeding me any sort of bullshit like that. Everyone with half a brain cell knows that you follow Ultear around like a little lovestruck puppy!"

"And yet somehow you know it too." Noah commented dryly.

"Shut your fucking trap Noah, you're just as bad! You're collaborating with that Fairy Tail trash, you're telling him about some bullshit weakness that Master Hades! As far as I'm concerned, the two of you aren't part of Grimoire Heart anymore! **Flame God BELLOW!" **he let out a roar, and with it came a powerful stream of black flames.

"**Mountain Dragon Terra Shield!" **Noah slammed his hand into the ground and summoned a large wall of earth, protecting himself and the others from the blast "I might have lost out in my battle against Thuderclap, but I've still got more than enough power left to rip you apart piece by piece."

"Fine go ahead and be like that, I'll just slaughter your little girlfriend first! That way I get to make you suffer more, and she gets what she deserves for trying to take something that doesn't belong to you! It's just like how you keep using my Hulu account without asking."

"No please, you can't do this!" Meldy tried to reason with Zancrow, as futile as that was, with tears streaming down her face "If you take him then you take Ultear's future, and not just hers, but mine and Noah's too!"

"You never learn do you, Ultear is just using you like she uses everyone else, and Noah's just trying to protect you like some pathetic lovestruck puppy."

"I have no quarrels with shoving a stalagmite up your ass." Noah told him flatly.

"Try it dipshit, I fucking dare you."

"No you're wrong, she made a promise to me!" Meldy protested "She made a promise to me that if we reached the Grand Magic World, not only would my village finally be turned back to the way it used to be, but Noah would finally get to see his dragon again his father, the one who is to him what Ultear is to me!"

"What, that crappy place and some pathetic pipedream? Why would you want it to go back to normal after Kain and I redecorated the place for you? We weren't the only ones that wrecked the place either you know, your precious Ultear was the one who lead that attack, and she actually slaughtered even more than both of us combined!" that left Meldy frozen to her very core, while it also left Noah shaking with rage.

"No… No it can't be… it can't be true…"

"Oh it's totally true, and she did it all with a smile on her face, just like I did-" he was cut off when he suddenly started coughing up blood violently.

As it turns out, Noah had hardened his skin like rock and stuck it straight through Zancrow's chest, and then he removed it, revealing it to be coated with Zancrow's blood "I've given you enough pain over the years for always mocking me about Jishin, but when you cross the line and say shit like that about Meldy's home, her blood family, that's where I draw the line, and it's why I shove this thing through your gut."

"You… You son of a…" Zancrow was sent crashing to the ground with a kick to the head, causing him to cough up more blood.

"I'm about as fed up with your shit as I am with Teen Titans Go. This is it Zancrow, I'm taking you down here and now."

"Run… he's coming…" some quiet muttering from Zeref got their attention "He's coming… to this place… Acnologia…" then his eyes snapped open in the direction of Zancrow, revealing his eyes to be a deep crimson red, his body pulsating slightly.

"Get the fuck down! **Mountain Dragon Terra Dome!" **Noah blitzed towards Meldy and Juvia and quickly slammed his hands into the ground, erecting a dome of earth around the three of them a split second before a wave of black energy suddenly engulfed the area, and the very instant it disappeared, the earth dome shattered. Noah looked around, seeing Meldy and Juvia both lying on the ground unconscious, and Zancrow's lifeless body lying on the ground totally devoid of color '_That was way too close, a split second later and the three of us probably would've ended up exactly like him.'_

Zeref's eyes turned back to their normal black color, and he was left filled with remorse and guilt at the sight of Zancrow's body "Forgive me… you didn't deserve such a fate…"

"I personally beg to differ." Noah was met with only a disinterested look from Zeref.

"Regardless of opinions, the fact is that I now bare even more darkness upon my shoulders, but at least you and the other two survive." he then knelt down by Zancrow's body and closed his pupilless eyes "I feel some relief that the rest of you will not be harmed any further." with a deep sigh, he started walking forward "It is the solemn vow I made, that the suffering I have caused will not repeat itself in the current era. I shall remain neutral and isolated, a friend or foe to no one at all. However…" his eyes turned red again, his gaze hardening "With that being said, if the current era should come to an end and give way to a new one, there is a fair chance that I shall take on a far more active role. I had hoped that you would grow strong enough to be able to defeat me before then… Natsu." and with that, he quietly took his leave of the scene.

Now that he thought he was alone, Noah fell to his knees, panting heavily '_The sheer intensity he was putting out, I guess he's the legendary Black Wizard for a reason.'_

What he didn't realize was that Doranbolt was hiding behind a nearby tree, and he too was shaken to his very core '_No you've gotta be kidding me, please tell me that I misheard him. Did he really say… Acnologia?'_

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Meanwhile, with Gray…

Having defeated Ultear and left on his own, Gray was slowly making his way through the forest of Tenrou Island, though his injuries and exhaustion were catching up to him '_Dammit, this isn't good… everything is getting hazy… I can't go any further… is this it for me…?' _he came to a stop and fell over, only to find himself being caught by none other than Erza herself "So… do you have to keep showing off like that?"

"I missed you too." Erza gave a small smile.

"You know something, always having to be rescued gets old and becomes a major pain in the ass way too fast."

"Then just think of this as my way of returning the favor."

"Yeah I guess." Gray looked up to see Cana, Natsu and the others, along with the Exceeds, standing before him "So you guys are all here too?"

"Fresh from an ass kicking and more than up for some hardcore payback." Natsu shot a smirk down at him "So you guys want in on that or what?"

"As if you had to ask."

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Meanwhile, on the Grimoire Heart airship…

Hades stood at the edge of the deck on the airship, looking down on the sight of Cana and the others glaring up at him '_I have to say, I never would've imagined that the Seven Kin of Purgatory, along with Bluenote and even Noah, could be bested at the hands of Fairy Tail. In the end, it would seem that Makarov was a better guild master than even I had anticipated. Well no matter anyway, since my team was to inept to exterminate their pray, I shall just have to do the task myself. Playtime for the devils and fairies has now come to an end, and from here on out it's all business. But with that being said, it doesn't mean I won't take pleasure in making the lot of them suffer. _So tell me, do all of you wish to receive the same treatment that I had given to your master? So be it then children of Makarov, come and face your destruction." still receiving numerous glares, he walked back inside the ship.

"Hey goddammit you old fart, give us a way up there!" Natsu barked at him, only to be comically ignored.

"I say we owe him a crap load of payback." Gray noted.

"Not just for Gramps, but for everything that he's done to our guild up until now."

"Don't worry, he's going to pay soon enough." Erza assured both of them.

"So if we can defeat that man in time, then the rest of them will leave and the council won't see any reason to fire on us?" asked Wendy.

"That's the plan for now, but I'm pretty sure they'll find a reason to fire on us no matter how pathetic it will seem." Gajeel pointed out dryly "I personally plan on putting him six feet under when this is over with."

"But if what Noah said is true, then that's going to be a lot easier said than done." Cana pointed out "Sorry about this guys, but you're gonna have to fight him without me. With my Fairy Glitter spell, I might be the only one of us who can take out Hades' heart. We've gotta keep him from using that unlimited supply of magic power we were told about, and don't forget that we can't afford to deal with any of that Dragon Slayer motion sickness, so we need to play this as carefully as we can,."

"Then take Lily and the others with you, just in case."

"Good idea."

"Yes you can count on us, can we go in now?" Lily's tone was urgent.

"Good call, but Wendy you'd better cast that Troia spell on Natsu just to be safe."

"Good idea, just hold on. **Troia." **Wendy held out her arms towards Natsu and cast the Troia spell to nullify his motion sickness.

"I think we've kept this bastard waiting long enough!" Gray slammed his hands together and used his Ice Make magic to form a flight of stairs up to the airship, which prompted himself and the others to take off running up the stairs in question "Now let's get in there and wreck some shit, we'll show this bastard why you don't screw with Fairy Tail!"

"Hate to break it to you guys, but it's not going to be that simple." Cana told him "We're dealing with someone whose power surpasses that of even Master, so once we're inside you'll have to hit him hard and hit him fast."

"Trust me, that's been the plan all along." Gajeel let out a snarl "I'm not stopping until he's begging for mercy!"

"I figured."

"But after everything he's done, he doesn't deserve any mercy." Lucy's gaze hardened at the very thought.

"Just don't lose focus, this is one battle where you can't afford to make any mistakes. Just make sure to be careful." and on that note, Cana broke away from the group, with Lily and the other Exceeds following her lead.

"Let's do this."

"Oh fuck yes, we're putting this bastard down once and for all! Ready or not Hades, we're coming for you!" with that final battlecry, Natsu leapt upwards towards Hades "I've got a message for you from Makarov, CHOKE ON IT!" he unleashed a large stream of flames from his hand.

Hades simply held out his hand and stopped the flames with ease "You'll have to do much better than that, now try again."

"Gladly! **Requip! Moon Flash!" **Erza blitzed onto the scene and requipped into her Black Wing Armor, then blitzed through Hades.

"**Ice Make: Cold Excalibur!" **Gray summoned a massive broadsword made of ice, also cutting through him.

"**Iron Dragon Twin SWORD!" **Gajeel morphed both of his arms into swords made of iron and ripped through Hades, though even with the force of combining his attacks with those of Gray and Erza, it didn't seem to much more to Hades than irritate him.

"**Open, Gate of the Golden Bull: Taurus!" **Lucy whipped out one of her golden Zodiac keys and summoned Taurus to bring down his axe on Hades, though she quickly sent him right back after this '_I can't waste too much magic power by keeping them around for too long.'_

"**By the grace of the wind, may you strike fiercely, move swiftly and be free of any and all harm! Arms and armor! Vernier! **Now go!" Wendy promptly cast a number of support spells on Gajeel, Gray and Erza.

"Trust me shrimp, that's the plan!" Gajeel charged towards Hades, with Gray and Erza following right behind him.

"Nimble little brats aren't you?" Hades weaved his way around Gajeel and Gray's attacks, and then he used his magic chains to grab Erza by the neck, then hurled her into Gray and sent both of them flying.

"**Iron Dragon Lance: DEMON LOGS!" **Gajeel blitzed in front of Hades and fired a barrage of iron spears from both hands, piercing Hades all across his body but not making him bleed.

"That won't be enough for you to defeat me!"

"Then why the fuck don't we try this! **Fire Dragon WING ATTACK!" **Natsu promptly blitzed through Hades with a two handed fire attack, only for both him and Gajeel to be grabbed from behind by Hades using his magic chains and almost sent flying.

"**Iron Dragon SWORD!" **Gajeel used his twin swords to cut himself and Natsu free of the chains.

"Thanks for the save."

"No time to talk, now get in there! **Ice Make: Hammer!" **Gray summoned two hammers made of ice and allowed Natsu and Gajeel to rebound off of them "Hit them with a combined attack NOW!"

"On it!" Natsu and Gajeel both promptly rebounded off of the hammers and made their charge towards Hades in mid air.

"**Sky Dragon ROAR!" **Wendy let out a powerful tornado of wind with her roar.

"**Scorpio!" **with a key in hand, Lucy summoned Scorpio onto the battlefield and had him unleash his Sand Buster blast from his tail, the blast combining with Wendy's roar to form one even more powerful attack.

"A Unison Raid?" Hades was taken off guard by the sight of this, so he didn't see coming what came next.

"**Fire Dragon/ Iron Dragon ROAR!" **Natsu and Gajeel hurtled towards Hades at full speed and unleashed two simultaneous Dragon Roars, which combined into one massive roar that slammed straight into Hades, the force combined with the Unison Raid sending Hades tumbling backwards in a heap as a result. Once it was over, Natsu fell to one knee "Well that was fun."

"Yeah, and Teen Titans Go isn't a thing." Gajeel pointed out dryly "Just stay sharp, it's not over by a fucking longshot."

"You would be wise to heed his warnings." sure enough, the smoke cleared and Hades came forward once more without so much as a scratch on him, leaving all of the others shaken to the core as a result "I've often heard over the years that young people tend to refer to their mistakes as life experiences. But true mistakes do not yield any experiences, as there is no coming back from them, such is the case here. Your future and those of the rest of your guild consist only of the grave. There is no lesson for you to learn other than this, that opposing me was the biggest mistake of your lives, and the last as well." his very appearance left the others frozen to the very core.

'_No fucking way, all of that and he's not even scratched?! This is bullshit, we put everything we had into that! His magic power is unreal, how the fuck are we supposed to take him down?!'_

"So be it then, now that I'm all warmed up, I believe the time has come for me to finally get serious." and then the area began pulsating with his own magic power, leaving the others frozen in terror, and then he set his sights on Wendy "**KATSU!" **and once he said this, Wendy suddenly vanished from where she stood, leaving only her clothes behind, which left everyone shaken to their cores.

"WENDY NO!" Natsu was the first of them to scream in vain.

"Believe me when I tell you that was a mercy kill, as in she got off easy compared to each of the rest of you. From this point forward, each of your deaths will turn out to be even more gruesome than the one that came before it."

"Dammit you old fucker, what the hell did you do to her?!" Gajeel let out a snarl "Start talking before I gouge out your heart!"

""_It's okay everybody, I'm fine!"_" a voice got everyone's attention, drawing them to the roof of of the airship, where Horologium resided above them ""_I'm up here!"_ she explains with immense relief."

"It's Horologium, so then…" Lucy breathed a sigh of relief "That was way too close."

"My automatic danger detection mode was activated just in time."

"Oh really? And yet it didn't go off when me and Cana were fighting Freed and Bickslow, or when I was getting tortured by that dough guy from the Seven Kin of Purgatory, or when I was being crushed by that one guy with the Gravity magic? Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm getting the idea your danger detection thing needs one hell of an overhaul."

"My apologies, but while I do admit that you have had trouble in the past, your life was never truly at risk. "_Thanks so much Horologium, that was a close call."_ she says graciously."

"I guess timing is kind of his thing." Gray commented "So is there any particular reason why didn't you take Wendy's clothes with her?"

"Seeing as it was an emergency, I only had enough time to protect her physical body."

"Wait a second, just her body? You mean that she's inside there, but she's still…"

"Completely and utterly disrobed? Affirmative. She screams in embarrassment. Not to worry though, I will provide new clothing for her."

"We're just glad she's alright." Erza let out a sigh "Thank you for your help."

"You are welcome, but unfortunately, this is the only time that I will be capable of offering my protection. Please take extra care everyone, and good luck." and then he promptly disappeared, leaving Wendy to fall to the ground and rejoin the others.

"I think we'll be fine from here on out."

"So this is Makarov's Fairy Tail then is it?" Hades noted "Well if nothing else, all of you are certainly proving to be entertaining."

"Hold up a second." this was when Natsu stepped towards him "Are you trying to tell us that you actually know Gramps?"

"I have to say, I am surprised that he never told you about me. Have the records of my very existence been expunged from the library of the guild? I should've expected as much. Well then, if Makarov is Gramps then I suppose that would make me Great Grandfather. I was once the second master of Fairy Tail." and yet again, he left them frozen to their cores, with one angry exception. Give you one guess who.

"That's a filthy lie!"

"No, it's really not. My name back then was Precht Gaeblog, and it was I that appointed Makarov as the third master of the guild."

"You really expect us to believe that?! There's no way in hell the old man would have anything to do with someone like you!" Gajeel promptly charged towards Hades in a rage.

"**Amaterasu Formula 2." **Hades simply held out his hand, dark energy gathering in his fingertips, and he blew Natsu back a great distance, and then with a wave of his hand he bound both Lucy and Erza together using his magic chains, before promptly detonating them and sending the two of them flying back. Then he went on to see Natsu charging towards him and began firing a series of magic bullets at him, Gray and the others, causing all of them to cry out in pain, whereas he was laughing maniacally "Now do you understand your mistakes, how truly foolish you were to

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Meanwhile, in another part of the ship…

The lightning flashing overhead could be heard all throughout the ship.

"It's so loud!" and Lily wasn't enjoying any of it "Who in their right mind would build a ship with such horrible sound insolation?! It sounds like it's inside my head, make it stop!"

"You know it's a lot worse when you keep complaining about it nonstop!" Cana pointed out, her tone increasingly dry.

"Look at it this way, at least now we know that the lightning won't be able to hit us while we're inside the ship." Happy pointed out.

"That is true. Come on, let's check around this corner next, and Lily you'd better move your tiny feet or we're leaving you behind."

"Wait for me!" Lily quickly rushed after them.

"And there you go."

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On the damaged battleship of the Magic Council, Doranbolt was quick to inform Lahar about the situation with Zeref and Acnologia, the news causing both of them to shake in fear, and Lahar promptly ordered his crew to retreat, claiming that their investigation of Tenrou Island had come to an end. As the crew prepared to leave, Doranbolt could only gaze out at the island and give out a silent apology, believing that there was nothing more that could be done.

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Meanwhile, back with the torture fest…

Things had taken a turn for the worst with our heroes.

Hades looked down at the badly wounded forms of Natsu and the others, and then he started to get condescending "Tell me, do fairies possess tails? It's supposed to be considered an eternal mystery, as well as a never ending adventure. I believe that was how the name of the guild came to be in the first place. However, your adventure is going to come to an abrupt end as you're crushed under the heel of my boot." he made his way forward and started stomping down on the head of the one closest to him, Natsu in this case "The First Master of Fairy Tail, Mavis herself, had entrusted her will to me, and in turn I passed my will and mantle onto Makarov nearly 50 years ago. Looking back, it was one of my greatest mistakes. Makarov was responsible for changing the guild."

"What bullshit… are you going on about…?" Natsu glared up at Hades even as he spat out some blood.

"He was the one who brought magic out of the darkness and into the light."

"That's how… our Fairy Tail… does things… You got a problem… with that? We're not a bunch of… rotten to the core… heartless monsters like you… and the rest of your guild… We live with our lives on the line… every moment… of every day… So sit and brood in the darkness… like an Uchiha all you want… you don't have the guts… to change a single damn thing!"

"Such blatant disrespect to your betters, you'll pay for that boy." Hades promptly shot clear through Natsu's leg with a magic bullet, and then he fired a series of several more magic bullets, causing him to scream in pain "If your anger is going to be directed anywhere, then it should be towards Makarov. After all, if it wasn't for him then you wouldn't be about to be ripped away from this world in complete and utter agony."

"Get your fucking hands off of him! **Iron Dragon ROAR!" **Gajeel tried to hit Hades with a breath attack, only to be hit with a series of magic bullets himself, leaving him in a blood covered heap on the ground.

"That goes for all of you."

"Shut up…" Natsu slowly pulled himself back to his feet "I won't let you… get away… with hurting Gramps… or any of the others… I…"

"You will die, and you will do so in pain and agony, such is the fate of all of those who reside within the current tail. Now farewell." and so he fired one large magic bullet aimed at Natsu's skull, despite the screams of protests coming from the others.

'_Lisanna… Happy… everyone… I'm sorry…' _Natsu could only watch the magic bullet aimed at his face, until…

"**RAGING BOLT!" **a massive blast of lightning suddenly burst down in front of Hades, the force sending him tumbling backwards a great distance as a result.

"You came… Luke…"

"Not exactly." the lightning dissipated to reveal none other than Laxus standing before the group, his body crackling with electricity "Luke might be the real deal, but he's not the only Lightning Dragon Slayer around, or did you forget that? Speaking of which, is that old fossil up ahead the one who took out Gramps? That's pretty interesting."

"Who are you?" Hades pulled himself back to his feet and locked eyes with Laxus, and his one visible eye widened at the sight of him '_The boy? Or is it Yuri…' _he was promptly met with a lightning-enhanced headbutt that sent him staggering backwards '_No, it's definitely the both of them in one.'_

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Meanwhile, with Luke…

'_Come on, just a little further…' _with his Dragon Force continuously surging, Luke kept on building his magic power, about ⅓ of his dragon scales having changed color, going from deep gold to azure blue '_Just a little bit longer, a little more time and then I'll be ready to join the others in battle. I have to admit though, I am rather nervous. I didn't think I would end up having to use this before I was sure it was time, and I didn't think I would try it again until after the trials were over with. Since I am still struggling to make it work, at this point I probably only have about a ⅓ chance of it actually working, and if I do screw it up then it's gonna do a lot more than just drain my magic power, but I can't afford to cut corners. I'm doing I have to do, whatever desires for combat exist, I have to meet. As the power of my enemies continue to climb to new heights, I'll do the same by necessity. I have to see how far I can go, not just for my sake, but for the sake of the people I love so dearly. I'm forcing myself all the way to my peek, for the sake of those I've sworn to protect!'_

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Meanwhile, on the Grimoire Heart airship…

The battle had taken a turn for the worst, until the group suddenly received some surprise reinforcements from an unexpected source.

Natsu looked up and gave a small smile, despite the immense pain he was feeling "Laxus… you came…"

"I can't remember the last time… I was this happy to see him…" Gray spat out some blood and earned a dry look from Natsu.

"You've never been happy to see him, and neither has anyone else in the guild except for Gramps and the Thunder Legion."

"My point still stands."

Hades pulled himself out of the rubble and locked his gaze on Laxus "I see, so you must be a blood relative of Makarov."

"I'm his grandson, and you're gonna die in a minute." but before that, Laxus spared a glance back at Natsu and the others, and he let out a scoff "How pathetic, you guys just look sprawled out like a bunch of tattered old rags."

"Yeah… no joke…" Natsu let out a pained chuckle "What the hell are you doing here anyway? I mean, you do know this is sacred ground right?"

"Yeah, but that didn't stop Grimoire Heart from showing up, or from one of them pulling the biggest "Fuck you" to Naruto in history." he's referring to Noah's use of Planetary Devastation from his battle with Luke "Anyway, aside from seeing that, I came to pay my respects to the grave of the First Master. Keep in mind that I used to be a member of Fairy Tail too. I was only planning to stop my Mavis' grave, but then I met Luke and he asked me to come and play the big bad superhero before he makes his grand entrance and saves the day. I have to say though, I never would've expected to run into the second master of Fairy Tail." he promptly levelled his glare on Hades as his lightning magic started surging "I've got a better idea though. Since the both of us are already here, why don't I go ahead and dig a grave for you too? I'll even put you in it myself."

"My my, what a shame." Hades noted as his own magic power started surging "To think that the likes of Makarov would be burdened by such a pretentious grandchild."

"You think I'm pretentious?" with a scoff, Laxus blitzed forward faster than most of the others could track.

In a flash, Hades ducked under a lightning-enhanced kick being aimed at his head, seeing Laxus looming above him, and then he launched a magic bullet from his fingertip.

"**Lightning Dragon IRON FIST!" **Laxus spun around Hades' attack and launched one of his own in the form of one of his fists coated with lightning magic, his fist colliding with Hades' own, the force of the shockwave that followed sending both of them skidding backwards as a result.

"Your arrogance astounds me boy!" Hades charged at Laxus and attempted to blast him a point blank range.

"**Lightning Dragon SURGE!" **before the attack could be launched, Laxus promptly blitzed through Hades and unleashed a surge of electricity from his hand as he did so, leaving Hades with a deep gash across the side of his face.

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At the sight of the battle between Laxus and Hades unfolding, Erza and the others could only watch in awe from their place on the ground "It's incredible, Laxus may have only grazed him so far, but his attack actually did some visible, considering none of us were even able to scratch him before, and that's if we were lucky enough to touch him."

"You've gotta be kidding me, he's incredible." Lucy muttered "I don't think I've ever seen anyone move as fast as that, aside from Luke that is. It's not just how fast he is either, it's a lot more than that. I can barely even sense him using his magic power at all."

"I can only imagine he's utilizing it in short bursts to maximize the effect that his attacks are having on Hades. His speed and attack power are on an entirely different level, so he must have been training harder than ever since the last time I saw him."

"What the hell is going on?" Gajeel muttered "I know I'm seeing it with my own eyes, but I find it kind of hard to believe that what he's doing is seriously even possible, using that kind of power and speed without the effects of Dragon Force. What the hell is this guy?"

"He's the master's grandson by blood, but he was expelled from the guild a year ago. It's a long story, I'll tell you about it later."

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The battle continued raging on.

"It would seem that Makarov's stubbornness has been passed onto you, since you clearly don't know when you're outmatched!" Hades blitzed towards Laxus and unleashed a series of magic chains from each hand.

"**Lightning Dragon TWIN STREAM!" **Laxus stretched out both of his arms and unleashed two simultaneous currents of electricity, ripping through Hades' chains with ease.

"**Amaterasu 28!" **with the creation of three seals, Hades attempted to attack Laxus using one of his Amaterasu spells, only to find a lightning-enhanced fist buried in his gut, sending him flying back, though he quickly rebounded '_With such precision and speed in his attacks, this one is definitely above the rest of them by a fair amount. _I have to say that I'm impressed with the level of magic power you possess, not to mention your courage. I didn't think the boy had another pawn of the same caliber as Gildarts, or the other Lightning Dragon Slayer of your guild."

"You know that reminds me of something my grandpa used to say. He told me that whenever you face a tough enemy, it doesn't matter how strong they are. What actually matters is that you stand up to them. Anyone and everyone in Fairy Tail understands that unspoken rule, and they live by it too."

"Typical of something the boy would say, but it's utter nonsense regardless. That's nothing more than an excuse that a weakling would give. If you truly do believe that you're strong enough to face off against me, then let's see what you've got."

"Trust me old man, I intend to!" Laxus blitzed forward towards Hades, evading his numerous magic bullets while simultaneously trying to unleash several small yet numerous surges of his lightning magic, though they ended up cancelling each other out as a result, which led to the two of them exchanging physical attacks, taking their fight to mid air.

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Wendy and the rest were in awe at the sight of Laxus and Hades going at it "Woah, their power is so amazing! But which one of them do you think is winning?"

"To be honest, I think it's too early to tell." Erza told her "But with that being said, when we faced off against Hades, there was a massive gap in power between us and him, but Laxus was able to close it so clearly and easily, and that's not all either."

"What do you mean?" asked Gray.

"I mean as strong as he is right now, it seems that he's continuously improving, continuously adapting to Hades' attacks as the fight goes on. Every time Hades fends him off, Laxus responds with an attack that's that much faster, harder and sharper."

"So what, you mean he's getting stronger as he fights?"

"No, it's like I said, he's adapting to Hades' abilities, understanding them further and learning how to do a better job of fending him off."

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Meanwhile, in another part of the ship…

By this point, Cana and the Exceeds were still finding little progress in their search, and they were growing restless as a result "I hate to say it guys, but I don't think searching like this is going to get us anywhere."

"I agree, I think it would be best if we were to split up." Carla noted.

"But just in case we run into enemy forces, let's do teams of two."

"Perhaps that's for the best." Lily noted "Each of us searching on our own doesn't seem like a good idea."

"Yeah and we all know why, but- Wait why are you sweating? You're not scared are you?"

"Absolutely not! Let's split up!"

"And there we go."

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About 10 minutes later…

After a fruitless search, Cana and the Exceeds regrouped with each other "Well that could've gone a lot better, I didn't find anything aside from their theater room, and most of their guys binge watching Rising of the Shiled Hero."

"All I found was a door with a brick wall hidden behind it." Carla grumbled.

"Well either way, I guess we'll have to continue searching together as a group until we find something."

"Yeah sure, that's fine with me." Lily commented, despite hiding a broken off door handle behind his back.

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Meanwhile, with the main battle…

"**Lightning Dragon ROAR!" **Laxus let out a roar and a lightning-enhanced breath attack that hurtled towards Hades at full speed.

"Don't think that will be anywhere near enough!" Hades whipped out of the way of the blast and unleashed a magic chain, hooking it to the massive globe in the center of the room, hooking to it like a massive wrecking ball and swinging it around the room.

"For the record, for those of you who don't have the energy to walk right now, stop daydreaming and fucking duck already! **Lightning Dragon SURGE!" **Laxus blitzed towards Hades, held out his hand and unleashed a surge of electricity, only to be sent flying by Hades with a powerful shockwave '_Shit!'_

"You should've heeded my warning brat." Hades formed a number of symbols with his hands, summoning a series of magic circles in his hand.

'_Fuck you've gotta be kidding me, is that an Amaterasu formula?!'_

"Now die brat! **Amaterasu Fomula 100!" **Hades held out his hand and activated the Amaterasu formula, engulfing Laxus in the powerful explosion that followed, as well as sending Natsu and the others flying from the sheer force "Those who are unfortunate enough to be hit by the Amaterasu formula end up losing all of the strength in their limbs and become immobilized as a result, and simply blocking it consumes so much magic power that one could consider it to be fatal."

"Yeah well hate to break it to you old man, but I'm not like the others!" sure enough, the smoke cleared to reveal Laxus unharmed, aside from his skin and cloak being somewhat singed, and he blitzed forward through a barrage of magic bullets and slammed his leg into Hades' gut, causing him to cough up blood and sending him tumbling backwards "I know about the Amaterasu formula and its effects, I spent some time training with one of the Wizard Saints, who just so happened to be a Dragon Slayer with multiple different elements. Plus that was only one kick, and I've got three other limbs and the power in the rest of my body, so if I combine all of that power into one strike, I think it's safe to say the Lightning Dragon Slayer that's actually part of Fairy Tail won't even get the chance to fight. You wanna test that theory of mine?"

"You do talk big, not that I can blame you for it. There is a certain air of confidence that comes with you, but it doesn't speak of your skills! You don't have what it takes to defeat me!" and on that note, Hades charged forward with a blast of dark energy in his hand.

"Why don't you just come and try me! **Lightning Dragon IRON FIST!" **Laxus burst forward and let a burst of lightning from his fist collide with Hades' blast, blowing clear through it and sending him flying as a result, and with a primal roar he rushed in to finish it, resulting in another powerful explosion.

"So then… your name is Laxus correct?" unfortunately, the smoke cleared and the dust settled to reveal that Hades had recovered enough to stop Laxus' attack with one hand "Most impressive I have to admit, you really are far beyond the others. But at the same time, I can see your limit plain as day, and you've reached it." he unleashed a blast of dark energy, sending Laxus tumbling backwards in a heap "Well well, look what we have here. I knew that you were full of a great deal of brovado, but to fall so soon."

'_Dammit…' _Laxus coughed up some blood '_I guess I didn't protect myself from that spell as well as I would've liked to believe…' _then he let out a bitter chuckle "I've travelled all over this continent… almost everywhere actually… met all sorts of strong people… some of them old and some new… fought with them and against them… but this is the first time, that I've ever met such a monster… I guess I still have a long way to go…"

"What the fuck are you saying?!" Natsu pulled himself up onto his knees "Dammit Laxus, you have to pull yourself together!"

"I can't… not with this one…"

"So you noticed." Hades let out a chuckle "I have to say, I'm glad I could help you come to that realization, but unfortunately for you, this is the very end. Your power and your passion have expired, and you have nothing more to offer me in this battle. Now die!" he fired a massive blast of dark magic energy.

"Dammit…"

"Hurry Laxus, you have to get up!" Erza called out to him, her pleads being echoed by the rest of the group.

'_I realize it, I know that I'm not a member of Fairy Tail, not anymore, because after what I did, the way that I've acted and the things I've done, I have no right to be part of the guild. But even so, this bastard was the one who took out my grandpa, so one would think that I would be allowed to take revenge on him for that.' _he spared a quick glance back, and he couldn't help but smile '_But I think I'll leave it to you, the one that's actually part of Fairy Tail.'_

"Now die!" Hades hurtled the dark energy blast forward, only for a bright light to engulf the scene, and for the blast to disappear, leaving everyone in stunned silence. Hades was the only exception, and he slowly looked back behind him.

As it turns out, a figure bathed in golden light was standing behind him, holding Hades' blast in the palm of his hand, but he crushed it just as easily "Laxus' power and passion may have reached their limit, but I've got plenty to spare. Observe." in a flash the figure suddenly blitzed towards Hades and dealt him a sharp kick to the neck, sending him hurtling backwards into a wall on the other side of the battlefield, while the light around the figure slowly began to dissipate from the scene "That's only a sample of what's to come, I'm going to make sure that you pay for everything you've done."

"So you finally did it… It's about time too…" Laxus let out a chuckle, then pulled himself back to his feet and turned to the others "You guys are seeing this for yourselves right? You'd better be seeing this, because he's finally done it. He's finally showing it off for the first time. I have to admit it's all pretty incredible, even by the standards of Dragon Slayers, he really is something else. Look at that amazing form, there can be no doubt about it. This is the true power, complete in all of its glory. This is… Dual Element Dragon Force."

Sure enough, the light subsided to reveal Luke Drako himself before them, his arms, legs and face covered in dragon scales, but rather than just the typical gold color, it was mixed in with blue among them as well "Hey guys, sorry I took so long to get here, but I had to make sure that I was ready for what's about to happen next. I'm proud of all of you for fighting so hard up until now, but leave the rest to me, I'll take care of it."

"You'll what? Luke that's insane, you can't seriously think that even you would be able to beat him alone!" Lucy's protests were cut off by a smile from Luke, not just one of confidence, but a gentle and calming smile.

"It's alright, you don't need to push yourselves any harder than you already have. I have all that's really necessary to bring this guy down once and for all. There isn't anything wrong with feeling fear. after all without fear how else would we come to know our own weaknesses? Those are something you need to know if you want to become a stronger and gentler person. Today we learned just how weak we really are. As for what we have to do next, well for all of you, you have to use this experience and let it make you stronger than before. As for me, I already know exactly what my weakness is. Without having something to fight for, without having someone that I have to protect, I wouldn't have the strength of will I need to keep moving forward. But I swore to protect all of you with every ounce of strength in my body, until my dying breath, and that's exactly what I intend to do. Your part in this battle is over, so now I'm going to take it from here. After all, a wise man once told me a long time ago that the wizards who are the most courageous are those exceptional few who know when to stand down. For all of you, that time has come. As for me, the time has come to show this bastard why the Fairy Tail guild is one you don't want to mess with."

"Luke…"

"It's okay guys, he's right." Natsu staggered back to his feet "Luke has everything he needs to beat this guy. When he tested me in the trial earlier, he helped me to realize that there's nothing wrong with being afraid, and that we have to know when to back off. After all, that's the only way we can come to know our own weaknesses. You need to know them in order to become a stronger and gentler person. Today was the day where all of us learned just how weak we really are, so no we're gonna do the only thing we can. We're gonna use this experience and learn from it, and we'll grow stronger as a result. Like Luke said, we've gotta let him take it from here, because he already learned that a long time ago, and he's been honing it every single day ever since. He still has courage because he pushes himself to the absolute limit, all for the sake of protecting us. Now we're going to follow his example, and learn from this. But first, we have to let him settle things."

"Natsu… thanks for that. You and Laxus, and all of the others get back to the ground. I'm going to settle things with Hades on my own. Gray, take them back to the ground with your Ice Make magic if you have any left."

"Right." so with his hands slammed together, Gray summoned a series of platforms made of ice that carried the others back down to the ground.

Once they were gone, Luke turned his attention back to where Hades was picking himself up off of the ground "Alright Hades, I'm your opponent now, which means that this is when the real fight starts."

"So it shall." Hades dusted himself off and wiped the blood from his face as he studied Luke's appearance for a moment "So this is it then, the power that made Noah take such an interest in you before. Judging by your appearance and your magic power, I can see that he was right to have his curiosity peaked, but this is more than I expected."

"Yeah I know, I really was able to pull it off after all, the power of Dragon Force intensified and amplified by my Lightning Sea King Dragon Mode. Good thing too, if I had screwed this up even a little bit, then my magic power would've run out of control and with this much of it, I would've screwed myself over worse than I ever have before, but it looks like I've got it in check. So this is what it feels like, the power of Dual Element Dragon Force. I shouldn't be surprised that even something like this is worth so much of a risk."

"Dragon Force combined with a Dual Element mode, both of which require an incredible amount of magic power on their own. You know you won't be able to maintain this for very long."

"I'm well aware of that, and truth be told this is the first time I've actually used it in any real combat, but with someone as strong as you I can't afford to take any chances. Like you said though, I can't maintain this for very long, so if it's all the same to you, I'd rather get this underway fast."

"If that means you intend to have your life end that much sooner, then I suppose it's only fair of me to oblige you."

"Then allow me to do the same." with a flash, Luke suddenly blitzed through Hades with his sword and left a sizeable cut on the side of his face, his sheer magic power alone destroying a large part of the wall in front of him '_Combining the power of Dragon Force with my Dual Element mode pushed me to new heights, it's almost more than I can bare. One things is for sure, if I'm going to finish this then I have to do it fast. Even if my body is ripped apart as the fight goes on, I have to keep going, for the sake of protecting all of them. I'll do whatever it takes to ensure that.'_

"I hope you won't let this new power of yours go to your head!" Hades quickly charged forward and started attacking Luke with a rapid barrage of punches and kicks.

Using his enhanced speed and power, Luke dodged, blocked and weaved his way around every strike Hades was aiming at him, but eventually he stopped Hades from advancing with a sharp jab to the neck, and then he dealt him a single kick to the chest that sent him skidding backwards across the room.

"**Amaterasu 28!" **Hades stopped himself after Luke's attack and formed three magic circles in front of him, surrounding Luke with runes that prevented him from escaping "You can't escape from an Amaterasu formula!"

"Who said that I had to? **Dragon Sword Style: STORM DOME!" **Luke thrusted his sword into the ground a split second before the explosion engulfed him. When it subsided, it was revealed that he had shielded himself with an energy dome "You were saying?"

"So you defended yourself from one, but will you be able to continue with that? No matter, even then it won't be enough!" Hades promptly charged at him again at full speed.

Luke gladly met the charge himself as the two of them began trading even blows, though he quickly took the upper hand as he dealt Hades an uppercut kick to the jaw, followed by a slash across the chest with his sword and then another kick to the face.

Hades let out a growl as he unleashed a series of magic bullets in one hand, and used his magic chains in the other hand, combining them for a more effective assault.

Luke managed to dodge each strike from the magic chains with a series of backflips and blitzing around them, leaving them to do some serious damage to the airship, while he emerged from the blaze caused by the following explosion and charged forward towards Hades, rapidly dodging the series of magic bullets being fired in his direction, and he started unleashing a rapid series of punches, kicks and slashes from his sword.

Hades was able to dodge and block most of the strikes being aimed at him, despite taking a few blows and slashes here and there, and he eventually was able to force his way through the onslaught to Luek and tried to prepare another Amaterasu spell at point blank range.

Luke blitzed forward and stopped Hades from casting the spell by grabbing his hand and crushing it, then dealt him a quick slash across his shoulder and kick to the back "Now this one is for Makarov, for everyone in my guild you've hurt, and this is why you don't mess with Fairy Tail! **Lightning Sea Kin Dragon… ROAR!" **he let out a massive roar, and with it came a massive stream of lightning infused with water properties, engulfing Hades in an instant and bursting clear through the ship and across the island, leaving an absolutely unbelievable path of destruction in its wake.

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The destruction caused by Luke's attack could be seen all throughout the island.

Lucy and the others were able to witness it plain as day from where they were currently residing on the ground "Unbelievable, he's unleashing so much power."

"You shouldn't be surprised, keep in mind that he's a member of your guild after all, and he's also the guy who defeated a Wizard Saint." Laxus pointed out.

"I know that, but still… I've never seen anything like this before."

"I've seen it only once myself, so I don't blame you."

"It's not really new to any of us." Gray pointed out, gesturing between himself and Natsu "Keep in mind that we were there in the Tower of Heaven when he went to town of Jellal, so combine that with the power he used to defeat Jose…"

"And he's basically a Dues Ex Machina in the making. Dual Element modes are pretty complex when you try to understand them, but basically you consume a small amount of another kind of Dragon Slayer magic and add it to your arsenal, and with enough training you can learn to access that power at will."

"So what then, any of us could use that kind of power?" asked Gajeel.

"Yes and no, it only works when the element you consume has a certain level of compatibility with your own element. For example, Luke's secondary element is water, and that works well with his lightning, maybe with the kid's (Wendy's) wind magic, but not for something like the fire that Natsu uses. Either way, now Luke can use water magic infused with his lightning magic whenever he wants."

"No way, that's totally awesome!" Lucy lit up when she heard this.

"Yes and no, because it takes a lot of power to use and control. Combine that with the amount of power and strain that comes with using Dragon Force, and I'd say he's in for the toughest fight of his life."

"You've gotta be kidding me though." Natsu muttered "You saw that Roar he used, I've never sensed that much magic power in one place!"

"Which proves just how tough the second master of Fairy Tail really is. But if anyone can defeat him, it would be Luke."

"Yeah, you're right about that. _Luke, don't you fucking dare die on all of us, not today or any other day.'_

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Meanwhile, back on the airship…

By this point, Happy and the other Exceeds were crawling their way through the vents of the airship "Maybe this power source we heard about is super small, and maybe we were just missing it somewhere."

"Given the size of this ship, I would have to say that it's highly unlikely it's being powered by anything that small." Carla pointed out.

"Maybe, but Cana was right when she said that we can't afford to take any chances."

"I suppose."

"Is there any particular reason why we're crawling through the duct work?" asked Lily, his tone increasingly dry.

"Don't ask me, why don't you ask our fearless leader up there?"

"Fine then, Happy why are we crawling through the air ducts?"

"It's just a feeling I have." was all Happy said.

"You're going to feel my fist next!" and then they all stopped when Happy did, bumping into each other "You know it's only common courtesy before you stop out of nowhere like that."

"Lily…"

"Oh what now?"

"...Did you touch it?"

"Did I touch what?"

"Carla bumped into my butt, which means that you must have gotten a face full of her cushie tushie."

"And how is that my fault, don't forget that you're the one who stopped out of nowhere for no reason!"

"Oh yeah, so I'm entirely to blame for you not being able to stop yourself from copping a feel on her! Lily, prepare to die!"

"Would it kill you to quit acting like a child focus on the mission at hand, besides it's not even a big deal!"

"It might not be to you, but it is to me! I challenge to you to a fight to the death!"

"Would you two idiots knock it off already?!" Carla snapped them both back to reality "So what made you stop in the first place, did you see something?"

"Oh yeah I did, do either of you know what that thing is…?" he gestured down at the air vent below him, leaving him shaking to the core "It's alive…"

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Meanwhile, back with the main battle…

Following the explosion caused by the massive Roar, everything had settled down, if only for a moment.

Luke glanced ahead at seeing the form of Hades sprawled out, and he let out a chuckle "You see, that's why you don't… mess with Fairy Tail…" he stumbled slightly, but propped himself up with his sword and gritted his teeth '_Dammit, I wasn't expecting this. Not only does using both of these forms at the same time use a ton of magic power, but it also ends up causing me a metric fuckton of pain. I guess I'll just have to acclimate, I have to keep pushing myself forward without giving him any sort of openings. _You can get up now, I already know that even a blast like that one wouldn't be anywhere near enough to take you down, not yet."

"So you noticed. You may have knocked me down, but I'm not out." sure enough, once the smoke finally cleared, Hades slowly pulled himself back to his feet and requipped into a new outfit to replace his old charred and ruined one, complete with an evil cape "I have to give credit to Makarov where credit is due, he's raised some truly remarkable children despite his clearly flawed philosophies, but you're clearly a cut above the rest. I can't remember the last time I was left tattered and torn after a good brawl."

'_The way he's talking, it's like he has an ace up his sleeve too. I'd better be careful, who knows what kind of power he's going to bring out.'_

"I do appreciate you and the rest of your comrades entertaining me up until now, but I do have to get back to work. I'll be obliterating everyone in your guild now, and I think it's only fitting that I start with you. Believe me when I tell you this, you'll wish I had done so sooner." he slowly removed the patch over his right eye "**Devil's Eye, open." **his right eye slowly opened, which revealed it to be glowing red as black energy started surrounding his body.

'_His power is rising beyond anything I've ever felt before, like some kind of black abyss so deep you can't even see the bottom. What the hell kind of power is he unleashing?'_

"You are now going to witness something you've never seen before, that being the abyss of sorcery. From here extends an endless realm that surpasses your feeble imagination. I am the harbinger of the last breath of the Fairy Tail guild."

'_Maybe he is, maybe he isn't, but there's no way in hell I'm going down without a fight.'_

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Meanwhile, with the B team…

By this point, Cana had caught up with Exceeds and like them, she was marvelling at the sight before them in the form of a massive organic heart hooked up to a machine "So this is what you three found, you think this is it?"

"Well it doesn't exactly look like a power source, but all things considered, it does look a bit like a heart, at least on some level." Carla commented "It does seem to bear the appearance of the heart of this ship itself."

"I guess it's called Grimoire Heart for a reason. Alright stand back, I'm gonna prepare to use Fairy Glitter on this thing." she motioned for them to step back, when…

"Hold it right there intruder! And cats!" as it turns out, the door was left wide open, and so several of the remaining soldiers of Grimoire Heart had found Cana and the Exceeds.

"Dammit, I forgot about that."

"Stay where you are and we'll shoot you!"

"Don't you mean, or we'll shoot you?"

"We know what we said!"

"Don't worry, I'll keep them occupied for as long as I can." Lily quickly rushed out of the room and confronted the guards himself.

"How the hell did a cat get in here? You know what it doesn't matter, just stomp the damn thing already!"

"Stomp on this!" Lily threw the door handle he had been carrying at the soldiers, then started using it to fend off their swords.

"You flea ridden little shit, now you're asking for it!"

"Oh am I now?" Lily promptly morphed into his gigantic form and grabbed the massive sword out of the hand of one of their soldiers "How generous, I'll be taking this thank you."

"But that's my sword!"

"Not anymore it isn't." with a slash of the sword, Lily sent several soldiers flying, only to see the blade glowing '_This blade, it works quite well for me actually. I have to admit that this is very unexpected, I never thought I would find a sword with the ability to change in size, at least one outside of Edolas. I think I'll hold onto this, I could use a replacement for Bustermarm. _I'll hold them off for as long as I can, the rest of you focus on destroying that heart!"

"Right!" Cana turned back to the Devil's Heart as she braced her right arm '_Judging by the power I'm sensing from this thing, I'm guessing Noah was right when he said I would need my Fairy Glitter spell in order to completely destroy it. The problem is I don't have as much magic power left as I did when I used it against Bluenote, so preparing it will take a lot longer than the last time I used it. Sorry Lily, but you're gonna have to hold them off for a lot longer than I had been expecting.'_

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The battlefield had turned deathly quiet.

Luke had slowly dropped into a battle stance with his sword in hand, sweating considerably at the sight of Hades unleashing his full power '_The abyss of sorcery, the Devil's Eye, combined with the amount of power he had been using before, it's pretty unbelievable.'_

"If one wishes to walk the path of sorcery, then one must first be prepared to sink into its abyss of eternal darkness." Hades told him "Within that darkness lies the Primordial magic, a magic that shines like the heavens themselves, the purest of magic power. You can feel it can't you? That power, the Primordial magic, it's so close it's almost palpable, and yet it's so far in the depths that it may as well be out of my reach. Within those depths is a lost world, a world known as the Grand Magic World, and Zeref is the key to reaching it. Tonight is the night, Zeref will finally awaken and history will forever be altered, and then at long last, the Primordial magic will at last find their rightful place with me!"

"You're a damn fool if you think I'm going to let that happen, and an even bigger fool if you think that I'm going to let him get away."

"You don't have a choice in the matter. You and the rest of your guild shall be ostricized, only the strong will be allowed to live, and you lack the resolve you need to reach into the abyss."

"That's where you're wrong. I don't need resolve to reach into the abyss, mainly because I have more than enough resolve not to."

"Such a naive fool, but what else should I expect from the teachings of Makarov."

"You taught him everything he knows, but you lost sight of that, so it's only right that as someone whose embraced Makarov's will, I remind you of what's truly important. Now come on old man, let's do this."

"So be it then, if you must learn the hard way, then I'll just have to teach it to you." and on that note, Hades suddenly burst forward with a massive increase in speed.

With his Dual Element Dragon Force surging, Luke met his charge full force, which resulted in the two of them trading even blows faster than the eye could see, and he was able to dodge, block and/ or counter most of Hades' attacks before catching one fist with his hand "I guess I should be flattered that you finally decided to get serious."

"What I've decided is to show you how pathetic and futile your efforts truly are!" Hades then struck Luke at point blank range with an explosive magic bullet, the force blowing Luke clear off his feet and sending him tumbling backwards through one of the nearby walls, and with a mighty roar he aimed a magic chain at him to finish him.

Luke was able to rebound and escape right before he could be pierced by the magic chain and rebounded on the side of the nearby wall he had blown through earlier.

Hades let out a roar as he fired a barrage of magic bullets from his fingertips, creating a series of powerful explosions that ripped through the entire airship.

'_Dammit, I don't have the time to run and there's too many of them to dodge, so I guess I've only got one option: Counter it! _**Lightning Sea King Dragon Heavenward Trident!" **with no other opinions, Luke summoned a massive trident made of lightning and water properties, and he detonated it, resulting in an explosion powerful enough to cancel out, only for his head to snap forward once the blast subsided '_Dammit, what the hell is he planning now?'_

"**Chapter 4, verse 12 from the Book of Zeref: Arcane magic NEMESIS!" **with a wave of his hands, Hades summoned a number of dark creatures "With the magic power of the abyss at my command, I can create nightmare creatures from the tiniest speck of dust! The devilish dancers and heavenly arbiters, such is the supremacy of arcane magic!"

"**Dragon Sword Style: Storming Blade Dance!" **Luke drew his sword and blitzd through the creatures, cutting them down with a number of lightning and water-enhanced slashes from the blade of his sword "Under normal circumstances, a demon made of pure magic power is pretty lethal, but when you have a sword like mine that can cut through anything, including magic power, I think it's safe to say they're not much more than common foot soldiers."

"Perhaps, but that's not the only spell that comes from the Book of Zeref. The Amaterasu formulas actually originate from the book as well, at least some of the more powerful spells that is. Observe."

Luke glanced around and found himself surrounded by Amaterasu magic seals on every side of him, as well as above him '_Dammit, those Nemesis creatures were just a distraction, he was trying to lure me into this all along!'_

"Now this farce of a battle has gone on long enough! **Amaterasu Formula 120!" **with a wave of his hands, Hades unleashed simultaneous blasts from each of the magic seals.

"**Lightning Sea King Dragon CURRENT!" **thinking quick, Luke stuck out both of his arms and unleashed two simultaneous currents of water and lightning, countering each of the blasts before they were able to hit him, but at the same time, it resulted in him being trapped in a struggle to maintain this.

"This battle has gone on long enough, I'm ending this here and now!" with a roar, Hades then poured more power into his spell, overpowering Luke's counterattack and allowing the formula to hit him from all sides, engulfing him in the massive explosion that followed, as well as sending him tumbling backwards across the room as a result.

It took a moment for him to recover, but Luke burst out from within the smoke and debris, and charged at Hades with his sword drawn, which resulted in him stabbing Hades through the chest while at the same time, he received a magic chain pierced through his shoulder, and another one pierced through his leg, which resulted in the two of them grappling in a power struggle.

"To think that you have the ability to continue fighting like this even after taking the full force of an Amaterasu formula, I suppose I underestimated you after all. But then again, I suppose that is another byproduct of Makarov's flawed teachings."

"Those were teachings that he learned from you, and if you think they're flawed then that's just proof to me that you're the one who's flawed!" the power struggle between the two of them ended in the air ship being damaged even further, but it ended when Luke once again thrusted his sword into Hades' gut.

Hades spat out some blood and dealt Luke a severe kick to the chest, sending him hurtling backwards a fair distance, and then he attempted to run him through with another one of his magic chains.

"**Dragon Sword Style: STORM HELIX!" **Luke thrusted his sword forward and unleashed two streams from the blade, one of them lightning and one of them water, both of them spiralling towards Hades and taking the form of a double helix. This attack was able to cancel out the magic chains, but they detonated too close to Luke, and he was sent tumbling backwards as a result.

Hades then blitzed behind Luke and hurtled forward another explosive magic bullet, sending him tumbling across the battlefield which he followed up on by hooking onto him with a magic chain and hurling him across the room, leaving him in a bloody heap as a result. Hades could only smirk at him despite the pain, and then he charged another explosive bullet "Such is the fate of all of those who stand in the way my reaching the Primordial magic."

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Meanwhile, on another level of the ship…

'_Okay, that's enough power, so I think I can…' _Cana finally finished charging up her magic power, only to freeze and look up "Don't tell me…"

"What's the matter?" asked Carla.

"I've got a bad feeling about something, like Luke is in trouble. That's his magic power up there clashing against Hades. Come on Luke, you have to get up! I know you can hear me up there, so don't ignore me! Every time that it's really mattered before, no matter how impossible the odds might have looked to you, you've always found a way to bounce back, and it's never mattered more to you or me, or to anyone than it does right now! I believe in you Luke, and so do the rest of them! You have what it takes to bring Hades down once and for all! You just have to plant your feet, grit your teeth, and get he hell up already Luke! GET THE HELL UP!"

"Cana…"

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Meanwhile, back on the main battlefield…

"You just have to plant your feet, grit your teeth, and get he hell up already Luke! GET THE HELL UP!" Cana's pleads to Luke echoed throughout the ship, mainly through

Even while he was only semi-conscous and lying on the ground in a bloody heap, Luke was able to hear her calling out to him '_Cana… she needs me… so do the rest of them… all of them… all of them are counting on me… to win this fight… I made a promise… to her… to all of them… and to myself… I will… I WILL PROTECT THEM!' _gritting his teeth and gripping his sword life his life depended on it, and found Hades just calmly standing there waiting for him "Not yet… I'm not done with you just yet…"

"Yes, I can see that plain as day." Hades merely let out a sigh "And here I thought that you didn't have any strength left. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, Noah is part of my ranks, so I should have higher expectations for a Dragon Slayer."

"It's not because I'm a Dragon Slayer, at least not entirely. I have people that I've sworn to protect, and I'm going to stick by that vow for as long as I draw breath. Cana, Natsu, everyone in Fairy Tail guild, hell even Laxus, they're counting me to win this fight, to end the war against our guilds once and for all. On my vow to protect them, on the faith that all of them are putting in me, I can't and won't betray their trust and let them down, not after everything I've gone through to avoid that happening." his magic power surged even higher.

"Don't you understand? Whatever power you believe you possess means nothing before one willing to sink into the abyss, only then can you discover what power truly means."

"And that's the other reason I'm continuing with this fight, to prove to you that you're just dead wrong." the two of them charged towards each other once more, trading even blows of punches, kicks and the occasional blast of magic energy, though Luke was quick to gain the upper hand in their clash with renewed speed, strength and surprising levels of ferocity.

'_This can't be, his power and speed have both increased considerably! He's even faster than he was before! _No his can't be, I refuse to accept this! How are you doing this?!"

"You mean you haven't figured it out yet? I thought it would be obvious." Luke was able to catch both of Hades' fist and dealt him an uppercut kick to the jaw, and then he started dodging and countering every atack being thrown at him without any considerable amount of effort "The reason why I'm able to reach these heights, why I'm able to push myself as far as I can and do, is because unlike you and the majority of your guild, I don't fight for just myself. I fight for all of them, that's the main difference here. You should understand what I'm talking about. Behind every strike, slash or blast of lightning I unleash, there's an entire guild and community of people that I've grown up with, pushing me to grow stronger over a lifetime of one challenge after another that one couldn't even begin to fathom. Each one of them has been crucial, because they're my friends and my family, my allies and my rivals, inspiring me and pushing me to keep moving forward. I could be the most powerful being in existence, and I would never even dream of thinking that I had gotten as far as I did on my own. Being a part of Fairy Tail has had a big impact on that, and it's pushed a lot of the others forward too, and shaped them into the wizards, the people who all of us are today."

"SILENCE!" Hades suddenly blitzed forward and hit Luke in the side of his head with a magic bullet, sending him hurtling backwards across the battlefield, and then he followed up with a magic chain aimed at his head.

"**Lightning Sea King Dragon… HEAVENWARD TRIDENT!" **Luke quickly blitzed out of the path of the magic chain and hurled forward a large trident infused with lightning and water properties "A lot of us started out broken, lost and confused, all of us alone without any place to call our own, and some of us even started out as enemies, being hostile or misguided, but as time went on and we grew as wizards and as people, all of us began to gain respect and trust for each other, and we came to learn and understand a different way. Sure we fight and beat the crap out of each other, and we have our fair share of problems and incidents, but at the end of the day that doesn't matter, because we put all of it aside for the sake of protecting and cherishing what we now have. That's the main reason why we're more than just a guild, and we're more than just friends. We're a family. It's strange, but as time goes on, Fairy Tail has a unique way of drawing in more and more people.

"I SAID BE SILENT! **Amaterasu 28!" **Hades quickly formed three magic circles and tried to engulf Luke in the explosion that followed.

When the smoke cleared, Luke was revealed to have avoided the blast at the last second, and he blitzed forward "**Dragon Sword Style: Storm Helix!" **he released two simultaneous streams of water and lightning in the form of a double helix, leaving them to drill through Hades and leave a gaping wound in his shoulder

Hades quickly rebounded despite the wounds he was suffering from, and he fired a barrage of magic chains forward from his hands.

Luke blitzed through the barrage of magic chains and suddenly materialized a mere few inches away from Hades "**Lightning Sea King Dragon… ROAR!" **he let out a massive water and lightning-enhanced roar, engulfing Hades in an instant and blowing his way clear through the side of the ship, completely obliterating one of the wings, leaving the ship slightly lop-sided as a result "Now do you understand it Hades, or should I say Master Precht? This is the power that we share, one of unending optimism, conviction and compassion, a power that you one taught with a wise and gentle hand, but also one you lost sight of a long time ago, and now it's about to bring about your ultimate downfall.

With a burst of black and purple energy, Hades pulled himself out of the rubble, visibly and heavily wounded and with the vein his forehead throbbing from his rage "I've had enough of your preaching about your friendship, your trust, conviction, compassion, I'm sick of hearing of it! Putting faith in such things is nothing more than dependency, the excuse of a pathetic weakling who doesn't know what it means to be truly strong! I did once believe in such things, but I realized how much of an arrogant fool I was, and I traded those ideals for one that would lead me to ultimate power! Such foolish ideals are things that can be ripped away! LET ME SHOW YOU!" he summoned an absolutely massive explosive bullet, but not at Luke. No, he aimed it away from the ship… down at the island itself, and to be more specific, in the direction of the Fairy Tail base camp.

'_He's aiming for… FUCK!' _with a quick flash of teleportation magic, Luke blitzed into mid air just in time to use his sword to deflect the blast being aimed at the camp, leaving it to detonate harmlessly along the island's coastline, though it did still unleash a powerful shockwave. Once that was done, Luke blitzed back onto the battlefield in front of Hades, his teeth grinding fiercely to coincide with his unyielding rage "You… You've got a lot of nerve old man, pulling a stunt like that just to get your point across."

"The source of strength that you rely on is fleeting, it is only a matter of time before all of it turns to dust scattered away through the breeze."

"Which is exactly what happened to any and all patience I had for you and your preaching after that little stunt of yours." with his teeth grinding and his fists clenchec, Luke placed his sword back in its sheath on his back, and then his magic power started surging wildly "I don't care about becoming all powerful or being a savior or anything like that, but anyone who would try to hurt my guild, my friends, my family… Anyone who dares to cross that line… THEY'RE GOING TO PAY! **LIGHTNING SEA KING DRAGON STORM FIST!" **with his magic power exploding along with his rage, Luke surged forward with speed beyond anything he had ever shown before and slammed a lightning and water-enhanced fist directly into Hades' face, and then he followed up with a series of water and lightning-enhanced punches and kicks.

Hades was able to use his magic to block every kick but was still thrown to the ground, though he was able to quickly rebound and attempted to pierce Luke through the chest with another one of his magic chains.

Luke blitzed through the assault and thrusted his sword into Hades' gut, then dealt him a brutal uppercut kick to the jaw that sent him hurtling into the air.

Hades rebounded in mid air and promptly unleashed another series of magic chains that hurtled downwards.

Using small concentrated bursts of magic power, Luke promptly danced his way along the magic chains and pushed himself closer to his target with every passing second as he prepared to unleash another roar.

Hades tried to fire another series of magic bullets in mid air and at point blank range, which only resulted in the two of them clashing in mid air in a remarkable display, black and purple against blue and gold, their energies blending together in the form of a double helix, before they started blitzing out of the now pretty much wrecked ship and taking their clash to the skies above Tenrou Island, only for Hades to be met with a kick to the torso that sent him hurtling downwards towards the ground, but he stopped himself before he actually hit the ground.

Luke dropped down to meet Hades at eye level, taking less than a second to catch his breath '_Oh damn, I can tell that my Dual Element Dragon Force is starting to lose its hold, if I'm gonna end this then I'm gonna have to do it fast. Good thing I know what I'm fighting for, or else I would've lost this battle a good while ago.' _he charged forward as he cupped his hands at his side, blue and gold magic energy charging in between his palms.

Now losing whatever composure he might have been retaining, Hades hurtled forward a magic chain from one hand and a series of magic bullets from the other hand, trying to rip Luke apart in his rage.

Luke powered through the barrage using his sheer magic power alone, and he wasted no time in blitzing towards Hades "And now for my ultimate attack, straight from the handbooks of both the lightning dragon Kaminari and God Serena of the Eight Dragons, and on behalf of everyone in the Fairy Tail guild! **Advanced Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Indra's Wrath: STORM CANNON!" **using all of the magic power he was able to muster, Luke fired forward a massive two-handed blast of gold and blue energy, engulfing Hades in it at point blank range, while he pushed the blast as far and as hard as he was able to.

Hades could only scream in utter pain and agony as he was sent hurtling towards the ground by the blast at a tremendous speed, leaving him to be engulfed in the absolutely massive explosion that followed, lighting up the skies around the island.

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Meanwhile, inside the airship…

'_Okay, so that wasn't exactly fun.' _having been blown clear off her feet by the battle ripping apart the ship, Cana pulled herself back to her feet and glanced out of the massive hole in the wall, just in time to see Luke blowing Hades clear out of the sky, and she couldn't help but let out a very small sigh of relief '_I always had faith in you Luke, and I always will. But for now, I'd better make sure that the old man stays down.' _she rose her right arm "**Assemble, oh river of light guided by fairies!" **the mark on her arm started glowing golden, and then her entire body was engulfed in a golden light that shot up through the storm clouds above them "**May your radiance shine and vanquish the fangs of wickedness!" **she then summoned a golden halo overhead "**FAIRY GLITTER!" **with a wave of her arm, she guided it down towards the Devil's Heart in front of her, bathing it in a golden light…

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But for the time being, we have to backtrack by about a minute and a half…

With the battle appearing to be over, Luke slowly returned to the ground as he saw Hades lying in a crater in a bloody heap '_So he's down, now I have to make sure he stays that way.' _he started slowly moving forward.

Hades looked up from his place in the crater and shot a glare at Luke, his Devil's Eye having long since shut "What's the matter, boy…? Why don't you go ahead… and just finish me off already…."

"As much power as you may possess, the fact remains that you were once the master of Fairy Tail, so now you have to admit that what I've been telling you this entire time is true. You understand it much better than you would like to believe, now don't you?"

"Don't waste your time or energy… trying to preach to me… This battle is over… now go ahead and finish me…"

"That's another thing you've lost sight of in your time in the darkness, morals. I'm not going to finish you, but I do want you to leave this island right now." Luke stepped forward, but that was all he could do before _it _happened. Not only did he cough up a fair amount of blood, but then an even larger amount of blood suddenly erupted from his back as he fell to the ground in a puddle of his own blood, and the very second he hit the ground as his Dual Element Dragon Force vanished from existence and black electricity started surging around his body, causing him to scream in utter pain and agony.

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Meanwhile, on the sidelines…

Lucy and the others could see what was happening to Luke from their place on the sidelines, and they could only look on in horror at the sight "Luke no! What's happening to him?!"

"Dammit, I was afraid of this." Laxus cursed under his breath "Dragon Force and his Dual Element mode took a hell of a lot of power on their own, but together they're almost unbearable for most people. He knew that he wasn't ready to use this but he didn't have a choice, it was either this or let everyone get slaughtered by Hades."

"But Luke had that battle won, it was completely over! We all saw it for ourselves!"

"It doesn't matter, the fact is that Luke is down for the count."

"Dammit…" Natsu was gritting his teeth furiously '_Dammit, I can't just sit here and do nothing while he's about to get slaughtered!' _he felt a hand on his shoulder, courtesy of Laxus, and then he felt power flowing into him, his body suddenly surging with electricity.

"Call that a little gift from one Dragon Slayer to another. I know what you're thinking and you're right, we've gotta go in and back him up now. You lead the charge."

"Laxus, I… right." with his body surging both with flames and electricity, he stepped forward and looked back to face the group "No need to worry guys, because we've got everything we need to finish him right here and now. Like Luke taught me, there isn't anything wrong with feeling fear. After all, without fear how else would we come to know our own weaknesses? You need to know them in order to become a stronger and gentler person. Today all of us learned just how weak we truly are, so what do we do next? I'll tell you what we do next, we come together and grow a hell of a lot stronger. On our own we might be afraid to stand up to him, but right now we've got friends and comrades, people we trust by our side. I still have courage because all of you are here with me, and Luke's courage comes from knowing that we support him every step of the way. We have nothing to be afraid of, whatever comes our way we'll face it together with our heads held high. Now let's go, we're ending this."

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Luke was still lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood, so weak he was barely able to lift his head, and his vision was growing blurry '_Dammit… I overexerted myself… I gave it everything I had… but in the end… it wasn't enough…'_

Seeing Luke lying on the ground crippled, Hades slowly forced himself back to his feet and held out his hand, an explosive bullet "I have to say, Luke I believe your name was, you have proven yourself to be a true warrior, despite your constand holding onto the light when your future is shrouded in darkness. I do wish that our battle would have ended differently, it is a shame, but know that despite the fact that you will soon vanish from existence, this is one battle that I shall never forget for as long as I live. Now farewell." and he prepared to fire the blast.

'_Dammit… so this is it… Cana… everyone… I'm sorry…' _with his life flashing before his very eyes, Luke could only look up at the blast in front of him and await the inevitable, when…

"**Lightning Flame Dragon ROAR!" **a massive roar forced Hades to break off his attack and retreat backwards, courtesy of Natsu as he dropped down onto the scene, his body still radiating flames and electricity.

"An electrical charge along with his usual flames? Another dual element mode then?"

"You could say that, a gift from Laxus for the sake of me kicking your ass." Natsu then blitzed forward and started tearing into Hades with a barrage of fire and lightning enhanced attacks.

While that was going on, Erza and the others quickly rushed over to Luke and helped him back up to his feet "It's okay, you're going to be alright."

"If you say so…" Luke promptly spat out some blood "I thought that I… told you guys to get clear…"

"Yeah you did, and now I'm telling you to take that order and shove it." Laxus held out his arm and let some electricity surge, transferring it into Luke "You'll need the pick me up if you wanna be able to even move again."

"I figured, thanks for that."

"**Amaterasu 28!" **unfortunately, the comeback moment didn't last, as Hades was able to quickly catch Natsu in an Amaterasu 28, surrounding him with magic circles and engulfing him in the explosion that followed "Like the rest of your friends, you're going to fall here."

"Not on your life! **Lightning Dragon Talon!" **despite being greviously injured and having lost his Dual Element Dragon Force, Luke blitzed in front of Hades and dealt him a solid kick to the face, sending him stumbling backwards in disbelief.

"No that's impossible, I know for a fact that you had no power left!" Hades tried to fire off a series of magic bullets, only for them to be deflected with ease.

"Like I said, unlike you I fight for something other than myself."

"How can this be, my magic lies within-" then he froze as his right eye suddenly snapped open, no longer glowing red '_My heart, it couldn't have-'_

"True power comes from the heart, something you clearly don't understand!" Luke drew his sword and dealt Hades a brutal slash across the chest, sending him flying backwards.

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Meanwhile, on the ruins of the airship…

'_So it's done then.' _Cana looked ahead at the Devil's Heart, or what was left of it after she had cast her Fairy Glitter spell, and she let out a sigh '_The supposed secret of Hades having so much power and longevity is the Devil's Heart, a secret… thing or something kept on the ship and hidden from everyone, so if Noah was right about this, and he has been so far, then that means that he'll lose all of his power and be totally helpless. I just hope I did it in time, I could sense that Luke's power just dropped like the ratings of Doctor Who.'_

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Meanwhile, back with the climax…

'_No it can't be, they found my heart?!' _Hades' mind was racing even as he was taking a major beating '_Noah you wretch, so you did discover my heart after all! If that is true and he revealed that information to Fairy Tail, then that means they found it and destroyed it, and I'm going to lose all of my magic power!'_

"Your power just dropped like the ratings of Doctor Who, which means that this battle is pretty much over." Luke was about to deliver one final blow, only to stop in his tracks at the sound of a massive rumbling, and when he looked to see what was the cause of it, his eyes immediately shot wide, along with the others "You've gotta be kidding me…"

"What's the matter?" asked Natsu.

"Take a look and see for yourself."

Natsu and the others did, and their eyes widened at the sight of the Tenrou Tree being restored to its original glory "Is that the Tenrou Tree? I don't get it, I thought that thing totally got ripped a new one."

"It did, so the question is, how the hell did this happen?"

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Now for the explanation behind the Tenrou Tree being restored…

As it turns out, the reason for the tree being restored was because Ultear was repairing it using her Arc of Time magic, her mind drifting as she did so "It's thanks to all of you that I've been given a new lease on life." she failed to notice Meldy watching her from a short distance away, with a dark look in her eyes.

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Now back at the plot…

Now that the Tenrou Tree was back, Luke and the others quickly noticed their guld marks glowing in their respective colors '_Okay, I wasn't expecting that. Now my magic power is back, even if that doesn't really do anything for the wounds. _Come on you guys, we've got one last stand to make, so let's give him hell!" and with his sword drawn, he charged forward for their final stand, with everyone following his lead.

'_No it can't be, this just can't be!' _Hades could only watch as they charged towards him, his mind racing '_How is it that I, the all powerful Hades, could be defeated by Makarov and his wretched children?!'_

"This is what you get for hurtling our master you bastard!" Natsu charged into the fray, only to be blown back by a blast of dark energy.

"Stay back, get away from me you cretins! Until I stand above all others who follow the path of sorcery, THE DEVIL WITHIN ME WILL NEVER SLEEP!"

"Yeah well, it's time for your lights to get snuffed out old man! **Lightning Dragon Surge!"** this was when Laxus suddenly blitzed in front of Hades and unleashed a surge of lightning magic that blew him clear off his feet "Now come on Fairy Tail! ATTACK HIM! FINISH THIS!"

"Trust me Laxus, that's the plan! **Thunder Drive!" **despite the searing pain currently coursing through his body, Luke activated his Thunder Drive once more and charged forward "This might be the last chance we have, so we've gotta make it count! Everyone charge at him with all the power you've got!"

"If you come any closer then I swear I'll make you feel my wrath!" Hades blasted Luke back a fair distance with a burst of dark energy.

Lucy was sent skidding back by the shockwave, but she wasn't deterred as she pulled out a certain Zodiac key "I know we don't have a contract yet, but I don't really have a lot of options right now. **Open, Gate of the Sea Goat: Capricorn!" **she opened the gate.

From that gate emerged Capricorn, clad in a new suit as he bowed to Lucy "I've come here at your service my lady, do you require assistance?"

"Take him down with everything you've got!"

"Right." and so he charged into the fray at full speed.

"How dare you betray me you-" was all Hades could get out before he found himself on the receiving end of a brutal beatdown by Capricorn.

"I have since rid myself of Sir Zoldeo, and now I am a Celestial Spirit dedicated to serving and protecting Lady Lucy, I am Capricorn!"

"I want to get a hit in too! **Sky Dragon Wing Attack!" **Wendy pounced on Hades with a series of whirlwinds from each hand, ripping through him.

"**Iron Dragon TWIN SWORDS!" **Gajeel went next and ripped through hades with two swords made of iron.

"**Ice Make: ICE BRINGER!" **Gray then ripped through Hades with two large broadswords made of ice.

"**Requip! Heaven's Wheel: PENTAGRAM SWORD!" **with a flash, Erza requipped into her Heaven's Wheel armor and slashed through Hades using two swords, ripping through him in the shape of a pentagram.

"**Lightning Flame Dragon FIRING HAMMER!" **Natsu went next and lunged at Hades with both flames and electricity wrapped around his arm, blowing Hades back a great distance.

Hades eventually managed to stop himself, though he had severe burns across his body '_Dammit, how can this be happening to me?! I am the all powerful Hades, the master of Grimoire Heart, I can't fall to these brats!'_

"**Change Mode: Lightning Sea King Dragon!" **Luke's golden aura became mixed with a blue color as he surged forward as fast as he was able to, which wasn't that fast given his current condition, his left arm surging with magic power "Alright now come on Hades, let's end this once and for all!"

"I intend to boy!" Hades slammed his hands together and began summoning whatever magic power he was still able to muster "**Grimoire-"**

"**Advanced Dragon Slayer Secret Art!"**

'_Dammit, I'm not going to make it!'_

"**Indra's Wrath: STORMING THUNDER!" **Luke thrusted forward his left arm and unleashed a powerful blast of magic energy infused with water and lightning properties, slamming the blast straight into Hades' chest.

Hades could only scream in agony as he was sent flying by the blast and tumbling backwards in a heap, and just as he hit the ground the sun began rising over Tenrou Island.

At long last, the war with Grimoire Heart had finally come to an end, and Fairy Tail had emerged victorious.

**A/N:**

**And with this chapter, we finally reach the climax of the Tenrou Island arc, with the inevitable showdown with Hades finally starting, along with the return of Laxus to the series after his last appearance (Omake III for those of you wondering), and after all of that we finally get to the real meat of not just this battle or this chapter, but the entire arc: Luke vs Hades! The battle is fierce and brutal, but in the end, by combining their powers for the sake of a common goal, Luke and the rest of the Fairy Tail wizards, along with Laxus managed to finally bring Hades and the rest of Grimoire Heart down once and for all.**

**I decided to include both Gajeel and Cana in the showdown with Hades, the latter working more behind the scenes in this case, because they're two of my favorite characters, and I think both of them need more spotlight. Besides, I always did find it rather odd that the Exceeds were able to destroy the Devil's Heart on their own, and pretty annoying we never even saw how they did it. So to fix that, I had Cana tag along with them and destroy the Devil's Heart using her Fairy Glitter spell, and she did so just in time to save Luke from being killed by Hades using Grimoire Law on him.**

**So yes, Luke's last resort that he used to take on Hades, a weapon more powerful than even Dragon Force, is revealed to be Dual Element Dragon Force, which combines his Dragon Force with his Lightning Sea King Dragon mode. Of course it's not without its price though, and that's what happens to Luke close to the end of the battle against Hades. Keep in mind that after using Dragon Force in his battle with Jose, he was badly hurt and couldn't even walk on his own, so of course with an even greater multiplier, it would be much worse. But at the same time, it does give me a reason to give Natsu his Lightning Flame Dragon Mode. I couldn't go without giving him that, now could I? Besides, it also leads to that epic scene of him and the others ganging up on Hades, the only differences being that Gajeel is included in the final assault, and Luke is the one who deals the final blow and ends the battle.**


	40. Tenrou Island VII

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it, and for getting this story up to 45,000 views! Here's hoping for 50,000.**

**Altajir95: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. I really enjoyed writing out the final showdown with Hades, and I hope you like the next chapter.

**Morregen: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. I tried to give Laxus a better fight than in canon, and Luke did lose technically, but he was able to do some major damage. Cana was one of Luke's main motivators, but she also saved him at the last second by destroying Hades' Devil Heart, which cut off his supply of magic power. Yes, the climax of the Tenrou Island arc will be coming next chapter. I did want to have a moment between Luke and Cana, and I almost went through with it, but I couldn't take away from her moment with Gildarts. I felt that was too important for me to pass up. As for giving Luke a fight scene with Acnologia, keep in mind that he would be considerably weakened after the fight against Hades, and I don't want to risk overpowering him too soon.

**Jaemos: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked the chapter. Yeah I'm not shy about it in the slightest, I hate Teen Titans Go with a burning passion. Just for the sake of clarifying though, I wasn't making a jab at Doctor Who. I was just making a joke about how the show's ratings have plummeted.

**Guest: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. The fight between Luke and Hades was something I really enjoyed doing. Yes, Luke's Dual Element Dragon Force is the highest level of power he can achieve at the moment, and it's going to stay that way for the time being, but he'll find ways to make it work.

**Ragns Bredvolts: **Thanks, I'm glad to see that you liked the chapter so much, and that you're so enthusiastic about how much you like it. Yeah, I tried to include the canon elements I thought worked the best, and then included my own contributions in there. Yeah, Luke and the others blowing through Hades with everything they've got, not to mention pretty much draining themselves in the process, will have a role in what happens the next chapter. Also, if you want to try and continue and old Fairy Tail story of yours, I say you should go for it. As for your suggestions for the 1-year time skip, I'm very open to suggestions, so go ahead. Just as a side note, I saw the first episode of that Spongebob anime, and I loved it. I eagerly look forward to when the next episode will come out. That's all I have to say for now, and you make sure to have a nice day as well my friend.

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At long last, the war with Grimoire Heart had finally come to an end, and Fairy Tail had emerged victorious.

With the battle finally over, Luke's Dual Element mode instantly faded as he fell to his knees, panting heavily and coughing up blood "Well master… Cana… Aftershock… everyone… we finally did it… we showed him what we're made of… we put all of it on the line… and we showed him what what we can do together… That's just the first… of a really long list of reasons… why you don't… mess with… Fairy Tail…" his strength finally gave out and he fell all the way forward, only to find himself being caught by someone, and his eyes widened slightly at who it was "Cana…"

Sure enough, Cana had appeared on the scene, holding Luke up and keeping him from collapsing to the ground, and she shot him a smirk "Looks like I got here just in the nick of time. I saw you blast him to kingdom come, and after I destroyed the Devil's Heart I came here to help you guys out as fast as I could."

"I see… I guess you saved me then… thank you…"

"You've been saving me and the rest of us god only knows how many times since you came back to us, so as far as I'm concerned this is just me returning the favor."

"I guess…" Luke let out a weak chuckle "I'm just glad… it's finally over…"

"I know what you mean." Erza let out a sigh as she requipped back into her basic Heart Kreuz armor "So after everything, we won and it's finally over."

"Yeah… it's a major relief… Wait, where's my-"

"You mean this don't you?" Cana held out his sword to him "I know your dragon would want you to hold onto that."

"Yeah, he would… thank you…"

"Sure. By the way, I wasn't sure when the best time was to mention this, but we do have one other problem."

"What's that?"

"Please help us!" this was when Happy and the other Exceeds came running onto the scene in pure terror "You've gotta help us the heck out!"

"...Should I even bother asking what that's about?"

"I think you already know." Cana let out a sigh and pointed at the numerous nameless soldiers of Grimoire Heart that were charging towards them with their weapons raised.

"Well… talk about shitting timing in every sense of the word."

"I don't suppose you have any magic power left to use?"

"You've gotta be kidding me, I can't even stand up without any help right now. What's your status then?"

"To be honest, I used all of the power I had left when I used Fairy Glitter to destroy the Devil's Heart inside the ship."

"Fair enough. I don't suppose any of you guys have any magic power left?" he was met with silence from Natsu and the others "I didn't think so."

"Stay right where you are!" fortunately, this was when reinforcements arrived on the scene in the form of Makarov and the rest of the Fairy Tail wizards on the island, all visibly wounded and heavily bandaged, but well enough to the point where they were ready to fight."

"Master… everyone… _I see, so they're finally better. That's good, I was worried about all of them, but it looks like nothing can keep him down. I guess with the Tenrou Tree having been returned to normal, so has the blessing and protection it gives to all of those who bare the Fairy Tail guild mark.' _he glanced over to see Laxus locking eyes with Makarov for a moment, and then to see the various Grimoire Heart soldiers freaking the hell out.

"Oh shit, there's more of them?!"

"Wait a second, isn't that Makarov?"

"Hey look over there, it's Master Hades!"

"Oh god, he's been defeated!"

"I will say this once, so listen and listen well!" Makarov slowly stepped forward and addressed the soldiers, containing his suppressed rage "As the current master of Fairy Tail, I order you to get off of this island immediately!" and that proved to be enough to send them running away screaming, which led to the rest of the members of Fairy Tail celebrating.

"Leave it to you to send them running master, you always did have a way with words." Luke let out a chuckle, then noticed Gray looking rather unsettled "What's the matter? Something on your mind?"

"I guess you could say that." Gray muttered "I have no idea where Juvia is."

"No idea, did she ever show up back at the base camp?"

"No idea, I haven't gone back there myself yet. I just hope she's alright out there. And for that matter, what happened to Zeref?"

"No idea, I haven't seen him since before this whole mess started."

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At the same time, on another end of the scene, Makarov was looking down at Laxus sitting on the ground, pacing back and forth until he finally spoke "I'm proud of you for coming back." and then he exploded in a comical fashion "IS THAT WHAT YOU WERE EXPECTING ME TO SAY?! HOW DARE YOU SET FOOT ON TENROU ISLAND AFTER I KICK YOU OUT OF THE GUILD! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, DID YOU FORGET THAT YOU WERE EXPELLED?!"

"For crying out loud old man, would it kill you to give it a rest?" Laxus muttered "At this rate you're gonna have a heart attack, and leave the Big Head Jutsu to Naruto. You trying to get sued or something?"

Freed and the rest of the Thunder Legion however, they were left frozen and nearly in tears at the sight of their former leader "It's Laxus…" and then they pounced on him.

"What the everlasting fuck are you-"

"You came back to us! We thought we'd never see you again!"

"For fuck's sake, will you get the hell off of me?!"

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Elfman and the other Strauss siblings watched the exchange between the Dreyar family and the Thunder Legion from afar "Even when he's hurt, the master is as strict as ever. That's the true sign of a real man now isn't it?"

"Yeah I guess so, but he'll have a change of heart." Mira let out a sigh "Just wait and see for yourself, it's gonna happen soon enough."

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Despite all of the merry-making, Natsu eventually gathered up enough strength and bravado to do his thing "Alright, now I say it's about time we get back to the trial!" he was met with various voices of protest "Come on and think about it, the first round was interrupted by Grimoire Heart showing up so it doesn't count, so I say we just simplify things and have an all out brawl with each other!"

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Gajeel took the chance to round on Natsu "Seriously, were you dropped on your head when you were a baby? You have to have a metric fuckton of brain damage if you think you stand a chance against me when you're all banged up like that!"

"Does it look like I give a shit? It doesn't even matter, because in case you didn't notice, I'm a Lightning Flame Dragon now so I can-" then he promptly passed out in a comical fashion.

"Oh for fuck's sake, if you're gonna talk shit then at least have the decency to back it up on some level!"

"He was only half right." Luke pointed out dryly "Thanks to Laxus transferring some of his lightning magic to him, he does have a Dual Element Mode of his own sure, but the main problem with it is that learning to use it on command and properly regulating the output of magic power requires a lot of training. It took me almost six months to learn how to use mine to the level I'm at now."

"Which explains a few things actually." Cana let out a sigh "Anyway, if we're done with all of the mingling then I think it's about time for all of us to head back to base camp."

"Good idea. After all, if we don't get some rest soon then chances are that our bodies are going to give out on us. Hey Lucy, you gonna be alright to head back to the camp?"

"About as alright as I can be." Lucy let out a sigh "I don't have a ton of energy left, but at least I can stand, more or less."

"Perhaps I may be of assistance." this was when Capricorn popped up and took Lucy up into his arms "If you would be so kind, then please allow me to carry you my lady, as well as any of your companions that are having difficulty carrying themselves."

"Thank you Capricorn, I really appreciate the help."

"I'm simply doing my duty in service to you my lady. Sir Luke, Lady Cana, I believe those are you names, do either of you require assistance?"

"I think I'll be alright, but thanks for the offer." Luke tried to move a few steps, but he quickly fell forward and had to use his sword as a crutch "I stand corrected."

"It's alright, I've got you." Cana gently slung Luke's arm over his shoulder and started carrying him away from the scene.

"Thanks for the backup."

"Like I said, I'm just paying you back for all of the times you've pulled my butt right out of the fire." but then Cana's face fell '_I just hope my father is alright.'_

"I know what you're thinking about right now Cana, and you don't have anything to worry about with him. He's the strongest wizard our guild has to offer, someone like that guy with the gravity magic has nothing on him."

"I know. You look like you've got something on your mind too."

"I guess you could say that. It's something that Aftershock said to me before he took off, and once before during the whole thing with Edolas."

"That thing about how he says your life flashes before your eyes, where you see all of the stuff that you love."

"You saying that happened to you?"

"He told me about it, it sort of happened when I was dealing with that Bluenote guy before you saved me."

"What did you see?"

"Well to be honest, pretty much everyone in Fairy Tail. _And you.'_

"Yeah, I kind of had the same thing happen. I saw everyone in Fairy Tail, all of my friends, the people I want to protect."

"Uh huh. Anything else?"

"Well…" Luke paused for a moment, then let out a sigh "No, not really."

"Alright then, I mean you care about the guild and everyone in it, don't you?"

"Of course I do, how could I not?"

"Yeah of course."

'_...Well there was one other thing that I saw.' _he spared a glance over at Cana while she wasn't looking, watching the sun reflect off of her beautiful face '_Sure I saw the guild, my friends, the people I call my family… but there's one thing that I kept seeing more than any other, and that was her. Aftershock was right when he said you don't see everything, only the things that you truly love, so by that logic, I guess it means… I'm in love with her.'_

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By now, all of the Fairy Tail wizards present were taking their leave of the scene.

"Makarov." despite lying on the ground in a bloody and crippled heap, Hades was still able to call out to Makarov, stopping him in his tracks "Tell me, why do you not finish me off now that I've lost?"

"Over the years…" Makarov breathed a deep sigh "Over the years I've learned a great many things from you, so as thanks I'm willing to overlook what you've done this time, but only on the condition that you and your remaining forces leave this island immediately."

"Tell me, how can you be so naive? You should be fully aware that if you let me live then I shall return, and when I do I intend to crush your guild completely underneath my boot."

"You may have defeated me in battle, but even despite that you've seen for yourself that you and your army of darkness are no match for the children I've raised."

"You're wrong. The one with the Dual Element Dragon Force was able to put up quite the valiant effort sure, but he too fell before my might. I was unable to finish him only because my heart had been destroyed, whereas your so-called children had been empowered by the Tenrou Tree being restored. It was merely a coincidence, otherwise I would never have lost to any of them."

"Perhaps, perhaps not, there's no use in dwelling on it. Tell me though, why did you let yourself fall to the dark side?"

"It's as I told you once, darkness is the true nature of magic, and it is comprised of miracles that had been born in the shadows, and only then are they subsequently brought into the light. After I had passed the title of Master onto you and retired from Fairy Tail, I began to travel down the path of sorcery in the hopes of learning the underlying principles of the world. I came to learn that the world we have come to live in, the one with its overflowing magic, is a complete and utter lie. The Grand Magic World that was described by Lord Zeref, that is the one true world of magic. I came to want nothing more than to see it for myself, and to make that happen I began collecting all of the keys that I would need to resurrect the legendary Black Wizard." with what little strength he had, he reached up above himself "I was so close… so incredibly close to attaining the dream I had strived for for so long. At long last, the Primordial magic was finally within my grasp."

"...Even if your dream had been realized, it wouldn't change anything."

"What?"

"If the true nature of magic is darkness then I can accept that, and if its true nature is light then I can accept that as well. The reason for that is because magic is alive, so the purpose it fulfills continues to evolve with the times, and it grows along with the wizards who use it. There is no definition of magic because everyone thinks of it differently, it is as limitless as one's very own imagination, it can become darkness or light depending on the one who casts it. The wizards and people of Fairy Tail are free to use magic however we see fit. All of these things are lessons that I had learned from you, Master Precht." and with that, Makarov took his leave, leaving Hades all alone to contemplate what he said.

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Now that the fighting had finally come to an end on Tenrou Island, things had quieted down considerably across the island. That is, except for the sound of snoring coming from a certain Fire Dragon Slayer.

"Oh for fuck's sake!" Elfman let out a groan "How the hell are we supposed to relax when we have to listen to Natsu sawing logs like that?!"

"Hey come on now big brother, he needs his rest just as much as the rest of us." Lisanna told him calmly, and then she got an idea "Hey I just thought of a great idea, check this out!" and two minutes of work later, guess what she came up with "It's Natsu with pig tails, isn't he just the cutest?"

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Luke on the other hand, he was lying in a sleeping bag propped up against a tent wih a book in hand, and he took note of the merrymaking going on around him, such as Laxus mingling with the Thunder Legion and Capricorn advising Lucy in a well meaning but still somewhat offensive way, though his mind was drifting, reflecting on the battle with Hades '_I guess Aftershock was more right on the money than I gave him credit for, the face is that Hades was without a doubt the toughest fight that I've ever had. I gave it everything I had, I pushed my Dual Element Dragon Force to the limit, but in the end it wasn't enough. To be honest, I'm kind of lucky I was able to last for as long as I did. Most of it was me being pushed to the limit by the levels of stress from having to fight all of Grimoire Heart. Well from here on out, the only options I have are to train myself to regulate that power properly, or to find an even greater power beyond that, whatever the hell it might be. I guess this is one journey that isn't at its end, not by a long shot. New and stronger foes are going to show themselves in time, new adventures will come and go, and I have to make sure that I'm ready for them.'_

"Do you want me to do your wounds next?"

"Hm?" Luke looked up to see Wendy looking down at him "Oh hey Wendy, I appreciate the offer but I'm fine right now." he cringed at the wounds, which was enough proof that he was lying through his teeth "Fine let me rephrase that, I can hold out just fine. For now you should focus on healing the others."

"I already took care of everyone else, so you're the only one left."

"I'm seriously fine though, get some rest yourself and conserve some magic power. You took a beating yourself during the fight with Hades, so you could probably use some downtime."

"No thanks, I'm fine. I can't tell you how amazing I feel now that the Tenrou Tree is finally back to normal."

"Yeah I know. That's what I don't understand though, how did the tree come back like that in the first place?"

"You think Noah had something to do with it?"

"No, he uses Earth based magic so I doubt he could do something like that."

'_Yeah, how did it stop?' _Gray frowned in thought when he heard this '_Ultear, was this your doing somehow? No, it couldn't be.' _then he whipped around at the sound of rustling in some nearby bushes "What the hell? Alright whoever is there, come out and show yourself!"

"It's alright my beloved…" as it turns out, it was just Juvia crawling out of the bushes "It's just me, please don't attack me…"

"What the hell, Juvia? For crying out loud, what the hell happened to you?"

"I'm so sorry my beloved, I tried to catch Zeref but he ended up getting away from me, so I'm afraid you're going to have to punish me! Come on my darling Gray, go ahead and spank me as much as you see fit!"

"Thanks but no thanks, I'm not into that sort of thing."

"But I've been such a bad bad girl!"

"Okay, I think I speak for everyone when I say that if you want to get kinky, then you should do it on your own time." Luke pointed out dryly, then let out a sigh "Oh for fuck's sake, I'm getting the feeling that Aftershock is rubbing off on me."

"Probably, but either way, I guess Gildarts is the only one missing now." Cana let out a sigh, only to be met with a comforting hand on her shoulder, courtesy of Luke.

"I doubt that's really worth worrying about too much."

"Yeah I know, he's the strongest wizard in our guild and it's not worth freaking out over because we both know he'll be fine."

"That, and he's right over there." he jerked a thumb over to the other side of the camp.

As it turns out, Gildarts had made his way back to camp and was now picking on Laxus in a comical fashion "So let me get this straight, you mean to say you actually fucked up so bad that you got kicked out of the guild by your grandpa? Man you're so lame, seriously dude that's just sad."

"See what I mean?"

"As plain as me being an alcoholic." Cana noted dryly, only for her to break down laughing as the sun reflected off of her face.

'_Holy crap, I knew that she was beautiful, but now… damn…'_

"There you are Gildarts, come and fight me!" this was when Natsu suddenly pounced onto the scene, still having his hair in pig tails, only to be quickly calmed down by a quick surge of electricity from Luke.

"Dial it back pig tails, none of us have the time or energy to put up with any of it from you at the moment."

"Ow… Hey Wendy, can I get a little bit of help here?"

"If you have to heal him shrimp, then save him for last." Gajeel told her dryly "At least then we'll be able to hear ourselves think. Speaking of which Levy you'd better go first, I'm more worried about you than me."

"Well I don't see the reason for that, keep in mind that you're the one covered in bandages and what I hope is dried blood." Lily pointed out.

"Yeah but it's not mine."

"Oh man." Levy looked around at the line behind her "Looks like you've got quite the line forming now."

"Oh it's alright Levy, I really don't mind." Wendy assured her "I'm just happy to be able to help out in any way I can."

"Yeah that's fine, but you really shouldn't overdo it."

"I know, but I'm okay, really."

"We appreciate that Wendy, but I can take over for you." this was when Erza showed up on the scene, clad in a sexy nurse outfit, earning some stares from almost everyone present.

"Wow you look amazing Erza, but why exactly are you dressed up like a nurse?"

"Why else, I'm here to help with giving medical treatment to the others."

"But I thought you didn't have any sort of healing powers."

"I don't, but differences in ability don't matter in the heat of a true battle. What's going to be tested is simply our hearts."

"What do you mean by battle?" Wendy started shaking where she was "To be honest Erza, I'm getting kind of scared."

"Oh come on now Wendy, you don't have anything to be scared of." she sat down and promptly took a pose to attract as much attention as she could "Alright then gentlemen, so who's going to come up next? If you would be so kind as to tell me where it hurts, then I'll be able to decide whether I should take your temperature first, or if I should just go ahead and proceed with giving you an injection."

Luke just watched the scene unfold from his place on the sidelines "Does she seriously think people are going to fall for that? Seriously, they're not that hard up."

"Don't be so sure about that." Cana pointed to where Natsu, Gray and Gajeel were cutting their way to the front of the line forming in front of Erza, with pretty much every other male in the guild, including Makarov and Gildarts, right behind him.

"Well that shows what the hell I know." they glanced down to see Wendy on the ground brooding in what appeared to be self pity "Hey look on the bright side kid, at least now you don't have to deal with that?"

"Is it because she has bigger boobs than I do?" Wendy muttered.

"Well yeah I'm pretty sure that's a big part of it, but another big part of it is for the sake of sex appeal."

"Sex appeal?"

"Yeah I mean, when you've got the assets you might as well use-"

"Nope." Luke promptly slapped a hand over Cana's mouth, his expression deadpanned and his tone increasingly dry "Look, poisoning your own mind is one thing, but at least try not to poison the mind of an innocent youth who clearly has no idea what the hell you're talking about."

"Well it's true!" this came out muffled.

"And it's also increasingly irrelevant." he glanced over at the sight of Erza trying and failing to treat Gray and Gajeel properly and ended up tying up both of them, much to clear unyielding fury of Juvia and Levy "Looks to me like things are back to normal." he finally took his hand off of Cana's mouth.

"Just like that, it seems as if the whole mess with Grimoire Heart is in the past."

"One day with this guild is like five lifetimes, but then again that's just how things seem to work in this guild. Still though, it is a nice sign that things are finally getting back to normal after all the hell we've had to go through up until now."

"True enough. So I don't mean to be that girl right now, but what do you think we'll do about the trials?"

"I think that's up to the master, but if I had to guess then I'd say that he's most likely going to end up cancelling them for this year."

"Yeah, makes sense."

"Which raises the question. What are you going to do?" he received no reply.

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Following their defeat at the hands of Fairy Tail, the barely alive Hades was slowly making his way away from the island in what was left of the airship, along with Kain and Rustyrose, the only remaining members of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, the three of them lamenting over the failure of their mission, only for their brooding to be interrupted by the sudden unexpected arrival of Zeref, who was practically seething in quiet over the fact that their wicked minds were responsible for summoning Acnologia, and he told them that the current era was about to come to an end.

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"Alright everyone, listen up." once all of the shenanigans came to an end, Makarov promptly mounted himself on top of some boxes and looked down on all of the others "You had best be prepared, for a great change is on the horizon. I have a very serious announcement that I have to make to all of you. As of now, we are making preparations to leave Tenrou Island and return to the guild in Magnolia, and once we do return… all female members will be required to wear uniforms, sexy nurse outfits and school swimsuits galore!"

"...Why is it that I'm the only guy in the guild who's not a fucking perv?" Luke let out a sigh of aggravation.

"Swimsuits huh?" Cana gave a shrug "I don't really see the need for it."

"Like that's supposed to surprise anybody, you walk around in a bikini top 24/7." Luke then surged his magic power, or as much of it as he could muster in his current condition "Get serious already master, you're a man of a high position so act like one already."

"Alright alright." Makarov let out a sigh "Can't an old man have some fun?"

"Not when it involves you acting like a perv, that sort of running gag wore out its welcome a long time ago."

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Hades and his remaining followers were shocked by the sudden appearance of Zeref in front of them on their ship as they were taking their leave from Tenrou Island. Hades was at first very pleased that Zeref had appeared before him, and demanded that Kain and Rustyrose retrieve the keys that were required to awaken him. However, Kain and Rustyrose found themselves unable to move, and Zeref went on to reveal that the keys needed to awaken him did not exist, as they were part of a simple fairy tale created by a group of his followers, and Zeref himself was never asleep to begin with. When Hades denied these claims by asking how someone on the level of power that Ultear was at could have been able to defeat him, Zeref explained that over the years he had wandered the Earth, he began to appreciate and value human life, and he was therefore fighting those around him while respecting their life. He claimed that while he remembered the weight of human life, he could purposely limit the deadly effects of his magic. However, if he began to forget, his magic could spiral out of control. He then went on to leave Hades shocked by revealing that the evil actions taken by Grimoire Heart had summoned Acnologia, but before anymore information could be given out on that matter, Zeref was quick to cast a spell and told them to repent for their two sins, those being the summoning of Acnologia, and the other being allowing him to forget the value of life.

The next thing any of them knew, the lifeless body of Hades fell to the ground with a loud thud, courtesy of Zeref's spell, with the caster turning his head to the sky and claiming that Acnologia had arrived.

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Contrary to the previous scene, things were pretty quiet with the three main survivors off of the island's coast.

Ultear and Meldy were floating away from the island in a small wooden boat, the former noting how downcast and upset the latter looked, and then she looked over to see Noah doing what appeared to be earthsurfing a short distance away from the boat "So… what exactly are you doing over there?"

"What's it look like, I'm earthsurfing." Noah told her flatly "Toph did it after all, I see no reason why I shouldn't be able to do the same."

"I know, but you're more than welcome to join us in the boat."

"If you knew a single fucking thing about Dragon Slayers, then you know that's not an option for me."

"I understand. Listen you two, I know this isn't going to be easy, but here's an idea. Why don't we just forget about Grimoire Heart, and about Lord Zeref too."

"Trust me, that was my plan. Right now, my first order of business is to get for myself what four of my fellow Dragon Slayers have."

"Are you going to say something about being part of a family?"

"Fuck no, you think I'm that sappy? I was talking about getting myself a talking cat that has wings and can fly."

"...Okay then."

"It's not as bizarre as it sounds."

"I believe you."

"Ultear, is it true?" this was when Meldy finally spoke up, leaving Ultear frozen in fear and anticipation "Noah and I heard it from Zancrow earlier… Was it true that you were the one who was in charge of destroying my hometown? My family, all of my friends, everything that I had ever known… I desere to know the truth."

"...Yes, it was me. I'm sorry, I always intended to tell you the truth someday. I used to consider the life we're currently living to be the first try, and I thought that by mastering the Arc of Time and reaching the Grand Magic World, I could bring about our second try. I believe that every action taken in this life didn't have any sort of real meaning, that we would be able to start all over again, and this philosophy enabled me to act in horrific ways without feeling or showing any sort of remorse. I honestly led myself to believe that the second time around would be my true life, and yours as well. Even Noah's to be honest. A life full of happiness, peace and prosperity for all of us. That's the main reason why I did what I did."

Meldy said nothing, she just bolted to her feet and gritted her teeth, her fists clenching tightly as well.

"I was so wrong, so wrong in every sense of the word. I had no right to cause as much suffering as I did. I was a fool, a fool responsible for committing countless atrocities for the sake of pursuing a delusion, when all I needed to be happy was standing right in front of me. And I know that I can't ask for you to forgive me, but at the very least, let me say that I'm sorry. I understand very well that you're filled with hatred for me. However…" and then she proceeded to summon a sword and stab herself through the gut "And now there's no need… for you to dirty your hands ever again… I can promise you that… because after today… I won't be hear… and you can finally be happy…" and then she threw herself off of the boat.

"ULTEAR!"

"Find your joy… you're free to live your own life now… with the one who's… always open and honest… compassionate and patient… and will always stay by your side…" she said all of this while looking at Noah "So you go out there with him… and make something of yourself… I love you… Meldy… my daughter…" and then with a loud splash, she disappeared into the ocean.

"ULTEAR!"

'_Well on one hand she's with her mother again, so that could be considered a happy ending at least on her end. On the other hand, Meldy's crying… nope, it rules out. _**Mountain Dragon Tectonic Uprising." **Noah dove down into the sea and held out one hand towards where he could make out Ultear sinking into the depths '_It's kind of funny, a few months ago I would've just let her sink out of sight without a second thought. I guess that means Thunderclap rubbing off on me more than I thought.' _he then rose up on top of a pillar of earth from within the depths of the ocean, with Ultear by his side "Alright mother of the year, get the hell up."

Ultear's eyes shot open after a moment, and she looked around, then up at Noah "You… You saved me… but why?"

"Because throwing yourself into the Shadow Realm like that isn't gonna make Meldy as happy as you think it will."

"What…?"

"Ultear, please…" Meldy looked over at her and grabbed her wrist, revealing the tears streaming down her face "Let's live, the three of us… and let's do it together…" her touch left a pink mark on Ultear's arm.

'_This mark, her Sensory Link?'_

"I can feel all of it, your frustration and your sadness… You can't blame yourself… You made a mistake, but even despite that you're still a mother to me… nothing is ever going to change that in my eyes… It's okay, I forgive you… Just promise me you won't talk about that sort of thing ever again… I can't bear the thought of not having you in my life Ultear… I love you too, so please live with the both of us…" she pulled Ultear into a tight hug as the two of them began sobbing quietly.

Noah just watched the exchange in silence, and after a moment he began using his earth magic to carve out a path across the water '_As touching as this little scene is, it doesn't change the fact that we've still got a long way to go before we get back to shore, and beyond that… well I guess we'll just have to see what lies in store for us.'_

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Meanwhile, back on Tenrou Island…

Following the ending of the guild's typical shenanigans, a certain announcement had been made, and most of the members present, namely Natsu and a few others, were NOT happy when they heard about it "IS THIS SOME KIND OF FUCKING JOKE?!"

"No it's no joke, now you'll just have to deal with it." Makarov told them flatly "Believe me when I tell you that I'm not fond of this either, but given everything that's happened, I don't have any other choice but to cancel the S-class wizard promotional trials for this year."

"But we can still compete in the trials or whatever, we've been through a metric fuckton worse than this so let us finish it! I'm not leaving this island until I'm an S-class wizard!"

"ENOUGH!" and cue the Big Head no Jutsu from Naruto "As I said in case you or any of the others were bothing to actually listen, I'm not fond of this either. I don't want to cancel it, but you and the others should try putting yourself in my shoes. First a member of the Magic Council found a way to infiltrate our guild to try and find a way to get it disbanded, and then the trial was interrupted by Grimoire Heart. When you consider everything that's happened to day, such a thing can't be helped."

"Oh come on, there's no way in hell I'm taking this crap without a fight!"

"Oh for fuck's sake, I don't have the energy to deal with this." Luke let out a sigh "Natsu get this through your thick skull, if the master decided not to continue with the trail after we fight a literal WAR, then you should respect her wishes, or did you forget about that beating that you got from Aftershock."

"But I was so close, dammit I wanted to become S-class!"

"And you think any of the others didn't? Hell even Elfman knows to accept this, and to explain it in his words, a real man knows when to call it quits. Don't forget what I told you. The wizards who know the true meaning of courage are those exceptional who that know when the time has come for them to stand down, back off, and most importantly, shut the hell up. Did I get the point across to you this time, or do I have to electrocute you again?"

"But-"

"Calm down Luke, it's alright." Makarov assured him "He's not going to listen to reason, so how about this. So be it Natsu, I'll make an exception and let you take the final test. If you're able to defeat me here and now, then I'll gladly promote you to an S-class wizard."

"So let's do this thing! Get ready you guys, you're looking at the newest S-class wizard of Fairy Tail! You'd better be ready Gramps, cause there's no way in hell I'm holding back. Now I've got a fire in my belly, so let's-" he was promptly punched into a nearby tree and fell to the ground in a heap.

"You fail, no S-class for you."

"I was so… so close…"

"No, you really weren't."

"You realize that's only a temporary solution right?" Luke pointed out.

"I know, but if you have a better solution, then I'm all ears."

"I don't have the energy to waste brain cells on that." but the he turned serious "So about our little discussion from before."

"I did take it into consideration, and I'll allow you to deal with this yourself."

"Thank you."

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Meanwhile, with the other members of the Tenrou Team…

Mira wasn't exactly keen on having Laxus tug on her face "Okay so, what the fuck do you think you're doing exactly?"

Laxus could only blink "Okay, so you're real. Well I'm glad that's settled, so what's it like being dead?"

"You keep touching me like that and you're gonna find out."

"Looks like being dead hasn't screwed with your personality."

Evergreen and the rest of the Thunder Legion just watched the exchange in amusement and fascination "Come on Laxus you've had your fun, there's no need to torment the poor girl or anything."

"His perception seems to be much sharper." Freed noted "He must have been training hard since the last time we saw him. I believe that his example is one we should learn from, so that we can better ourselves.

What none of them noticed was that Wendy and Carla were watching Laxus from afar from their place hiding behind a tree "He seems like a pretty decent guy, but I'm still kind of scared of him to be honest. Kind of weird isn't it?"

"What?" Carla shot an incredulous look at her "Oh don't be silly child, he's absolutely fine so you have nothing to worry about."

"I know, but still…"

"She's right you know." this was when Erza came up to her "You shouldn't believe the rumors you hear about Laxus, the fact is that deep down he really is a decent guy, even if he does have some issues."

"You think so?"

"Yes I do, the only thing is that he's got a few issues he's had to work through over the past year or so."

"Really? Then I guess I should go ahead and meet him, then maybe I can see what he's like for myself."

"Good idea."

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Meanwhile, with Lucy and Cana…

By this point, Lucy and Cana were taking a bath together in a spring filled with herbs, though it was a lot more painful than soothing "So just to be clear, this is supposed to help right?"

"The herbs in this spring are medicinal, so they're supposed to speed up the healing process, but knowing that doesn't make them sting any less." Cana muttered.

"No it doesn't. So tell me, how is your arm holding up?"

"I wasn't sure how to feel about it at first, but now I kind of like the look of having my arm full of stuff from Fairy Glitter, and from the looks of it I'd say the spell is here to stay." she held up her arm to reveal that the Fairy Glitter mark was still on her right arm.

"I see, so that's good I guess." and then a brief awkward pause between them.

"...Hey Lucy, I want to apologize."

"For what?"

"What do you think, for ditching to go and look for Mavis' grave. You got beaten down by one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, and if Gajeel hadn't found you when he did… I'm so sorry."

"Oh come on, it all worked out in the end. It really doesn't bother me."

"Maybe not, but it sure as hell bothers me. I betrayed one of my closest friends, one whose done nothing but go out of her way for me this entire time, and it's something I'm going to regret for the rest of my life."

"Well I never thought of it as a betrayal, you were just doing what you had to do in order to win so that you could confess to him, so it's really not that big of a deal. I'm your partner and your friend, and I know how important the S-class rank is to you, and why it's as important as it is to you in the first place, so please don't let it eat away at you for so long."

"...Alright. But I did decide on something pretty important. Even though I didn't make S-class this year either, I don't think I'll be able to live up to that promise I made."

"You mean…"

"Yeah, I'm staying in Fairy Tail, and I still have to bite the bullet and finally tell my father the truth."

"Couldn't have said it better myself."

Cana and Lucy glanced over to see Luke make his way out of the thick forest towards the edge of the spring "Hey."

"Hey. I think we need to talk." Luke sat down on the edge of his spring, using his sword to steady himself due to him still being so weak, and he let out a sigh

"I told Master about what happened, mainly because I'm partially to blame for what happened back there."

"What are you talking about?"

"I've been aware of the reasons behind your obsession with being S-class for a full three years now, but rather than have you address it or address it myself, or really take any course of action regarding it, I let your negative feelings about the matter fester. It was inevitable that it was going to lead to something unpleasant happening, and frankly I'm just relieved that it wasn't anywhere near as bad as it could've been."

"You're not the one to blame for that, I made my own choices."

"But I could've stopped you before that, and I didn't. Either way, I had to tell Makarov, so this is going to go on your record when we get back to the guild. Lucky for both of us, I was able to talk him into letting me handle your punishment in a way that I see fit, which I will. Your punishment is… you have to tell him the truth. Right now."

"...I should've seen that coming. Just let me get dressed."

"Alright."

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Meanwhile, with the man in question…  
Gildarts was in the middle of doing some quiet fishing with Natsu and Happy, only for him to notice the constipated look on his face "For crying out loud Natsu, try not to look so excited over there or you're gonna blow a gasket." his tone was laced with sarcasm.

"I can't help it." Natsu grumbled "It's not my fault this is so boring."

"You just can't appreciate it, fishing is part of the spiritual journey of a man."

"Oh it's a journey alright, down my throat and into my belly!" Happy tried to make a grab for the fish they had already caught, only to be stopped by Gildarts.

"Eating the fish isn't the important part, it's the thrill of using your instincts for hunting, the sense of becoming one with mother nature. The name they gave to the game out here is survival of the fittest, this is the playground where men can feel alive!"

"Yeah, I can feel it." then Natsu shook off the sarcasm once he actually got a bite "Holy crap check it out, I actually can feel it now!"

"Yeah there you go, now go ahead and pull it in."

"Hey now." this was when Luke showed up on the scene with Lucy and Cana, the latter now dressed in a new and less revealing outfit, consisting of a short-sleeved light green shirt with dark inner edges, revealing much of her neckline, a dark pleated miniskirt, distinctive tights covered in a leopard pattern, and dark boots "You guys having any luck?"

"Give us a minute, Natsu is about to discover the true spirit of fishing, so don't interrupt us right now."

"Hate to break it to you Gildarts, but that's not an option right now. Cana has something she needs to talk with you about, and it can't wait."

"That so? Alright then, come on over and let's talk."

"Glad to hear it, so you guys go ahead and talk and me and Lucy will take idiots one and two off of our hands." he slung Natsu and Happy over his shoulder, and then he and Lucy dragged them into the nearby bushes, where they watched the ongoing conversation in earnest '_This is it, the moment of truth at last. You can do this Cana, I've got faith in you.'_

"So you wanted to talk to me, what's up?"

"To put it simply, there's something I have to tell you." Cana told him slowly "I doubt you ever knew this, but the main reason I joined Fairy Tail all those years ago… it was so I could find my father."

"Actually that's the first I've heard of it."

"I'm not surprised."

"Wait a second, you said you were going to find him, so does that mean that your old man as a member of Fairy Tail too?"

"Yeah, he was, or rather he is… _Luke is right, it's now or never….' _so with clear nerves, she took a deep breath and then finally came clean "His name is Gildarts." this left the man in question dumbstruck, Natsu and Happy in disbelief, and Luke and Lucy nodding in pride.

"...Huh?" it took a minute for him, but the dots finally connected "HUH?!"

'_Well he's taking it better than I expected. _I tried to tell you about it before, but things kept getting in the way."

"So what you're saying is- You mean you're my-?!"

"Yeah, I guess it's pretty hard to believe isn't it?"

"Wait a second, which one is your mother?! Was it Sarah? Naomi? Clara? Lena? Mary, or was it actually Liza? No wait, the hair color is all wrong! Was it Emma, Lily, Jenny, Sydney, Kate, the Yugao sisters-"

"Sisters?! For fuck's sake, just how many women have you been with?!"

"No wait it's Sylvia, that has to be it! It's that face, she made that face a lot with me!"

"Are you fucking kidding me, I finally come clean to you after all these years, only for me to find out that my old man is a dead beat who can't keep it in his pants?! You know what forget it, it doesn't matter. I was just letting you know, so see ya." she started walking away.

"Wait hold on a second!"

"I don't have anything else to say to you. I won't be moving in so you don't have to worry about that, I would hate to ruin your game, so just feel free to carry on like I'm not around-" she was cut off by him pulling her into a hug.

"You're Cornelia's daughter, there's no doubt about it."

"Please let go."

"Why did you wait so long to tell me?"

"It's like I told you before, things kept coming up and getting in the way, but as time went on, maybe I just got too scared to tell you the truth."

"Your mother Cornelia was the only woman I ever truly loved, marrying her was the happiest moment of my life. She left me 18 years ago because all I ever did was work, and that killed me inside, and when I heard that she had passed away, it was like a shot to the heart. A part of her is still with me, and it always will be. I'm sorry, this is something that I should've figured out a long time ago."

"Hey don't worry about it." Cana released herself from his hold "Don't forget that I'm the one who tried to keep this hidden for so long, so I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I have to admit though, it does feel good to finally have this weight lifted off of my shoulders."

"I had a daughter all this time… she was right in front of me… and I never even realized that…"

"Hey come on now Gildarts, there's no need for the water works. It's not like I really expect anything from you. You don't have to treat me any differently than you normally do, but if you don't mind, can I say it just this once? I'm glad I finally got to meet you dad, I really am." she gave him a small smile, only to suddenly be pulled into a tight hug by Gildarts while he had tears streaming down his face.

"I promise I'll never do anything to make you feel sad again, I promise I'll always be there for you no matter what. I promise I'll be right by your side, it doesn't matter if it's on a job or hitting up the bars."

"I'm not really sure that you can keep up with me."

"Maybe or maybe not, but all I ask is that you give me the opportunity I missed out on, to be a loving father to you." and they continued to embrace.

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Meanwhile, in the bushes…

Luke and the others observed the long-awaited reunion between father and daughter with a pair of fond smiles, or comical crying in the case of Natsu and Happy "So yet another sad story from Fairy Tail gets a happy ending."

"Yeah, hopefully with many more to come." Lucy wiped away a few tears "So, a loving father huh?"

"You thinkin about seeing your dad?"

"I'm thinking that maybe I should go and see him, just for old time's sake."

"I know the feeling. I haven't tried finding any more information on Kaminari or the other dragons for awhile now, maybe when we get back to the guild, I can dig up some more leads on them." the two of them shared a smile, unaware of the sinister presence making its way to Tenrou Island.

It was on this day, December 16th, X784, that Tenrou Island would be destroyed…

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Meanwhile, on another part of the island…

Makarov sat on a rock a short distance away from the camp, his mind drifting as he heard a certain noise in the distance '_That ungodly sound… I don't understand, what could this mean for all of us?'_

"Master." this was when Erza got his attention "I just received word that the ship will be ready to take us back to the mainland very shortly."

"I see, that's good."

"Also Master, regarding Laxus…"

"I have nothing to discuss with or about that boy."

"I understand that Master, I really do."

"Except to say that he's got quite a pair on him, daring to set foot on the most sacred ground of the Fairy Tail guild. That is one privilege that he no longer gets to enjoy."

"I know, but given what he's done for all of us…"

"Yes I heard all about his heroic fight with Hades, how he saved all of your lives by putting himself directly into harm's way. My appreciation for what he did is more than words would ever be able to convey, so while he did set foot on our sacred ground without permission, I'll let it go this one time. But as far as Fairy Tail is concerned, he is still an outsider, albeit one to whom we owe our gratitude."

"I see. So your position is firm then is it?"

"Of course it is." this was when Laxus got her attention from where he was leaning against a nearby tree with his arms crossed "That's how the guild has been able to stay strong for as long as it has. You can't buy your way into the guild with a single good deed, it takes a hell of a lot more than that."

"Yes, that is true."

"Anyway you guys were in a jam, and I owed a favor to Luke from something that happened a few weeks back, so I did what any decent passing stranger would do in that situation and I tried to help out in any way I could. There wasn't any kind of ulterior motive behind what I was doing here today. He old man." he was met with a glare from Makarov "Yeah that's the look, it's just classic isn't it? That's probably going to be the last time I see that scowling face in person for a good long while. Well I guess I'd better get going, later." he started to take his leave, but stopped at the sound of a roar to fill the air around them.

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Gildarts was still in the middle of his embrace with Cana, only to freeze and then look up at the sound of the roar "No way…"

"What's up, is something the matter?" asked Cana.

"God I sure as hell hope not."

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Lucy and the others quickly noticed the tension as well "Okay is it just me, or does something seem really off right now?"

"You're not the only one, it smells off too." Luke told her "I'm picking up some kind of strange oder, and whatever's causing it, it's definitely something powerful. And this scent seems familiar somehow, like something I haven't picked up since-" he suddenly froze "You've gotta be kidding me…"

"What's the matter?"

"I've got a really bad feeling about this."

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Meanwhile, at the Fairy Tail base camp…

Elfman shot a very incredulous look at Gajeel "Okay hold on a second, there is no way that's true in any sense of the word."

"What, I just tell it like it is." Gajeel told him simply "It's not rocket science and you don't need to be a real man to understand it. Tom Holland is the best Spider Man, Tobey Maguire is totally overrated."

"Why do you say that?" asked Gray.

"Because in order to do a live action Spider Man properly, there are two sides of him that you have to get down pat. The first side is the geeky and socially awkward nerd, and the other is when he puts on the costume, goes up against the bad guys and gives out snarky comebacks and one liners, and he doesn't know when to shut the fuck up for his own good. To put it simply, you need to balance out being Peter Parker and being Spider Man. Tobey Maguire does a good job with being socially awkward and geeky, but his one liners are about on the same level as the level of Salamander's intelligence, as in basically non-existent. Andrew Garfield has the same problem going for him, except the exact opposite of the spectrum. He does a good job of being snarky, overconfident and never shutting up, so he does a good job as Spider Man, but he is _not _suited for playing the role of Peter Parker. Tom Holland is the only one out of the main three that is able to do both Peter Parker and Spider Man, and he does them damn well. And for anybody who hates the Spider Man movies he's in, that's the kind of problem that you take up with the script, not the actors."

"Huh. You know that actually makes sense. But bashing or defending superhero movie actors aside, what the hell was that noise? And now it sounds to me like there's some kind of animal in heat panting."

"My guess is that the latter has something to do with the chair you're sitting on."

"What do you mean my chair, is it squeaking or something- What the fuck do you think you're doing?!"

As it turns out, Juvia was lying on the ground acting as Gray's chair, and she was much too gleeful about it "You refused to spank me for my failure, so I believe that serving as your chair would be a fitting punishment for me."

"I almost smacked you for scaring the crap out of me like that, but now I'm worried that you would get the wrong idea!"

"Not the first time she's done that either." Gajeel commented dryly "Anyway back to the whole debate on Spider Man movies, I'm just gonna come out and say it: the Tobey Maguire trilogy is overrated as fuck." he was met with various gasps from everyone at the camp "Yeah that's right, I said it. Granted I think Spider Man 3 gets too much hate, but that's for another time. Seriously though, those movies are so fucking predictable and boring to me. Trying to adapt a comic book plot into a movie is one thing, but they're so predictable. At least with Spider Man Homecoming and Far From Home they have the decency to try and change things up a little bit so you don't see what's coming from a fucking mile away. And don't even get me started on how overrated I think the Godfather is." any screaming objections that he would received were promptly overshadowed by a deafening roar that nearly blew them off of their feet "You've gotta be fucking kidding me!"

"That was definitely the roar of a dragon." Wendy pointed out.

"No doubt about it, I'd recognize one of those anywhere and anytime."

"Hey you guys!" this was when Luke and the others came rushing onto the scene "Is everyone okay, we heard the noise and came back as fast as we could."

"So you know what that is too?"

"I have an idea of it." then Luke glanced over to see Gildarts hunch over in pain "You alright, what's the matter?"

"Dammit, I can feel my wounds staring to burn like hell." Gildarts muttered "There's no doubt about it… that dragon is getting real close…"

"I know the feeling, I can smell it getting closer by the second."

"And it's here."

"Shit, already?" Luke glanced upwards, and his eyes widened and his blood ran cold at the sight before him "Oh you've gotta be kidding me."

"What's the matter?" Cana and the others looked up and their jaws all pretty much dropped at the sight of a massive black dragon swooping downwards and landing on the surface of Tenrou Island "Oh you've gotta be fucking kidding me… I don't believe this…"

"I don't think any of us do right now. _Well on one hand, Natsu and I were right all along when said that dragons still exist. On the other hand, the malic and magic power this thing is putting out is on a whole other level.'_

"I was afraid of this." Gildarts muttered "That thing is known by people as Acnologia, the Black Dragon of the apocalypse. I know that dragon anywhere."

"Which raises the question, what the hell are we going to do?"

"Well0

"Hey dragon!" this was when Natsu started calling out to Acnologia "You have any idea where I can find Igneel? And the same goes for Kaminari, Grandeeny and Metallicana! Start talking, where are they-" he was silenced by Gildarts grabbing him by the shoulders.

"Stop it Natsu, believe me when I tell you that you don't want to provoke him. Did you forget about what happened to me when I met that thing, how it ripped off my arm and my leg and one of my organs I have no intention of naming? Hell I'm lucky I didn't lose my life when I met him that day!"

"Guys enough trying to get through to the idiot, we've got bigger problems." Luke gestured towards where Acnologia was landing on the ground in front of them "He's right though, this dragon is nothing like the one that raised me. The level of malice I'm picking up from it is off the charts."

"That's about the way I'd put it, this dragon is the most evil thing that I've ever encountered in my lifetime."

"You think we should try fighting this thing?"

"Forget it, there's no way we can fight it. You should understand how dire this situation actually is. This isn't about winning or losing a fight, this is about getting, and I'm not even sure if all of us are going to be lucky enough to do that."

"Gildarts… you really think that not all of us are gonna get out of this alive?"

"There's no more time to talk about this, everyone has to get out of here NOW!" this was almost immediately followed by Acnologia letting out a roar that sent a good number of them flying, as well as pretty much blowing away the entire base camp, along with one other thing.

When the smoke cleared, Luke was revealed to have protected everyone with a Thunder Dome cast from his sword, though he was still left dumbstruck by what he saw '_You've gotta be kidding me, this thing was powerful enough to blow away the entire forest? It wasn't even a Dragon Roar either, just a scream and it wiped out everything in its path. _So this is what the real deal is truly capable of, but how strong is it when it actually tries?"

"It's not just strong, he's pure evil and rotten to the core. That roar he used on us just now was nothing more than his way of getting warmed up. Listen to me Luke, and this goes for the rest of you too. If all of you want to stay alive then you can't waste time freaking out, you have to pull yourselves together so we can get the hell out of here!"

"Dammit… _As much as I hate to say it, he's right. We're all running on fumes as it is after all the crap we went through with Grimoire Heart."_

"STOP WASTING TIME, EVERYONE HURRY AND GET TO THE SHIP!"

"The ship is right through the trees you guys, now we have to get out of here!" Luke quickly motioned for everyone to take off running, and once everyone did start runnin he then did the same.

"Wait Luke, you can communicate with a dragon right?" Lucy pointed out "Is there any chance you could try and talk it down or maybe see what it wants?"

"Hate to break it to you Lucy, but that's not going to work. Anyone can communicate with a dragon, they do speak English after all, but I think it's blatantly obvious that this one isn't here to talk or mingle." this was followed by another deafening roar as Acnologia began looming over them and attempted to devour them "Get down!" he quickly threw Lucy and Cana out of the way while he propped its mouth open using his sword "Trying to cut off our escape route? I guess you know what you're doing, but then again so do I! **Lightning Dragon Talon!" **he promptly dealt it a lightning-enhanced kick to the face that caused it to recoil while he returned to the ground with his sword in hand "Okay we've got a problem, this thing seems to have brains to go with all of its brawn."

"But why us?" this was when Wendy called out to Acnologia while she was also in the middle of tearing up "Why are you doing this? Answer me!" she received no reply.

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From his place in the Grimoire Heart airship, or rather what was left of it, Zeref could only look on at the massive form of Acnologia looming over the island, in which he noted that the black dragon was not going to answer them or even speak to them, for it thought of all of them as nothing more than vermin. He also took note of how Acnologia was doing nothing more than playing with them, as a beast of that much power would never dream of using all of its might against them, for he viewed them as insignificant.

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Meanwhile, back on Tenrou Island…

The struggle against Acnologia was not going well for the Tenrou Team, even if they were fighting with everything they had left. Case and point…

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Natsu pounced at Acnologia in a blind rage, only to be swatted with one of its claws and sent tumbling backwards.

Fortunately, Luke was able to catch him before he hit the ground, but he still shot a dry look in his direction "If it didn't work the first seven times, what the hell made you think it was going to work now?" he received no answer, as it was cut off by Makarov ripping off his shirt "So what exactly are planning on doing right now master?"

"The only thing I can do… **buying time, now get to the ship!" **Makarov promptly expanded into his giant form and started trying to hold back Acnologia, though he was clearly straining to do so.

'_So he's planning on sacrificing himself, he can't beat that thing and he knows it. He's trying to buy time for us to get away.'_

"Master please, this is no time for you to be trying to play the hero!" Erza protested "The guild needs you to stay alive!"

'_I shouldn't be surprised Erza is the first one to protest.'_

"**You have to get out of here, NOW!" **of course, Makarov was met with protests from almost everyone present.

"I intend to fight by the side of Master!"

"No way in hell some overgrown lizard is gonna be allowed to tear this guild apart!"

"I'm going to stay with you to the bitter end!" the voices of protest continued, until…

"**WILL YOU BRATS JUST SHUT UP AND HONOR THE FINAL WISHES OF YOUR MASTER?! GET OFF OF THIS ISLAND RIGHT NOW!"**

'_Final wish… so I was right, that is how he plans on doing this…' _Luke glanced over and locked eyes with Laxus, and he gave him a simple nod.

'_You don't have to be said, I know.' _Laxus promptly returned the gesture.

"For fuck's sake Gramps, me and a bunch of others are Dragon Slayers, this is what we were born to do so let me-" Natsu was cut off by Laxus grabbing him by the scarf and then dragging him away.

"Forget it kid, that's not happening today."

"Dammit Laxus, get the fuck off of me-" Natsu cut himself short when he noticed the tears brimming in Laxus' eyes.

"...Best of luck Master, now come on everyone, we have to go!" gritting her teeth, Erza took off running, with all of the others following right behind her.

'_What good children…' _Makarov could only watch them running away as he continued trying to hold off Acnologia '_I know it may be hard for you to believe now, but the fact is that this truly is for the best… It's times like these that teach you important lessons for your future, such as knowing that tears are wasteful things, nothing to trouble over… Is death caused by sadness, or is sadness caused by death? The answer is something that can be found in your hearts… My dear children, you must learn and grow, and above all, you must LIVE! _**Listen and listen well you foul creature! I don't know what your goal is here, and frankly I don't care, I don't have any intention of allowing you to advance any further! I will never allow you to bring harm to my children!"**

Acnologia let out a snarl as he pushed Makarov back with incredible levels of physical strength, until he eventually managed to pin him to the ground, digging into his skin with his claws, causing him to cry out in pain.

However, Makarov's screams eventually turned into chuckles '_This is what a father will not hesitate to do for his family. I have no regrets, and now I will be able to die as a truly happy old man.' _he closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable, only for his eyes to snap open at the sound of footsteps, and he was shocked when he saw who they belong to '_Luke?!'_

Sure enough, with his magic power surging, Luke was blitzing towards Acnologia with his sword in hand, and he wasted no time in activating his Thunder Drive, and he quickly leapt up onto the shoulder of the massive creature "I'm taking Makarov back, all of us are!" he was met only with the force of Acnologia trying to throw him off, but he quickly thrusted his sword into its skin, earning a howl of pain "I don't expect you to understand this, but two years ago a bad experience filled me with the overwhelming need to protect my guild and all of the people in it, and that includes the old guy you're using as a chew toy!"

Makarov found himself swatted into a nearby plateau, which forced him to revert back to his normal state, only for him to see Erza and various others standing in front of him, as if they were trying to shield him "Erza, you too?"

"Kind of surprising isn't it?" Laxus got his attention, standing on the opposite side of him "I was personally down with the plan to evacuate. I'm sure there are plenty of folks out there that would let an old guy take the fall, but there sure as hell isn't anyone like that in your guild."

'_Laxus…'_

"Now everyone, attack!" Erza pointed one of her swords forward and made the call, which prompted everyone to charge forward and hit Acnologia with thei strongest attacks.

"You… You damn stupid bunch of kids…" Makarov ended up with tears streaming down his face.

With a primal roar, Laxus bulked up as his body started surging with electricity "Alright listen up you guys, we're gonna hit this overgrown lizard with everything we've got! If you let loose on him and I blast him with a million wats of lightning, then that will be enough to teach him why he should never mess with Fairy Tail again! And word of advice Luke, you'd better get the fuck out of my way or absorb what hits you, because it's coming either way!"

"Way ahead of you." Luke removed his sword and leapt off of Acnologia as his magic power began turning a shade of blue along with the usual gold "**Change Mode: Lightning Sea King Dragon!"**

"**RAGING BOLT!" **Laxus unleashed a massive blast of lightning.

"**FAIRY BURST!" **Erza requipped into her Armadura Fairy armor and unleashed a massive blast of magic energy from one of her swords.

"**SUPER FREEZE ARROW!" **Gray shot forward a large arrow made of ice.

"**WATER NEBULA!" **Juvia shot forward a powerful stream of water.

"**SOLID SCRIPT: FIRE!" **Levy unleashed a stream of flames using her Solid Script magic.

"Now Sagittarius, GET HIM!" Lucy summoned Sagittarius and had him fire a stream of arrows forward.

"**EVIL EXPLOSION!" **Mira flashed into her Satan Soul and unleashed a powerful blast of dark energy.

"We shall use the full power of the Thunder Legion!" Freed sent forward a barrage of slashes from his sword.

"Come on babies, time to rock!" Bickslow unleashed a blast of magic energy from within each of his dolls.

"**Fairy Machine Gun: LEPRECHAUN!" **Evergreen unleashed a barrage of blasts of magic energy, with every blast being unleashed combining into one, slamming into Acnologia with incredible force.

Fortunately, Luke was able to blitz out of the way of the blast right using teleportation magic right before it hit, but he quickly noticed something out of the corner of his eye in the form of a young girl with blond hair watching them on a nearby hillside '_Wait a second, what the hell? It's a girl, one that I've never seen before and… is she praying?'_

"Hey Luke, do us all a favor and FOCUS ON THE FUCKING FIGHT!" Laxus barked at him from were he "Dammit, we're totally unloading on this bastard and he's still smiling at us like he's the fucking Joker! LET US SEE WHAT YOU DRAGON SLAYERS CAN DO!"

"Trust me, that's the plan." Luke blitzed along a nearby cliffside and braced himself "You guys start it with a combination of Roars, I'll finish off with a dual element attack!"

"Right!" so with their Exceeds flying them up, Natsu, Gajeel and Wendy all charged upwards towards Acnologia and charged their magic power "**Fire Dragon/ Iron Dragon/ Sky Dragon ROAR!" **the three of them all let out simultaneous roars infused with properties of fire, iron and air respectively, the combined blast engulfing Acnologia and sending him hurtling back.

"**Lightning Sea King Dragon ROAR!" **Luke let out a roar infused with the properties of both lightning and water, which combined with the other roars to apparently overwhelm Acnologia, sending him hurtling backwards into the ocean with the explosion that followed. With the sudden calm taking over the battlefield, Luke powered back down to his base state and fell to his knees in exhaustion '_After that fight with Hades, this is all I can really do against him. _In a perfect world, that would've worked."

"But this sure as hell isn't a perfect world." Gildarts told him flatly "I can tell that he's not even using half as much of his power as he did back when I first fought him. To put it simply, he's just toying with us."

"...Oh shit." this was immediately followed by Acnologia taking back to the air, looming high above them and looking incredibly menacing "Take what I said before and square it. _You've gotta be kidding me, all of that and he doesn't have a single scratch on him? His power is incredible, we gave it everything we had, four Dragon Slayers combining their powers for one single attack, and it did next to nothing.'_

"Dammit, this shouldn't be happening!" Natsu slammed his fist into the ground "This just shouldn't be happening! I'm supposed to be a fucking Dragon Slayer, this is my whole purpose, so why the hell couldn't I beat him?!"

"Becuase you don't have enough plot armor for that. The question is, what is going to try and do next?"

"Maybe he'll just decide to leave us alone and go back home." Wendy muttered.

"Again, in a perfect world, which this isn't. In any case, we can't let down our guard." Luke then glanced up to see Acnologia inhaling and gathering magic power "Or else something like that is going to happen, now it's prepping what I would have to guess is a Roar. _Dammit, at this rate he's probably going to try and wipe out the whole island with a single attack. This isn't looking good.'_

"Dammit, I hate this…" Cana gritted her teeth and clenched her fists at the sight of all of their supposed doom looming over them "There has to be something we can do, anything! I finally tell my dad the truth and what, we all just up and die here?" she was met with Luke gently gripping her hand in a reassuring way.

"We're gonna find a way out of this, I promise. Alright then, all users of defense magic bring out your most powerful spells."

"But I can't, I don't have time to write an enchantment." Freed told him.

"Levy, you have a solution?"

"My Script magic will work." Levy told him "It has a lot of other defensive spells that we can use right now."

"And Freed should be able to help you out with that. Alright everyone, concentrate whatever magic power you can spare over to Freed and Levy! Holding hands will make that process work faster." he tightened his hold on Cana's hand, and then gently took hold of Lucy's hand when he saw her crying on the ground "Come on you guys, there's no way we're going to give this thing the satisfaction of seeing us go out in a bunch of crumbled messes on the ground. If there's one thing that you should never forget about Fairy Tail, it's that we never give up the fight. We're going to look our fears in the eye and spit on them, we're gonna show this thing that we've got bonds way too strong to even dream of breaking. Remember this everyone, when the day is done, we're all gonna go back home together, with smiles on our faces and our heads held high." this was followed by everyone from the Tenou Team joining hands in a circle "We're going back home to Fairy Tail!"

And then Ancologia unleashed his Dragon Roar, sending the blast hurtling straight down towards the island, the blast being visible for miles off of the coast, much to the clear horror of anyone who did actually witness it.

When the blast subsided, a massive crater was all that remained of Tenrou Island… and the same went for everyone that was present when the blast hit.

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Meanwhile, with Zeref…

Seeing the horrible sight of Tenrou Island being completely eradicated, Zeref could only close his eyes and bow his head "I suppose it's over then… farewell Natsu…"

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"_All of it happened on this day, December 16, X784, on Tenrou Island. The day that it was wiped off of the map by Acnologia. With his work completed, he disappeared into the wild blue yonder above. Search crews from the Magic Council and various guilds spent almost 6 full months scouring through the nearby waters for any sign of survivors. Unfortunately, none of those lost were ever found. Despite this loss, time continues to march on, and before anyone knew it, 7 long years had passed since that fateful day. The world had gone through a multitude of profound alterations during that time. Great changes had been made, and others were still to come. But those will be saved for another time…"_

**A/N:**

**And with this chapter, the Tenrou Island arc finally comes to an end, though it's not exactly a happy one. While Fairy Tail has emerged victorious from their long and brutal war with Grimoire Heart, we see the unveiling of a powerful new threat in the form of Acnologia, a black dragon that Gildarts had previous encountered, and subsequently been crippled by, who then appears to destroy Tenrou Island and everyone on it with a single attack, which leads into the 7 year time skip. Let me make something clear to all of you now: Things are NOT going to be the same as they were in canon. What I mean by that is, as difficult as it was for me to decide to go through with this, some of the characters that stayed behind at Fairy Tail during the arc, some of them won't live to see the others return. I'll explain that more when we actually get to see the chapter, but like I said, some of those characters won't be returning.**

**But on a more positive note, now that the battle with Grimoire Heart is over, I got to give some more character development to Luke, mainly regarding his relationship and feelings for Cana. Noah's life advice about your life flashing before your eyes played a big part in that, as in his life flashed before his eyes and he saw the truth for himself: that he's in love with Cana. That doesn't mean they're going to get together right away though, it's still going to be some time before that happens. I did think about having it happen before Acnologia showed up, but I couldn't take away from the moment between Cana and Giladrts. So like I said, it will be some time before that happens, but I can tell you that when it does happen, it's going to be very satisfying.**

**Just as a side note, I know that Cana gets back the Fairy Glitter spell by the time we get to the Grand Magic Games, so I decided to just have her keep that spell on her until then, rather than just have her get it back. Plus it gives her a good reason to start training with Luke, which I'll be going into in a later chapter.**

**Now then, to end this chapter, I'd like to point out yet another milestone this story has reached, as in we've reached 40 chapters! That's only happened to one other story for me before now, and it's been more than two years since then, so I'd like to thank you for all of your support. All of you made this possible.**


	41. X791

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it, and for getting this story up to 150 reviews! This story would be nothing without all of your support, so thank you all for that.**

**Morregen: **Yeah sorry about that, but keep in mind that Luke got pretty much crippled from the strain of his Dual Element Dragon Force, and I didn't want to risk having him come off as too overpowered at this point in the story. Overpowered to an extent sure, but not to _that_ extent. Still though, thanks for understanding. As for Luke x Cana moments, I do have something in minde, but you'll just have to wait and see.

**Guest: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. Yeah, the last chapter was more about some downtime after the battle with Grimoire Heart and tying up a few loose ends, at least before the inevitable arrival of Acnologia. Don't expect things to be the same after the time-skip, in canon or in general. As for what I mean by that, you'll just have to wait and see.

**Jaemos: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. I personally never really thought too much about the sight of Tenrou Island being blown to hell, but yeah it must be terrifying.

**Altajir95: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it.

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"_The year is X791, and this is the port of Hargeon. 7 long years have passed since the fated day in which Luke, Natsu and the others mysteriously disappeared on Tenrou Island."_

A young man with purple hair, a yellow scarl tied around his neck, and a Fairy Tail guild mark on his arm stood on the pier, staring out at the vast ocean '_If they were going to come back, they would've a long time ago.'_

"Hey kid." this was when a second figure got his attention, this one being a figure with shaggy blond hair, a pair of cat ears atop his head, a scar going down one cheek, a black t-shirt and a pair of dark jeans, with a familiar axe strapped to his back "How long do you plan on staring into space like that? The job we came for has been over for the better part of an hour, we should get going already Romeo." he received no reply from him "You know your dad is gonna start throwing a shit fit if we don't get back soon enough for his liking." he still received no reply, and so he let out a sigh and started out at the vast ocean himself '_Hard to believe it's been 7 years since then. Between trying to make a living on my own and dealing with the rest of these idiots, time sure as hell does fly. My name is Bolt, and contrary to my appearance, I'm an Exceed. It's been 7 years since Luke and the others disappeared during their time on Tenrou Island. During that time I've learned to utilize and master the various forms of Shatterstorm, but seeing how I'm about the size of a coffee pot and I don't have that buff form like Panther Lily does, I learned how to use transformation magic, the form I'm in now giving me the ability to increase my magic power and allowing me to wield Shatterstrom a hell of a lot more effectively. _I don't know what possessed your old man to pick me, but for some reason he made me responsible for you, and I'm not dealing with him breathing down my neck again, so you either move it or I'm dragging you back by the scarf. It's your pick."

"...Fine, let's get going."

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"_Now we move onto the city of Magnolia, which is still just as bustling as it had once been 7 years ago. Far from the center of the city, there is a certain place that stands quietly on a hillside, where one is bound to find a few familiar faces."_

"Dammit!" an older Macao Conbolt with thicker hair slammed his mug down onto the table in front of him "Why the hell hasn't Romeo made it back to the guild yet?! I'm gonna be seriously pissed if Bolt just up and ditched him just so he could go get high somewhere!"

"Take it easy will you?" an older Wakaba with a thick beard and a cigar in his mouth tried to calm him down "I mean it's not like he's a little kid anymore, he's a young man now. And keep in mind, Bolt hasn't gotten into any of his brownie stuff in almost half a decade."

"How many times do I have to tell you to call me master? For crying out loud Wakaba, get it together already!" the two of them got into each other's faces.

"Fourth Master my snow white ass, I swear I've never seen such an undignified and incompetent leader!"

"Well maybe that has something to do with the fact that I got stuck with such a horrible assistant like you!"

Max, having longer and shaggier hair and a stubble on his chin, looking around at the surprisingly empty tavern "So is it just me, or have we lost a lot of members."

"Well to be fair Max, that's to be expected." Warren pointed out, having a new outfit and his hair prominently spiked up "The reputation of our guild and the number of job requests have been going further and further down, just like the ratings of Doctor Who. Plus there's what happened a few years ago, back with…"

"Yeah I know, but having justifiable reasons doesn't exactly make it any easier, and it doesn't change anything about it either. Just think what might have happened to our guild that day if it wasn't for Bolt."

"Say his name and he magically appears." this was when Bolt and Romeo made their way into the building "How is it that you guys look even more depressed and in even bigger drunken stupors than when we left?"

"Because they're a bunch of drunken idiots, plain and simple."

"And if you didn't say it then I totally would've. Truth be told though, you're one of the only few here whose aged gracefully over the last few years, or maybe it's just because of the two old farts over there." he gestured over to Macao and Wakaba, earning voices of protest.

"Well what about Reedus, he's slimmed down hasn't he?"

"Yeah but he was never fat, that was just some spell that the old man put on him for shits and giggles or something. Still though, everyone in the guild has matured."

"Yeah I know, even Kinana has become more ladylike. Where exactly did she come from again?"

"How the hell should I know, probably came from the Shadow Realm or something."

"Ha ha, very funny." Romeo grumbled from his place at a nearby table, not even looking up from the book he was reading.

"And you've basically become Mr Personality, what do you think Natsu will say when he finds out you've got about as much personality as Jiren?"

"Will you cut the bullshit?! Just face the reality, Natsu isn't coming back, neither is Luke or any of them!" Romeo's outburst left almost everyone frozen in place and in deafening silence at the mention of those from the Tenrou Team, and he almost immediately stormed out of the guild hall afterwards.

"...Heads up guys, we've got unwanted company coming our way."

Sure enough, the doors to the tavern swung open to reveal an arrogant looking punch with a mace on his back, backed by several others of his kind "How pathetic, no matter what time I come here the place is always quiet and filled with a punch of pathetic wimps. I guess no one around wants to bring the business to your crappy guild anymore. Looks to me like your guild lost any of its mojo that it ever had."

'_Great, this shit again. _What do you want Thibault, I thought I made it clear you're not welcome in this place again."

"Hey come on now, you really should show a little bit of respect whenever you talk to your superiors. Keep in mind that Twilight Ogre is the baddest guild in Magnolia, you should bow down and kiss our boots."

"The day that happens is the day Teen Titans Go actually becomes watchable. The exceptions being the Night Begins to Shine specials."

"Shut your trap you wannabe, you used to be the strongest guild in Fiore, but those days came to an end years ago, and now you're nothing but a bunch of worthless wizards out of work. Just look at this dump you call a guild hall, have you seen the palace that we've got right in the center of town? One look at our guild hall, and I think it's pretty obvious who'd be able to do more for the city of Magnolia, and it sure as hell isn't Fairy Tail."

"Oh yeah you've got a fancy palace for a guild hall, but then again I suppose you guys have to compensate for something, if you have enough brain cells to understand what that means. It takes a lot more than a fancy guild hall to be a decent guild, spirit has to count for something."

"Good for you assclowns, but you can't make a living off of spirit."

"The axe on my back, which is powered by my own spirit and could easily slice through your skull, would beg to differ. Now unless you guys have some actual business to deal with, piss the fuck off."

"Hold it smartass, we came to collect the payment for this month."

"Oh for fuck's sake Macao, you haven't paid them yet?"

"Hey, I thought I told you to call me master!" Macao barked at him.

"And I told you I don't care."

"If you guys paid your loan on time then we wouldn't have to come here." Thibault told him.

"Forget it, the reason we don't have your money is because we haven't been getting any decent jobs lately, and that's because you guys keep stealing our jobs. You'll get the money in full next month, so just piss off until then and go piss all over someone else's guild hall."

"Why don't you watch your mouth you little shit, let's not forget that you and your pathetic friends would've lost this piece of shit you call a guild hall if we haven't swooped in and saved it for you. If anything, you should be down on your knees thanking us for taking care of your loan for you guys so you won't be living on the streets like the worthless pieces of crap you are."

"I knew that you guys were gonna try and screw us over with your interest rate, so I was against asking for help from you guys in the first place."

"You wanna say that a little bit louder."

"Oh yeah I forgot, you've got the attention span of a packrat. Look, give us another month and you're gonna get paid in full, and that's all there is to it." he easily blocked an attempted kick from Thibault and morphed Shatterstorm into a small dagger, holding it to Thibault's throat, his voice low "But if you pull any dirty stunts in that time, you lay a hand on this guild or anyone in it, I will find you and every single person in your guild, hunt you down like dogs and then carve you up like a bunch of goddamn turkeys. Do I make myself clear?"

"...Yeah whatever, go ahead and act tough now, it's just an excuse for how weak your guild has become." Thibault backed off, using his hypocrisy in an attempt to cover up just how much of a coward he truly was "Just don't forget, you've got one more month but that's it." and so he and his guys left, still trying to act tough.

"Good riddance to pieces of trash like them." Bolt morphed Shatterstorm back into its axe form and place it on his back "Well that's one less migraine for the next few weeks."

"You were still too hostile towards them." Macao pointed out "What's to stop them from having it in for us."

"Me threatening to carve them up like turkeys, were you not listening?" then he glanced over and noticed one of Reedus' sketchbooks fall over, revealing drawings of Natsu, Makarov and everyone from Team Tenrou that had disappeared 7 years before, which caused everyone else to start tearing up, though he only let out a sigh as he looked down at the sketches, and then he looked up at a number of pictures being held up at the back of the guild hall '_Along with all of them, we've lost a number of others, and not all of them actually left the guild. _I know, it's hard to believe it's been 7 years since then."

"I can't believe it's really been that long." Max let out a sigh "Those were a hell of a lot better times back then. The Fairy Tail guild just isn't the same without all of those guys."

"Yeah I know. When we found out Tenrou Island had been destroyed, we started searching for any sign, any small indication that they had survived, but not even a single sign of them ever turned up. If the Magic Council is telling us the truth, though I personally have doubts in that regard, then the fact is that they all got wiped out by this Acnologia."

"So many different organizations donated their time and effort to help us search, but in the 7 years since then we haven't found a single clue, a scrap or anything."

"It's not surprising though, the levels of Ethernano we recorded around Tenrou Island that day were beyond anything I'd ever seen before, and frankly the levels were so high that there are doubts that any living thing would be able to survive it."

"I can't help but wonder though, is the roar of Acnologia really powerful enough to do such wicked damage?"

"According to that book I found in Levy's library, it's pretty possible. That thing was supposedly powerful enough to destroy an entire nation single handedly. Supposedly, there's no chance in hell that anyone would be able to face that monster and live to talk about it."

"Why did it have to go and kill all our friends?"

"Why did they have to make Teen Titans Go or make the Walking Dead take such a nosedive in quality? The world is a fucked up and unfair place. Either way, things aren't the same without them around. It's been taking a nosedive for years, and all we could was look around and watch it happen. And while that happened, a new guild ended up taking over Magnolia in the form of Twilight Ogre."

"Well maybe it's time for us to call it quits."

"And do what? Face it you idiot, without the guild we've got nothing. Come on Macao, you know I'm right about this."

"I'm sorry…" by this point, Macao was kneeling on the ground with tears streaming down his face endlessly "It's just that, I don't think I can keep this up for too much longer."

"Forget about, given the circumstances I think you're doing alright… master."

"But poor Romeo… I haven't seen him smile once since the guild disappeared." he finally broke down.

"Yeah I know. _I know you're out there somewhere Luke, and yet I can't help but wonder… What would you say if you saw the guild you almost killed yourself trying to protect, in such a pathetic state?' _Bolt's thoughts were promptly cut short by the ground around them starting to shake violently "And just like that we've got company again."

"Don't tell me it's Twilight Ogre again."

"This is almost as annoying. I recognize that scent and that magic power." Bolt made his way out of the tavern building and let out a sigh "Why the hell am I not surprised?"

"Yes, I am here in person." a figure lowered himself to the ground, with long orange hair in twin pony tails, a scar across his nose, orange hair tied like rabbit ears and an overall dramatic flare to him "The highest ranked of all of the Ten Wizard Saints, the master of eight different forms of Dragon Slayer magic, the most powerful mage on the entirety of the continent of Ishgar, these are the qualities that describe myself!"

'_Yeah there he goes, as much of a drama queen as ever. Still though, you can't deny his prowess as a Wizard Saint, and that's what makes him such a great training partner.'_

"And I have arrived to lend to you my assistance!" he did a pose "I apologize for making you wait for so long, but God Serena of the Eight Dragons is here and at your service!"

"Well you've improved on downgrading your dramatic flare, now why are you here? We've got enough problems as it is."

"Yes I am aware, I detected the foul stench of Twilight Ogre even before I had reached the limits of this city. Anyway I believe we should skip the pleasantries and get straight down to business already."

"So you actually have business other than bragging about yourself, that's a first."

"Yes yes, mock my dramatic flare as you wish. I was in the area and the Blue Pegasus guild asked me to deliver a message to you and your guild. For some weeks now, they've been flying their new ship around Fiore to scour the levels of Ethernano in certain areas, and if the Archive data analysis of their member Hibiki is correct, then all of their hard work has at last come to pay off for them and for you."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"If Ichiya can be trusted, which is debatable on a few levels, then that means that Tenrou Island still exists."

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About halfa day went by, and a team had been dispatched to head for where Tenrou Island was supposed to be located, in order to investigate the lead God Serena had given out.

Bisca, now with longer hair braided back and in a considerably more revealing outfit, glanced out a pair of binoculars, but then let out a sigh "I don't know about this guys, are you sure that we're actually looking in the right area?"

"Well to be honest…" Alzack gave a shrug, now sporting a shorter haircut "It does seem kind of odd that we haven't seen a thing since we've been out here."

"This is where God Serena told us we should be heading to, and kind of a freak or not he is still the top ranked Wizard Saint." Warren pointed out "He said that there was something up with the levels of Ethernano around here."

"So what is Ethernano anyway?" asked Max.

"The hell if I know, I think it's some kind of magic particles or something."

"Fair enough, so have you been having any luck with your telepathy?"

"Nope, I'm not picking a single damn thing out here."

"Just great." note the sarcasm.

With that little exchange done with, Bisca glanced over at Alzack "You know hun, I do feel kind of bad about leaving Bolt and Romeo behind back at the guild. Maybe we should've brought the two of them along after all."

"No it's better this way you guys, seeing how there's no guarantee that any of them are actually still alive. And don't forget that Bolt chose to stay behind in case Twilight Ogre tried to wreck the place again."

"I know, but…"

"Look it's the grim truth, we shouldn't get everyone else's hopes up in case. And besides, even if they are still alive, then they're lucky ones. They wouldn't have any idea about…"

"I know, they'd be devastated to find out, Levy especially."

"Yeah. Still though, it's been almost a full 7 years since we last heard from them, so we have to consider the worst case scenario even if we do find them."

"Yeah." then Bisca noticed something odd "That's kind of strange."

"What's the matter?" asked Alzack.

"The breeze just stopped."

"Now that you mention it, it is strangely quiet right about now. There's no birds, what the hell is going on here?"

"Hey guys check it out, over there!" Max pointed out to where he saw something in the waters in front of the ship "Is that a person?"

"There's no way, but she's floating on the water. Yeah that's definitely a person, there's no doubt about that. Is she standing on the water? Okay, so am I the only person who has no idea what the hell is going on?"

"The hell if I know." this was followed by the figure on the water raising her hands, engulfing the surrounding waters in a brilliant golden light, as a massive figure was lifted out from beneath the ocean, revealing a massive golden sphere with the Fairy Tail symbol on it "You've gotta be kidding me…"

"So what then, is that it?"

"Yeah I think it is, I think that's… I think that's Tenrou Island, but just coming out of nowhere like that…" this was followed by the golden sphere surrounding the island dissipating to reveal the island itself, and the mysterious girl floating towards the island "That girl is heading for the island's shore, we'd better follow her. And for the record Bisca, if you were the only one before who didn't have any idea what the hell was going on, you sure as hell aren't now."

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After a little bit of sailing…

"Hey hold on, wait up will you?!" once they reached the shores of Tenrou Island, Max and the others quickly chased after the girl onto the island's grounds "So does anyone have any idea as to who the hell that girl is?"

"If we did then we probably wouldn't be chasing after her like this." Warren pointed out, his tone increasingly dry "All we know is that she helped us track down Tenrou Island."

"You think she might be taking us to the others?"

"Only one way to find out, but either way we can't lose her!"

"I know!" so the four of them continued running, only to quickly find something off "This is kind of weird, how did she get that far ahead of us?"

"The hell if I know- Wait guys stop!" they screeched to a halt within the forest.

"What's the matter, why did you stop us? Did you see something?"

"Yeah I did, take a look down there you guys." Warren directed them down into a nearby gorge, where they found a certain figure sprawled out on the ground and covered in dirt "So… it's really him… Luke…"

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About half a day later, back at Fairy Tail…

"Hey Romeo listen." Macao shot a worried glance over at Romeo "I hope you're not too upset about having to stay behind."

"What's the point of it anyway?" Romeo didn't even look at him "Even if the others are lucky enough to find Tenrou Island, there isn't a chance in hell of any of them being still alive."

"Hey come on boy, there's no need for you to be such a downer. You have to have just a little bit of faith."

"I'm pretty sure his faith went away when you got that moustache." Bolt told him dryly "And frankly, I'm pretty sure he lost faith around the time a year passed." he was met with only silence from everyone, and so he let out a sigh '_I want to hope as much as the next guy that they'll come back to us, but we've had close calls and yet nothing came out of it before. There's nothing wrong with hoping for the best, but there are times when we have to be realistic and accept that not everything works out for the best. I believed that the others would've survived after what happened a few years ago, and that the others would come back from Tenrou Island bruised yet alive, but some things just aren't meant to be. But it's life, some things work out for the best, and some things don't. Right now, for as long as they're gone, the only thing we can do is keep them alive in our hearts.' _he was ripped from his thoughts by the door swinging open.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me." this was when Thibault and the rest of his thugs waltzed their way into the building looking as smug as ever "This shit hole looks even more deserted than it did yesterday, seems to me like this isn't so much a guild as it is some pathetic brothel or something."

"What do you assholes want? I told you that you'd get your money next month."

"Yeah I mentioned that to our master, he said no way in hell that would work for us, and that we're gonna have a problem between our two guilds if you slackers don't cough up the money you owe us. You'd better pay up, because our master always gets what he wants."

"...You know what?" Bolt glanced back at Macao and Wakaba, then at Romeo and gave him a simple nod, then turned to Thibault as he drew Shatterstorm off his back "For your guild, fuck your master and fuck all of you. You guys aren't getting any money from us today or any other day."

"I suggest you drop that cocky attitude you little shit."

"That goes both ways, but the main difference is that I can back up my talk." and to prove that point, Bolt blitzed forward and slammed his fist into Thibault's gut, topping him over in a pathetic heap, and he held Shatterstrom to Thibault's gut "I understand exactly how your kind think, you think you can just waltz in and do whatever the fuck you want just because there's no one around to stop you. But there's one thing that you didn't take into account: I'm here, I'm more than capable and willing to put you in your place, and I don't take shit from your kind of scum. Macao and the others might be afraid of standing up to you, Romeo might be too young and inexperienced, but I'm different from them. Now I'm going to say this once and only once, so you'd better be prepared to listen. Here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna leave this guild, you're gonna crawl back to whatever hole you slithered out of, and you're gonna leave us the hell alone for good, because if you don't then I promise you, all of you going to regret it for the rest of your very. Short. Lives. Do I make myself clear?"

"You know what?" Thibault pulled himself back to his feet and brandished the gigantic club strapped to his back and snapped his fingers "Alright boys, teach this little shit a lesson for laying a hand on someone from Twilight Ogre!" this prompted the rest of this thugs to charge in with their weapons readied for a fight.

"That's it assholes, come right to me. **Thunderous Tempest!" **in a flash, Bolt promptly morphed Shatterstorm into a dual-bladed spear and fired a bolt of lightning from one blade, followed by a stream of water from the other blade that absorbed the electricity into its current, instantly electrocuting all of the Twilight Ogre thugs and leaving them in heaps "And now to take out the trash. **Storm Force!" **he morphed Shatterstorm into a trident and unleashed a massive blast of wind, sending them hurtling clear out of the guild hall "Now get out of my sight, and don't come around here again."

"Looks to me like you've been busy since we've been gone." a new voice caused Bolt and everyone else to freeze in their tracks.

'_That voice…' _Bolt looked ahead and his eyes widened, a single tear streaming down his face, but he quickly wiped it away and gave a confident smirk "Well it's about fucking time you guys made your way back… Luke."

Sure enough, in the entrance of the building stood Luke, Cana and every single other member of Team Tenrou, as well as those from the search party "Yeah I know. Anyway sorry we're back so late, but better late than never right?"

"That's one way of putting it, though the way I would put it is, it's about fucking time you guys decided to show your faces. Seriously though, you even look the same as you did when you left for the island. First I want to know how the fuck you look the same, and then why the fuck it took you so long to get back."

"Well those kind of go hand in hand actually. You see…"

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**(About half a day ago, back on Tenrou Island…)**

"Luke, dammit man get up!" by now, Max and Warren were trying to wake Luke up after finding him lying unconscious "Come on man this is ridiculous, you've gotta get up already!"

"Alright alright, I'm up…" Luke pulled himself up onto his knees and spat out a hell of a lot of dirt and sand "Okay I'm just gonna say it, worst nap ever."

"LUKE!" all of them immediately glomped onto him and tacked him back to the ground in a comical fashion.

"Okay okay, take it easy guys. All of you just calm down and someone tell me what the hell is going on, and why you guys look so different for that matter."

"You haven't changed a bit in all this time!"

"The same can't be said for you guys, though I do like the new look Max has going for him, the same with the rest of you." this was followed by the sound of groaning from nearby "What about the others, where are they?"

"You were the first one we found, so…"

The groaning got louder as Cana stumbled towards them, clearly groggy "Oh god, that was the worst nap I've had in god knows how long."

"Cana!"

"Okay hold on a second guys, let me shake off the potential concussion." Luke let out a sigh and rubbed both of his temples "The last thing I remember is Acnologia launching his breath attack down at the island, but the next thing I know I'm coughing up a few pounds of dirt and other things I don't want to think about, and you guys are glomping me. Never mind that though, where are all of the others?"

"You don't have to worry, they're all over here." another voice got everyone's attention in the form of the mysterious young girl with long blonde hair.

"Okay, now that the threat of imminent annihilation has passed, I can finally process the fact that I saw you watching us on a hillside during the fight with Acnologia, and I finally get the chance to ask who you are exactly."

"You don't have to worry Luke Drako, I can assure you that I have no intention of harming any of you or anyone in the Fairy Tail guild. My name is Mavis Vermillion, and I am the First Master of Fairy Tail."

"...One more time?"

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About an hour later…

It was only after Mavis led Luke, Cana and the others to find Natsu and everyone else from Fairy Tail on the island that she elaborated further "You see, when Acnologia launched his breath attack at all of you, I was able to convert the emotional bonds of trust and friendship that was shared between you and all of your guild mates into pure magic power. Their bonds proved to be so stronge that the Fairy Sphere was activated as a result, one of the three grand fairy spells of our guild. It is an absolute defense spell that is capable of protecting the guild from all manner of evil being used against it. Those that were inside the impenetrable sphere when it was activated were left in a state of suspended animation, but after all this time the Fairy Sphere spell has finally been lifted."

"My word…" Makarov could only smile at what Mavis had been telling them "To think that all of us would be saved by the First Master of Fairy Tail herself."

"No no Makarov, you misunderstand. I am nothing more than the corporial, I used what little energy I had left to convert the emotional connections between all of you into the magic power necessary. It was your unwavering conviction and the love you shared for one another, they were what brought forth this miracle. You should be proud of the guild you've built Makarov, they truly are wonderful."

**(Flashback end)**

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"And that's about the sum of it." Luke finished explaining what had happened to Bolt and everyone else in the guild hall "Max and the others said that a lot had changed in Fairy Tail since we've been gone, and looking around I can see that's an understatement. Anything else that we should know about?"

"...You know what, that sort of thing can wait until another time." Bolt gave a smirk as he went over to a fridge behind the counter and pulled out a massive tray of brownies "The way I see it, tonight is for celebrations. After all, it's not every day half of your guild comes back after being gone for seven years."

"True enough. Everybody crank the tunes, we're celebrating tonight!" this was met with various cheers from everyone present, as well as tears of joy from most of those who hadn't been part of the Tenrou Team.

'_Let them enjoy themselves tonight, the cold hard truth of reality is gonna hit them like a pack of bulldozers tomorrow. We're gonna have a lot of work to do to get things even close to being back to how they used to be. Lucky us we've got each other to help us see this through.'_

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It took about a half hour to set everything up, but when it was finished, the celebration was officially underway, with everyone catching up on everything that had happened.

For example, Natsu and Happy were catching up with Romeo "I see you're rocking fire magic of your own too these days, looks like the world better watch out because it's sure as hell gonna end up hot as hell up in here."

"It's not just traditional fire either, I can make cold flames too." Romeo summoned some blue flames in his hand, and then some purple flames.

"So what's that one supposed to be?"

"This one is a purple flame that has the ability to stick to anything it's cast on." he summoned a yellow flame "And I've got this funky yellow one that smells like the bathroom after Bolt does his thing in there."

"Oh god that reeks!" Natsu was promptly struck by a burst of electricity, courtesy of Shatterstorm in its axe form.

"Yeah, I've been getting a lot of those, but it makes for good training."

"Well from the looks of things, if you ask me then I'd say that you've already outclassed your old man by this point." Gajeel told him.

"Yeah, my teacher figured you'd say that. Don't tell my dad about this, but I've secretly been taking magic lessons from Master Totomaru."

"Get the fuck out of here, I didn't know that he was teaching now."

"Yeah, apparently he had to serve some time for his role in the whole thing with Phantom Lord, but after he got out he took up a career teaching magic."

"Damn that sure takes me back." Natsu commented "I still need to taste the rest of those colored flames he's got going for him. Holy fuck this is sweet, incoming fire buffet so you'd better make way for yours truly!"

"Yeah I hate to break it to you Natsu, but I don't think he's too keen on seeing you. He doesn't exactly like talking about you."

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Meanwhile, on another end of the tavern…

Bolt let out a low whistle at what he was hearing from Luke "So you actually took on the master of Grimoire Heart one on one, you used Dual Element Dragon Force despite knowing that your body would probably give out at some point as a consequence, and after you blew Hades to the ground your body basically exploded like a whoopee cushion filled with blood because you overexerted yourself?"

"Well yeah, that's about the sum of it." Luke gave a shrug "One thing is for sure though, I'm still kind of surprised my body held out for as long as it did. I guess I was lucky, my theory is that the extreme circumstances of the war with Grimoire Heart pushed me to it, but now I don't think my body will be able to repeat that at my current level."

"Which means that if you and I were to come to blows, chances are you'd probably end up in a metric fuckton of trouble."

"Considering what I saw you do to those guys from Twilight Ogre earlier, I wouldn't be too surprised by that. I'm kind of tempted though."

"Yeah, but not tonight okay?"

"I know, but still…"

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At the same time, Makarov was sitting at the bar in a discussion with Macao and Wakaba "I have to admit Macao, I certainly didn't expect that you would be willing to step up and wear the big shoes."

"Neither did I, and truth be told they didn't quite fit me that well." Macao gave a shrug "Why don't we just say that I was keeping them warm for you. Now that you're back, I've finally got the opportunity to enjoy a stiff drink."

"Oh come on now, and here I was thinking about letting you keep the position."

"Are you serious about this? Actually now that I think about it, maybe I can drink and be the master too."

"Well I don't know if that would be the best decision you've ever made, but I think it's kind of funny." he let out a snicker.

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Unfortunately, even without some certain grim news that will come up later on, not all was well for the returning wizards.

"You're married?!" Erza's jaw pretty much dropped at what Alzack and Bisca had been telling her "As in the two of you… C-Congratulations! When did this all happen?"

"It was about a year after you guys up and disappeared." Bisca told her "I sure wish that all of you guys could've been there, the poor thing nearly passed out when I proposed to him, it was just adorable. Plus apparently Bolt and a bunch of others had a bet going about which of us would pop the question, and guess who won." he turned to the cat using transformation magic sitting at the bar.

"You mean you- NO!" she started shaking Max like a rag doll "How could you have gotten married without me there?!"

"Looks to me like you're blowing a fuse over this, not that I blame you. Like I said, I was pretty bummed that you couldn't be there with the rest of us." she was ignored as Erza continued with comically blowing a fuse.

"That's wonderful, so do you guys have any children?" asked Lisanna.

"Actually we do, we have a daughter. Her name is Asuke, though appearance wise I think she looks a lot more like Alzack than me."

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Erza wasn't the only one to be left almost completely unsatisfied at the moment.

Wendy was less than thrilled when she saw a certain picture she was holding "Hey Reedus, is this what I think it is?"

"Oui my dear, I tried to imagine what you would look like if you were 7 years older, and that drawing was the end result." Reedus told her.

"But… my chest…"

"Is something the matter?"

"My chest… This isn't fair… Why does reality keep crushing my dreams like this?"

"I don't understand, is there something wrong with the picture? I liked it enough."

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Meanwhile, with the three Exceeds…

Carla stared down at a drawing of herself, Happy and Lily, her expression considerably deadpanned as a result "Oh my, this is horrifying?"

"Why am I wearing a loin cloth in this?" Lily was asking the real questions.

"You know we were gone for a really long time." Happy pointed out "I wonder if any of the other Exceeds ever got worried about us."

"I doubt that is the case. Exceeds have a far different sense of time than humans do, so I find it highly unlikely that any of them ever even noticed our absence."

"Well, that doesn't really comfort me."

"Perhaps not, but it's still a fact."

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Makarov glanced over at Kinana while she was working at the tavern's bar "I have to say Kinana, it would seem that the past seven years have treated you quite well."

"That's so sweet of you, thank you master." Kinana gave a meek smile.

"So tell me, have any of your memories come back yet?"

"No, nothing so far I'm afraid and I can't help but wonder why. Although there have been times when I can hear someone calling to me, asking me to let them hear my voice, and there are times when I feel as if I know them. They seem so familiar and gentle, and I think I know who it was too. I met him awhile ago, though he said that he wasn't, but I can just tell it was him."

"Well shit." Bolt glanced over at Luke from where they were sitting at the bar, his voice incredibly low "Okay short version, she was actually a chick turned into a snake but she got turned back, and I'll give you one guess which poisonous jackass from a certain dark guild she shacked up with."

"Wait what?" Luke's jaw almost dropped at what he was hearing "You're kidding."

"Nope, we had a whole thing with the Oracion Seis about a year ago too, they were trying to build some sort of Infinity Clock thing or something, I didn't really pay attention to their rantings back then, but we stopped them before they even started and apparently Kinana said there was something familiar about Cobra. Oh yeah, and I swear she had slits in her eyes like a snake and that same kind of poision that Cobra's snake used."

"Well… that's a plot twist that nobody saw coming."

"Oh you don't have a fucking clue." then the sound of the doors to the tavern being flung open got their attention "Heads up assclowns, we've got company."

"This is wonderful." a deep yet familiar voice noted "It would seem that the rumors are true after all."

"False alarm until the dog guy starts losing his shit, they're friendlies." this was met with various greetings from the group in question.

"Helloy my lovelies, I'm glad to see your deaths were exaggerated." that one came from a certain young woman with pink hair, constantly talking about love.

"Woof." that one came from a certain dog guy.

"With all of you having returned, the balance in your guild has been restored, along with a great sense of peace for the rest of the guilds in Fiore." a young man with calm eyes and a gentle spirit, focused on maintaining the balance around him in whatever way he could.

"It would seem that all of you appear to be in great health." a tall figure with a long beard, but he was bald.

"The sentiment is a little bit redundant when they haven't aged in the last 7 years." a figure with long, pointed eyebrows that were so thick, they could rival Might Guy from Naruto.

"Typical, you haven't even been back 2 days and yet you've already trashed the place." and that one came from a certain Ice-Make mage with white hair and a prosthetic arm.

"Yep, that seals the deal." Bolt rolled his eyes at the sight "Hey Gray guess what, your senpai and the rest of his boys from Galuna Island, along with Xian and Jura, showed up to either make or break the party."

"I figured that much, but what exactly are they doing here?" asked Gray.

"These guys and the freaks from Blue Pegasus helped to search for the rest of you for longer than any of the others, and just a heads up the Magic Council were the first ones to give up on the search, not that it should surprise anyone."

"Is that right? Well man if that is the case, then I guess I owe you one."

"Believe me, I would love to take you up on that." Lyon gave a smirk "But the fact is that I've got 7 years on you now, and I'm not the kind of guy who likes to take advantage of innocent children."

"Oh yeah, go ahead and rub it in why don't you."

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It didn't take very long for the rest of Lamia Scale to integrate themselves into the party with the rest of Fairy Tail.

Xian was telling Luke and a few others about some important information "To put it simply, while your absence over the past 7 years did disrupt the harmony throughout the kingdom, not all of the repercussions that resulted were negative, as in that time Lamia Scale has excelled and climbed through the ranks, and now we are considered to be the second strongest guild in all of the kingdom. Of course I mean no disrespect when I tell you these facts."

"I figured as much." Luke gave a shrug "So Lamia Scale is the second best, does that mean that I should expect to hear about Blue Pegasus being at the top then?" this was met with a great amount of barking from Toby, in which no one could really understand what the hell he was saying.

"Please ignore Toby, he means well but-"

"He's got the intelligence and attention span of a packrat." Bolt cut him off dryly "And that's not just the cat vs dog thing talking either."

"Well…"

"Hesitation, and therefore I rest my case."

"As well as the case of the cats vs dogs thing." Luke noted dryly.

"Come on now, putting Toby's wild rants aside, one thing we can agree on unanimously is that we are all quite pleased to have you back." Jura assured him.

"And trust me, we're glad to be back." then Luke glanced over and noticed something else, and his expression dulled considerably "Oh you've gotta be kidding me."

As it turns out, Lyon had set his sights on Juvia, and then this happened "I can honestly say that I've never believed in true love until now."

"You've gotta be freaking kidding me."

"Oh no, how could this have happened?!" and then Juvia promptly started letting her unhealthy imagination spiral right out of control "Before I knew what happened, this love triangle has turned into a… a love maze!"

"And there she goes with her _healthy _imagination."

"That shit is anything but healthy." Bolt let out a snort.

"Yeah I know, that's part of the joke."

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Meanwhile, with a certain father-daughter duo…

"Anyway…" Gildarts shot a deadly serious look at Max and Warren, with Cana by his side, only to immediately switch to being a comical jackass "Guess what lucky just found out that he's a daddy!"

"Hey back it up, you're being too touchy feely!" Cana was promptly ignored and hoisted right up into Gildarts' arms.

"Just come here and give Papa some kisses!"

"Stop it, you're embarrassing me, now get the hell off of me!"

Warren and Max just watched the whole exchange between them, and they were both less than impressed with the scene "Do those two really think they're fooling anyone with that stupid act of theirs?"

"Just do all of us a favor and go along with it, I think it's awkward enough as it is." Max told him dryly."

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Meanwhile, back with the newly revealed married couple…

"Here she is!" Alzack held up a picture in his hands "This is it, my precious baby girl Asuka in all of her glory."

"I have to say that she does take after the two of you." Lily noted "She even kind of reminds me of Wendy in a way, as in she's tiny and adorable."

"Stop picking on me!" and that proved to be enough to send Wendy running away crying, much to the confusion of Lily.

"Wait I don't get it, what did I say?"

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During all of the chaos going on throughout the party, Luke just glanced around at everything happening, and he couldn't help but smile at the sight of it '_I guess I shouldn't be surprised, the excitement never stops in a guild like this. For me and everyone that was on Tenrou Island, only about a week had gone by, as grueling of a week as it might have been. But still, for Bolt and the rest of our friends that stayed behind during all of that, a long and lonely stretch of suffering has come to an end. When I think about what they must have gone through in all of that time, I can't help but feel a strange sense of guilt for all of the pain they've had to endure. 7 years, that's a long time to have to wait. It feels like something out of a book or a movie, I never thought that I would go through that sort of thing first hand, but then again that comes with the job, so I guess I really shouldn't be surprised. To think that so much has happened since I came back to Fairy Tail after leaving to train for a year and a half, but last night is one I doubt I'm ever going to forget. Everyone is pouring all of their being into one night of drinking, dancing, singing and overall partying that makes up for the past 7 years. I have to admit, it sure as hell feels good to be home agian. Still though, I can't get rid of this uneasy feeling in the pit of my gut, this feeling that something isn't right.'_

"Hey." Bolt nudged him on the arm and held up a mug of booze to him "Look I know what you're thinking, but for your sake and for that of everyone else, you should leave it alone, at least for tonight."

"...Alright, I get your point."

"Good. Oh and by the way, I got us a new apartment a few years back, and this one is miles ahead of the old one."

"Now I'm starting to get concerned."

"Ha fucking ha."

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After the party ended, as long as that took knowing what Fairy Tail is like, things seemed to quiet back down, if only a little bit.

Bolt led Luke into a nice looking building and up multiple flights of stairs "See you don't have to be concerned about every shady action I take."

"That depends on how many of your actions are considered shady." Luke told him dryly "We're in the upper ring of the city, you got us a high rise apartment?"

"After I learned to use transformation magic I took on a few jobs for the Magic Council, as much as they might be a pack of arrogant assholes they do know how to pay well." Bolt opened the door and revealed their home to him, a very well furnished and high up apartment "So here it is, the place has two bedrooms and a pull out couch, complete kitchen and two bathrooms, and a pretty nice den furnished by yours truly."

"And how much did you say you pay per month?"

"100,000 Jewel per person per month, but now that you're here that's gonna be double since there's two people. I already paid for your first and last month's rent by dipping into your savings account."

"Wait a second, how the hell did you get the password?"

"Dude, it's ThunderDragon. Not bad, but nowhere near good enough. Anyway go ahead and go get unpacked, take the spare room or the pullout couch, and then I'll show you this great new pizza joint."

"What about that sandwich place?"

"Failed a health inspection and shut down about two years ago."

"Fuck."

"Yeah I know, but things change. Just look at that Teen Titans episode. It was basically a gigantic metaphor for how we can't change things."

"Yeah I know. Anyway you go ahead and head to the place, I'll unpack my stuff and then I'll track your scent and catch up with you."

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About 20 minutes later…

Soon enough, Bolt was wandering his way throug the streets of Magnolia, only to stop and let out a sigh when he noticed Lucy brooding on the side of the street "Should I even bother asking what this is about?"

"5,880,000 Jewel." Lucy muttered "That's how much my landlady wants me to pay her before I'm allowed back into my apartment. How the hell am I supposed to get that kind of cash?"

"Don't count on any of the other girls in Fairy Tail to help you out, I heard from Cana that the chicks staying in Fairy Hills had to pay for about 7 years worth of back rent too, so if all of you have to be broke then at least you get to be broke together."

"Yeah I know, and it's not just that. We were gone for so many years, and we've missed out on so many important things. Romeo has grown into a handsome young wizard."

"Been at it for three years and he's already worth a metric fuckton more than his dad."

"Alzack and Bisca are raising the next generation of the guild."

"I finally told her to pop the question since there wasn't a chance in hell of him every having the guts to say or do anything about it."

"And on top of that, everyone else is still recovering from the bombshell that Gildarts and Cana had dropped."

"I knew about that for about as long as Luke did."

"Still though, all of that can't help but make me think about my dad. The poor guy, it's been a full 7 years since he heard anything from me. I can only imagine that he must be worried sick about me. Maybe it's time I paid my old man a visit. You know Bolt, this might actually be the first time I've actually missed my dad. Pretty stupid isn't it?"

"Whatever you need to tell yourself blondie."

"But don't think I'm going to see him to ask for money, because I'm not."

"Not like it would do you any good, last any of us heard he didn't have a single fucking Jewel to spare."

"Yeah that is true. Hey know that reminds me, I noticed that there were a few faces missing from the guild during the party. You know, Jet & Droy, Nab, Laki and Vijeeter. Were they out on jobs or something?"

"...Yeah, yeah that was it. I'm sure they're on their way back even as we speak. Well I'll leave you to your brooding, and if you want then Luke and I are more than happy to go with you to see your old man. Well, later." and so he walked away from Lucy and down the street, gritting his teeth furiously as he did so '_Dammit, I knew it was only a matter of time before they actually noticed. I'd better tell Luke about it before he gets the wrong idea, the same going for the rest of them too. That's not the only problem though, between the stuff with Jellal and Zeref, shit has really been hitting the fan since you've all been gone.'_

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About 2 days later, in Acalypha…

Soon enough, Lucy was making her way through the streets of Acalypha, and she glanced back to where Bolt and Luke were walking behind her "You know you guys could've just ridden in the carriage like I did, and Luke I thought you said that you weren't as bothered by your motion sickness as Natsu is."

"I'm not, but keep in mind that we've been gone for 7 years, which means that I've lost out on 7 years worth of training." Luke pointed out "For the time being, I'm gonna have to micromanage in any way that I can."

"And not that I don't appreciate it, but why did you guys tag along anyway?"

"Actually it was Bolt's idea."

"Oh really, how come?"

"Well like Luke said, micromanaging for starters." Bolt told her from where he was currently draped over Luke's shoulder, now back in his cat form "And for another, I didn't want to have to deal with the inevitable shit storm that's probably happening back at the guild."

"Why do you say that?" asked Luke.

"Well for starters, Natsu and Happy's place got raided about 6 months after you guys disappeared on the island, so chances are they're losing their shit over having no money for food. Plus there's some developments in regards to certain prisoners and wizards from a long disbanded dark guild from the Balam Alliance."

"Uh huh. Anything else I should know?"

"Not much, aside from the fact that Zeref is still alive."

"...I should've figured as much."

"You don't seem surprised by that."

"I met him back on Tenrou Island, and I'll tell you this: If and/ or when he decides to raise a hand against Fairy Tail, I'm gonna make sure I'm ready for him."

"I figured you'd say something like that. I hate to break it to you though, but there are some things in life you just can't be ready for."

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It took a little bit more walking, but the group eventually arrived at the Love & Lucky guild.

Lucy was quick to go up to the receptionist for information "Excuse me, do you mind if I ask you something? You wouldn't happen to know if a Mr Jude Heartfilia will be coming in today, because the last I heard he was still registered here, isn't he?"

"Oh, um…" the receptionist started cringing considerably hard "Just out of curiosity, you wouldn't happen to be Jude's daughter by any chance would you?"

"Yeah that's me, is there something wrong? He's not out sick or anything is he? If that is the case, then do you think you could just give me his home address or something."

"Actually, here's the thing… I'm very sorry to have to tell you this… but Jude passed away a little bit over a month ago. It was a shock to all of us." that was enough to leave Lucy frozen in place.

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About an hour passed, one very uncomfortable and quiet hour.

Luke and Bolt watched from a distance as Lucy placed a bouquet of flowers down on the newly dug grave of her father in the city cemetery "I was afraid of something like this. I guess the weight of those 7 years just keeps piling on doesn't it?"

"I'd like to say that this is the worst you're going to see from it, but miracles aren't the kind of thing you get on a daily basis." Bolt breathed a deep sigh, his voice low enough so Lucy would be unable to hear him "This is just a sample of the pain that comes with you guys being gone for so long."

"What are you talking about?"

"Let's just say that there's something waiting for us back in Magnolia, something you won't like to see, but you still need to learn about either way."

"Should I bother guessing?"

"No you shouldn't, you'll find out soon enough. You won't like it though."

"As you've said already."

"Alright, I'm done. Come on you guys, let's get going." Lucy placed down the flowers on her father's grave and then started walking away down the path out of the city, with the two of them following quietly behind her. They continued like that for a few moments, until she finally spoke again "You know you don't have to whisper around me. I'm sorry for putting the two of you through all of this trouble."

"It's no problem at all, that's what friends are for after all. Are you gonna be alright?"

"Yeah it's alright, I'm just shocked about my dad is all, but I'll be just fine. I know that more than a few years have gone by, but it feels to me like it's only been a few months since I saw him alive and healthy. It's kind of hard to accept that I'll never get to see him or speak to him in this life again. It's weird, when I think back I never actually did get along with my dad I was growing up, though the problem mostly started after my mom passed away. He just became cold and aloof after that, like he didn't even care, and the whole thing with Phantom Lord certainly didn't help with that matter. But then, after what happened when I heard the guild here in Acalypha had been attacked and I came to try and save him, I truly felt as if my relationship with him had been changed for the better. I shouldn't be surprised by this though, it's just like him to work himself until he gets sick. I guess this time it just proved to be too much for him to handle. But what bothers me most about this is that even though I feel sad about him being gone and I miss him, I haven't even cried, or more like I can't yet. It's like the tears just aren't there for me to start shedding. Does that mean that in the end, he didn't mean anything to me?"

"I know exactly what you're trying to say Lucy, but that's not the case. I didn't cry a single tear back when Kaminari left me. I'm not really sure if I can explain this properly, but I don't think whether or not you actually shed any tears means that you cared any less about him."

"...Thanks Luke, and you're right, I know that. I already feel just a little bit better." she was lying when she said that last part, and they all knew it, but on one commented on it.

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About another day went by, and things were about to get hectic back in Magnolia, specifically within the guild hall of the wizard guild known as Twilight Ogre.

"I'm done playing games with you and your chicks old man, the fact is that I don't have a single damn thing else to say to you, you got me? There's no way in hell I'm gonna back down until you and your guild pay back the debt that you owe us." that firm declaration had come from none other than Banaboster, the master of Twilight Ogre.

"Oh believe me my good man, I would like nothing more than to pay you." Makarov told him in a surprisingly calm fashion "But I'm sure that you're already well aware of the financial rut that we've found ourselves in."

"And does it look like I give a shit?"

"Your business records have a lot of holes in them too." Mira pointed out dryly "That's the sort of thing that makes you wonder if we're paying more than we actually owe you, so do you want to elaborate on that point?"

"Shut your hole you little slut, are you accusing me of fraud or something?"

"Not at all my good man, you can be assured that we fully intend to repay whatever we owe to you with proper interest." Makarov told him "That is, we intend to someday."

"You're really starting to get on my last nerve you little pissant!"

"Forgive me, that came out wrong. What I meant is that we should start by renegotiating our rate of interest."

"What the fuck was that?! I don't negotiate with deadbeets who rough up my boys and don't pay their debts, you got me?! You think you're tough little man, but I'll make you pay for not showing is the proper respect we deserve! Me and my boys have got a reputation that we have to maintain!"

"I understand that. Truth be told we only came here to discuss money, but we're more than happy to discuss your reputation as well. I have no problem with telling you exactly what I think at the moment."

"You want me to rip you apart you old geezer?!"

"Get paid back for what is owed, if memory serves then that is the creed for Twilght Ogre, am I correct? Much like an eye for an eye when you think about it."

"Indeed it is." Erza's body started glowing red with magic power, and with a flash she requipped into her Purgatoey Armor "And when you actually stop and think about it in those terms, that means your guild and everyone in it owes us for 7 years worth of property damage and abuse."

"Indeed."

"So when you think about it…" Mira's body glowed with dark energy, and in a flash she had activated her Satan Soul "That means _you _owe _us_, so it's only fair that our guild be paid back for each and every claim during that time."

"The suffering that my children were forced to endure at your hands, all of the years that I wasn't able to help them… Those who died while having to live under your oppressive boot…" and to top it all off, Makarov entered his giant form and started looking incredibly intimidating "**All of it brings tears to my eyes, and it makes my blood boil worse than anything that I've ever felt before, do you hear me?! So if it's a war that you want, then it's a war that you're going to get!"**

And that was enough for all hell to break loose.

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Meanwhile, outside the Twilight Ogre guild hall…

Macao and Wakaba could only catch a glimpse at all of the hell breaking loose from outside the guild hall in question, and yet both cringed at the sight "Oh for crying out loud…"

"Well we shouldn't be surprised." Wakaba gave a shrug "Truth be told, I never expected them to go the diplomatic route in the first place."

"I know what you mean, I'm surprised that they held out for as long as they did."

"You know, hearing the lot of them go to war in there honestly makes the past 7 years seem almost as if it was nothing more than a bad dream."

"I'd like to agree with you on that one, but considering what happened… It's only a matter of time before they find out."

"It's less than that actually." this was when Bolt and Luke showed up on the scene, the latter's expression looking uncharacteristically grim "I already agreed to tell him about it when we got back from Acalypha, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the others already found out, so it's now or never as far as I'm concerned." and so the two of them just walked past the scene, towards their intended goal, leaving Macao and Wakaba stunned and in silence.

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It took about another 10 minutes before they arrived at their goal: the Magnolia Cemetary.

Bolt stopped himself and Luke just outside the entrance to the cemetery, where he found a certain petite girl with blue hair standing in front of a few certain graves "Shit, I was afraid that this would happen. Levy, I-" he didn't get to say anything else as Levy bolted away from them, tears visibly streaming down her face as she bolted past them "I was afraid of that."

"Just like I'm sort of afraid of what I'm going to see." with a deep breath, Luke slowly stepped forward and looked down at the graves in front of him, his fists clenching until they bled and his teeth grinding as he read the five names out loud "Jet… Droy… Nab… Vijeeter… Laki… All of them…"

"Yeah, all of them are gone." Bolt's voice was quiet.

"Tell me… how did this happen?"

"It's not exactly pleasant, but nothing about this is… It was about three years after you guys disappeared. Makarov's son Ivan and a bunch of those elemental creatures you told me about showed up at the guild, he said that he was looking for something called the Lumen Histoire. I still have know idea what that is. I was training up in the mountains back then, but when I got the word that Fairy Tail was being attacked I rushed back to the guild as fast as I could. When I arrived I made quick work of those Elementors, but Ivan himself was the real challenge. He had this strange kind of magic working for him that allowed him to eat lightning in the same way you and Laxus do, he called it Lightning Demon Slayer magic. Luckily for me, Shatterstorm is able to use more than just lightning magic. I was able to drive him off, but just barely, and not without cost. Even before I had gotten there, Ivan and his Elementors had blood on their hands. Jet, Droy, Nab, Laki, Vijeeter, all of them got ripped apart by the Elementors before I got there. They didn't make it. A lot of our members left after that, something about not signing up for a death sentence or some bullshit like that."

"...I see. So five of them died and a lot of other members left all while we were sealed away, and we had no idea and couldn't do anything to help them."

"Do you feel guilty about that?"

"To be honest, a little bit yeah."

"Luke listen, I know you're probably wondering if you could've saved them if you hadn't been sealed away, but even so, you shouldn't-"

"You don't have to say it, I know. It doesn't help for us to think about what might have happened, because it will never be able to change what did happen. Maybe I could've saved them if I had been here to stop Ivan and his Elementors, or maybe I would've ended up being killed by them just like the others. Either way, it's not going to do any good for anyone. I might not have been here to saved Jet, Droy and the others, but I'm here now, and I'm going to do everything in my power make the most of it."

"...You've grown a lot haven't you?"

"I spent two years wallowing in sorrow and self pity over seeing a comrade die, and you've spent about four years doing that yourself, so I think it's safe to say we've had more than enough of that for one lifetime. That's the hard part of being a protector though, you learn the hard way that you can't save everyone, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try. But even so, actions speak louder than words, and I say the two of us will do everything in our power to make sure that never happens again. We'll do it, and we'll do it together." the two of them dealt each other a fist bump.

"So you guys found it too huh?"

Luke glanced over to see Cana walking over to them, looking about as downcast as the two of them did, though not anywhere near as bad as Levy was "Oh hey, I take it that you already found these?"

"I stumbled across them earlier today, I confronted Macao and he told me what happened. I heard what you said though, and you're right. It's not good to dwell on these things. We let ourselves feel sad sure, but we can't give into those feelings."

"You're right." Luke let out a sigh "So you had to pay 7 years of back rent at Fairy Hills like the rest of them?"

"More like they kicked me out because I can't pay for those years. I should've known the drinking was gonna get to me in some way."

"I could've called that." Bolt told her dryly "I just thought it was gonna be something entirely different."

"Yeah we all did, but at least you were nice enough to keep my stuff safe, or at least put it into a strange unit with your name on it, so thanks for that."

"Forget it. So what are you going to do now?"

"The only thing I can do, find a new apartment and grind for rent before we get to the end of the month. I guess I know what it feels like to be Lucy now. Anyway I've gotta keep looking for now, there's gotta be at least one apartment building that an alcoholic can afford. Well I'll track a place down eventually."

"Or you could stay with the two of us." Luke blurted out suddenly, which quickly drew the attention of both Bolt and Cana "Think about it, Bolt and I have the space, you take the second room, I stay in the main room and Bolt just crashes with me in his cat form."

"Yeah hold that thought Mr Hospitality, get over here for a second." Bolt dragged Luke a few feet away from Cana and lowered his voice "What the fuck are you thinking? Come on man, I'm all for hospitality as much as the next guy, but it's like you're basically trying to get her into bed with you!"

"Do I look like you in that regard? Come on man, she needs a place to stay and I can't and won't just stand by and do nothing when a friend of mine needs my help. Besides…" his cheeks turned slightly pink "You're not the only one who's gone through some changes since we've been gone all this time."

"...You and I are having a damn long talk about this later. Anyway it's her choice, so we have to let her decide."

"I know. So how about it Cana, you in?"

"Well…" Cana gave a shrug "You guys sure you don't mind? I mean if you're serious about offering this then…"

"We are and we don't mind. We've got two bedrooms and Bolt and I only need one of them, and if we go on enough jobs together we can cover your rent no problem."

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Meanwhile, with Levy…

The sun was now setting over the skies of Magnolia, but contrary to the beautiful scenery, the mood was considerably grim.

After fleeing from the cemetery upon finding a certain set of graves, Levy now sat on a bench in some random street in the city, huddled in a ball with tears streaming down her face, with no sign of them stopping anytime soon '_Jet… Droy… they're both gone…'_

"Shrimp." a gruff yet soft voice snapped her out of her grief, if only for a moment.

Levy glanced over to see Gajeel sit down next to her on the bench "Gajeel…"

"I saw those graves and Thunderclap told me what happened to your buddies. I'm not really good at these sorts of things, but… I'm sorry."

"All I ever wanted was to have them keep looking after me… I wanted them to stay by my side through thick and thin… but I only showed Jet and Droy the worst and most pathetic, weak and ungrateful side of me… When you offered to help me become S-class, I basically spat in their faces and didn't even look back at them as I left…"

"Forget about the self pity for a minute shrimp, just listen. All those two ever had was praise for you, they admired you in every sense of the word. They kept spouting on about how they were basically in love with you. You know I'm right about this. They had faith that you were gonna come out on top, and that you'd be one hell of an S-class wizard when the time came. I don't really know how to explain it, but they're still watching over you, and they're always gonna be too, just like how I know that Metalicana is always watching over me, you know from wherever the hell he is, no matter where or when that's gonna be. No matter where they might be, I doubt either of them would wanna see you this upset or wallowing in self pity, and they sure as hell wouldn't let me live it down if I just let you wallow like that. Shrimp… Levy… just pull yourself together and go back to being the shimp that they kept praising and fawning over so much. Don't sit hear like this, show off that smile they loved so much, because you might not be an S-class wizard, but you're still the founder of Team Shadow Gear, and a member of Fairy Tail."

"Gajeel, I… thank you…" upon hearing all of that, Levy immediately threw her arms around him and began crying into his shoulder.

Gajeel was left rather dumbstruck by this, but upon snapping out of his stupor, and then making sure that nobody else was looking, he returned the embrace, if only for a second.

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Meanwhile, with Lucy…

Having returned to Magnolia and gone her own way, Lucy was sitting under the big tree in South Gate Park, contemplating recent events, only for the sound of stomping to get her attention, and her eyes widened when she saw what was causing it "Is that the landlady… and is she wearing one of my old outfits?" without receiving a single word of explanation she was picked up by the leg "Hey wait a second, what the heck are you- Stop it! Someone help me, I'm way too pretty to die!"

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About a half our later…

So after being kidnapped by her landlady and then thrown to the ground, Lucy picked herself up off of the ground and looked at her new surroundings "This is my apartment… it looks exactly the same as I left it 7 years ago."

"That's because I've been cleaning it every single week." the landlady told her "Other than a few of your outfits, everything else has held up pretty well over the years. I was even able to salvage some of them. I left all of the mail you've got over on the table there."

"Oh…" she glanced over and noticed what looked like 7 presents on the table.

"Without fail, each of these would show up every single year on the exact same day."

"Really?" she looked at the card attacked to it '_To my dearest daughter Lucy, happy birthday, from your father… He actually remembered…'_

"Oh yeah, and that one I put on your bed actually just came this morning, along with that letter too. Read it if you want, it's up to you." and so the landlady took her leave of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Now that she was alone, Lucy opened the letter, and her eyes widened at what she saw when she started reading it '_My dearest Lucy, I wish you a happy birthday. As write this letter to you, I can't stop myself from wondering when you'll get the chance to read it. A long time has passed since I had heard about the news of your disappearance. I am very worried, but I haven't lost faith that you're safe and sound. You're so much like your mother, you're stubborn as a rock and yet you're blessed with luck. I'm sure that you're absolutely fine though, and that I'll get the opportunity to see you again one day. As for me, business is booming and I'm about to close a big deal with the western region. You don't have to worry about me though, it keeps me busy but I'm still living a fulfilling life, both for your sake and mine. I think of you and your mother every single day, those memories are what keep me going. I miss you terribly my dear, and wherever you are I hope you're living life to the fullest, as well as following your own path. And please, no matter what happens, don't ever forget how proud I am of you. _I won't dad… I promise… _And Lucy, I have one last thing I have to say to you. I love you with all of my heart, that is one thing that will never change.' _that was enough to make tears start streaming down her face "Goodbye daddy… I love you too…" and then she finally brown down crying into her bed.

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'_The poor kid…' _upon hearing Lucy breaking down in tears, the landlady quietly walked away from the door and made her way outside, only to find a few familiar faces waiting.

As it turns out, those familiar faces were Bolt, Luke and Cana, the former of whom was particularly freaked out by the sight of her "Holy sweet mother of fuck you let yourself go, did you eat some old lady and steal her looks for good measure?!"

"You can quit gawking like an idiot, I'm Lucy's landlady."

"Don't bother, he's doing that on purpose." Luke told her dryly "We just came to check in, how's she holding up?"

"I think it's for the best if you guys just left her alone and gave her a little bit of space for the time being."

"Yeah I don't blame you. I thought you weren't going to let her in until she paid you for the 7 years of rent, what made you change your mind?"

"I didn't change my mind, the main reason why I let her in was because a letter came this morning along with 7 years worth of rent that covered her debt. Honestly though, what some parents won't hesitate to do for their children."

"Yeah, but that proves just how much their parents love them."

"And it also proves that idiots 1 and 2, AKA Natsu and Happy, are the only ones in the guild that are screwed in terms of money." Bolt noted dryly.

"That is also true."

"Just hold on a second, I've got this." Bolt stepped to the side and looked up at the one of the window "Hey blondie listen, I know you're up there and I know you can hear me. You don't have to say anything, just listen. I can't even begin to imagine how much pain you must be feeling right about now, and that's part of the problem. You've gotta share your feelings with the people around you. We're your friends, and all of the things that make you happy or sad, you shouldn't keep any of them to yourself or it's gonna do a lot more harm than good. Besides, being there for each other during the hard times is one of the things that make us friends right?" he received no response, and so he let out a sigh "Well you should know, we're gonna be having a movie night at mine and Bolt's new apartment. Not really a movie night actually, we're binging this new show on Netflix called Dragon Prince. If you're feeling up to it, then you're more than welcome to join us." he received no response, and so he let out a sigh "The one time I try to be sentimental and all that crap."

"I don't blame her. Come on you guys, let's get moving." with a sigh, Luke started to walk away from the scene, when…

"Hey guys wait up!" this was when Lucy bolted out of the building with a smile on her face, though her eyes were still red from crying so much and her cheeks were stained with her dried tears "Does that offer still stand?"

"Well keep in mind that Bolt made it less than a minute ago, so yeah totally." and so the four of them started walking down the street, though Luke's mind began drifting with each step he took '_The past 7 years have left a painful mark on pretty much every member of Fairy Tail, though some of them have it worse than others. But even so that's no excuse to stop living. You have to keep living your life to the fullest, if not for yourself but for the sake of those around you.' _he shot a glance at Cana, earning a glance back from her, and the two of them exchanged a small smile with each other '_And you don't have to do it alone either, not as long as you've got some good people standing by your side.'_

**A/N:**

**And with this chapter, we see the Tenrou Team return after a 7 year absence, only to find many changes have occurred since they've been gone, both for better and for worse. Whether it involves members moving on with their lives, or some having lost them entirely, the world has changed greatly in 7 years, and many more changes are still to come. Also, this story has officially hit 40 chapters, and it's thanks to all of the support you've shown me up until now, so thank you all for that.**

**So yes, seeing how I had Bolt stay behind at the guild during the Tenrou Island arc, he was around during the 7 year time skip, during which he was able to master Shatterstorm, the weapon that he had acquired as a result of the events taking place in Edolas, and he had also learned transformation magic, similar to what Carla has after the 1 year time skip after Tartaros. With these, he has now become the strongest member of Fairy Tail during the time the Tenrou Team was gone.**

**Okay, so now I'm going to address the elephant in the room: My decision to kill off some of the b-tier characters, specifically Jet, Droy, Nab, Vijeteer and Laki. I know that a lot of people will probably not be happy about this, and this was a decision I struggled with for some time, but in the end I decided to kill them off over the time-skip for three reasons: One, their deaths add a lot more weight to to the time-skip and shows how much has changed in that time, good and bad. Two, they really don't have anything to contribute to the story, so it doesn't really hurt it in any way. Three, their deaths will also allow for some bonus character development from certain members of the Tenrou Team. Also, don't expect them to be the only b-tier characters that die in this story. There will be at least a few more to come, and these will have an effect on the plot.**

**Adding onto my point about character development, one primary example of this is with Levy, now the sole surviving member of Team Shadow Gear, as she is clearly devastated to discover. Through this, I was able to give her some genuine character development, as well as develop her relationship with Gajeel. Another example is the scene with Luke and Bolt at the graves of the fallen. If this were him at the beginning of the story, then Luke probably would've blamed himself for their deaths, but now this one knows that he can't just spend years at a time wrapped in the guilt of what happened. He knows that focusing on what might have or could've happened doesn't help, and instead he should just focus on ensuring that what happened doesn't repeat itself.**

**Just throwing this out there, for those of you who don't remember or didn't read about the Oracion Seis arc, rather than come out unscathed, Lyon lost an arm when he tackled Racer off of that cliff with that lacrima bomb strapped to his chest, so now he has a prosthetic arm to replace his missing one. It adds more weight to that arc.**

**Now then, just to close out this chapter, I did recently watch all three seasons of The Dragon Prince on Netflix, and holy crap it is amazing. For those of you who are unaware, one its co-creators is Aaron Ehasz, the head writer and co-executive producer of Avatar: the Last Airbender, and since I haven't been shy about how great I think that show is, and I say that Dragon Prince is a very fine spiritual successor, and I totally recommend it to those who haven't seen it yet.**


	42. Omake IV

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it.**

**Altajir95: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. The time skip has come and gone, but not all was well about it.

**Donumah36: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. I'm glad to see someone caught onto the mentioning of the Infinity Clock arc, though that was more glossed over because it was just a filler arc, so I thought I should get that out of the way.

**Ragnas Bredvolts: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. I have to admit, I was worried about potential backlash of killing off certain characters, but yeah they were the most logical choice of who it would be. Yes, I decided to give Ivan Lightning Demon Slayer magic because, well to put it simply, they did next to nothing with him in canon. I mean he's Makarov's blood son for crying out loud, they couldn't just not do anything with him. So to put it simply, because he was so underutilized, and because lightning magic apparently runs in the Dreyar bloodline, I decided to give him Lightning Demon Slayer magic. Yeah, I used the deaths of Jet and Droy so that I could give some more development to Gajeel and Levy's relationship, seeing how they're the only one of the major ships that have actually sailed. At least, the only one so far. I mostly glossed over the Infinity Clock arc because that was a gigantic filler arc, along with almost everything in it. As for the Jiggle Butt Gang, no they won't be appearing in this fic. As for the two Dragon Slayers you mentioned, they're going to be the only ones in Sabertooth, at least in this fic, but there's going to be one difference with at least one of them. And yes, Ivan is going to get what's coming to him soon enough, and it's going to be better than in canon, that much I can guarantee.

**Guest: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. I was unsure about killing off the characters at first, but I think it turned out well, and it gave me a chance to show a nice little bonding moment between Gajeel and Levy. And yes, the Dragon Prince is awesome, and I seriously can't wait for season 4.

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Things were quiet in a certain grassy plane, with the exception of two lone figures standing in the field in question.

The first one, a young man by the name of Sting with spiky blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, was the one who started the conversation "So the word going around is that they're finally back after all this time."

"Who would "they" be in this cased?" asked the second one, a young man by the name of Rogue, with messy black hair that covered up the right side of his face, red eyes with slit pupils and a dark cloak covering most of his body "Who are you talking about?"

"Who do you think genius, the Fairy Tail members who went missing during all of that hell back on Tenrou Island 7 years ago."

"...I see. I couldn't care less though."

"Don't even bother trying to play cool with me dude, you know as well as I do that the two of us used to look up to Natsu and the rest of them like fucking crazy."

"You're right, I used to, but that was a long time ago. I stopped looking up to him when I realized that he's the kind of person who solves every problem by hitting it."

"Oh yeah, you started looking up to Luke and Gajeel, the former even moreso. That only makes sense, he's just like us after all."

"He's not just like us, he's similar in some ways, but very different in others." Rogue then pulled himself to his feet and let out a sigh "You go ahead and take care of that job, I have something I want to check on." and then he disappeared via Teleportation magic, not leaving any room for objections.

"...And I thought I was a goddamn fanboy."

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Word of the return of the Tenrou Team of Fairy Tail had spread throughout the kingdom like wildfire.

At the headquarters of the Magic Council, Org had informed Lahar and Doranbolt about the return of the missing members of Fairy Tail, and while Lahar thought that Doranbolt should've been relieved by the news, Doranbolt admitted that he had not thought about any of them in a while. Org then went on to tell both of them about how not much had happened in the past seven years since their disappearance. The Magic Council had been keeping a close eye on a certain guild by the name of Sabertooth, and yet Tartaros had done anything significant since the loss of the Oracion Seis or Grimoire Heart. Doranbolt went on to ask Org if he was saying that Fairy Tail had somehow caused this silent period, to which Org simply laughed and then walked away, claiming how he must have been getting old if he was putting so much importance on the guild in such a way.

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Things were calm in Fairy Tail, which was a pretty rare thing for anyone who knew anything about them.

Luke raised an eyebrow at what he was hearing "Her grave? Sounds like something kind of morbid to hear about first thing in the morning."

"It's not something to hurt yourself thinking about." Cana gave a shrug "Since Mira didn't actually die and we're all back from Tenrou Island, there really isn't any sort of need for us to keep that thing up. Besides, I doubt that any of us would want to have to keep looking at that thing, especially not Lisanna, Elfman or even you for that matter."

"Yeah that's true, so are they going to do it?"

"Hard to say, apparently the church said it's up to Elfman and Lisanna, so they have time to think it through."

"Knowing what Natsu is like, I doubt there's a chance in hell he'd ever agree to tear down the one he made, being the big softie he is."

"Considering we're talking about Natsu right now, I'd have to say that he's more like a tsundere than a softy. Plus there is another problem to consider in terms of getting rid of the gravestone, can they really afford that right now? I mean they do have to pay for the 7 years we were all stuck on Tenrou Island, so that might be out of the question."

"True, but that would mostly be the case if they decided to go with their other plan of keeping it up as a monument to the day she came back to Earth Land."

"Sounds pretty nice actually."

"Yeah but it's still pricy. Well I'll leave you to your business, I'm gonna go take a shower and get dressed." and with a wave, she made her way off towards her own room of their apartment.

'_Cana taking a shower, huh… Fuck, get these thoughts out of my head!' _Luke laid back on the couch in the living room, only to rool over and then jump at the sight of Bolt sitting a mere few inches away from his face "Dammit Bolt, what the hell was that for?!"

"You tell me, you're the one acting like a jackass." Bolt pointed out dryly as he flashed into his humanoid form "Seriously, you've been fidgeting and acting awkward as fuck ever since you and the others got back, and on top of that when you've been training you haven't been able to concentrate, which I can tell plain as day. Now spill it, are you gonna tell me what the problem is or not?"

"Alright alright, I don't know if I would say that there's a problem per say, but there is definitely something distracting me."

"Enough of that crap, spit it out already."

"Fine." so with a deep breath, Luke decided to come clean "I think I'm in love with Cana." he was met with silence, but for only a moment.

"...Oh thank fucking god."

"Come again?"

"You heard me lover boy, I thought you were just being angsty over the guilt of the others getting killed, which got really old after the first time it happened, but you finally realized that you've got the hots for her? It's about fucking time."

"That's your takeaway from this? Whatever, that can wait until later. The short version is that I was about to be killed by the master of Grimoire Heart, I saw my life flash before my eyes, and true to what Aftershock told me I only saw the things that were really important to me."

"Which would include pretty much all of Fairy Tail."

"Exactly, but I saw her more than anything."

"And that led you to the conclusion that you might be in love with her?"

"That's the conclusion I arrived at yeah, and I thought I would be thrilled about that but it's driving me up the fucking wall. I can barely eat, I can't sleep, I can't concentrate on any of my training, she's all that I can think about. I close my eyes and I see her, I hear a song and it reminds me of her, I invited her to live in our apartment for crying out loud!"

"In case you forgot genius, you're the one who invited her to live with us, which also made me give up my own room."

"Why the hell do you need your own room? You're a cat!"

"I'm not a cat you dipshit, I'm an Exceed!"

"Whatever, the point is you only come up to my kneecap and don't need a room. Seriously, I could've just stuck you in the corner of the room with a lamp, a football and an air mattress and that's all you would need."

"Enough with the Drake & Josh references! My point is that I don't need my own room but to me it's like car insurance, you don't need it but you still like to have it just in case."

"Well then- You know what, we're getting way off topic."

"Yeah tell me about it, chances are you're gonna have a metrick fuckton of work ahead of you if you want to be Cana's boyfriend."

"Her boyfriend… Oh dear god…" Luke suddenly became increasingly pale "I never gave that part in itself much thought."

"Then what the fuck was going through your mind when you came to the sudden realization that you're in love with her?"

"I don't know man, I just want to be with her whenever I can, I want to keep her by my side and hold her in my arms, I want to protect her as obvious as that one is, I just want to hold her in my arms and all the good stuff."

"Yeah, that's a relationship between a boyfriend and a girlfriend, and clearly when it does happen it sure as hell isn't going to be you wearing the pants in your relationship."

"Thanks for that." note the obvious sarcasm in his tone "But there is one other problem that I would have to consider."

"Which is what exactly?"

"How in the name of fuck am I going to survive if and when Gildarts tries to rip me apart for taking away his newly discovered baby girl's innocence? We both knew that's going to happen at some point."

"...Oh yeah dude, you're fucked on so many levels."

"I know! So what the hell am I supposed to do?"

"Well there's only one thing I can think of right about now, and that's head over to the guild hall and get something to eat. Work for you?"

"...Yeah I might as well, just because I'm screwed doesn't mean that I have to die on an empty stomach or something."

"Truer words have never been spoken."

"And I'm sure any of the other Dragon Slayers would agree."

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About an hour passed, and the sun was rising over the skies of Magnolia.

By this point, a certain figure with black hair and red eyes stepped off a train, or comically rolled off of the train as the case is with him, and he breathed a sigh of relief '_At last I'm here, now I can breath again without having to strain myself to keep everything inside of me.' _he took a moment to regain his composure, then let out a sigh '_Now then, if it's true that they're back then I should see for myself just how strong they are.'_

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Meanwhile, at Fairy Tail…

By this point, the typical antics of Fairy Tail had gotten underway as they usually did.

Luke was enjoying some breakfast from his place at the bar, and was now in the middle of a certain discussion with Bolt "So they actually hinted that the Tobey Maguire version of Spider Man might make an appearance in the next Doctor Strange movie?"

"That's what I hear anyway." Bolt gave a shrug, now back in his cat form and sitting on top of the bar next to Luke "And apparently that's supposed to be the MCU equivalent of a horror movie."

"Sounds interesting. Tell me something though, am I the only one who doesn't actually believe that Tobey Maguire was a good Spider Man?"

"No, I don't think he does that good of a job either. Playing Peter Parker is one thing, but when he puts on that mask I think it's safe to say that his "quips" and "jokes" and other snarky stuff, if you can call it that, are both really poorly timed and downright cringy."

"Tell me about it." Gajeel let out a snort "I think it's safe to say that he could learn a thing or two about knowing what people want to hear."

"That's totally rich coming from you."

"And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that if you did something about that garbage disposal you call a voice, people might actually be able to tolerate your singing."

"Oh so now we're going about fucking with people's talents, how about you take that axe off your back and show me that you can fight without it you cocky little bastard!"

At this, Luke could only let out a sigh "Please Mavis, Zeref or whoever the hell is listening to me right now, someone send a distraction." he was met with the sound of the door creaking open, and he took a whiff of the air "Wait a second, I know that smell."

"Hey Luke, Gajeel, the two of you have a visitor!" this was when Romeo came into the building with a certain male with black hair and red eyes "The dude with the Sonic the Hedgehog haircut and the one with the glasses and sword, they're the ones you want."

'_Hold on, is that…'_

"Thank you for the help, I appreciate it." the black hair figured stepped forward, his expression unreadable and stoic as he eyed the two of them "So the rumors are true, you and the others are all back now."

"Son of a… is that you Ryos?"

"So you remember me then."

"How the hell could either of us forget?" Luke yanked Gajeel up by the collar and pulled him to his feet, and then he patted Rogue on the shoulder "Looks to me like you've really grown into your own since the days we trained together."

"Back up a second, the two of you know each other?" asked Lucy.

"That we do, I met him during the year and a half I was away training through the kingdom, back before you joined the guild. I met up with him and I took him under my wing so to speak."

"Really? How come you never mentioned him?"

"To be fair a lot has been going on since then, one example of which being sucked into another dimension."

"Oh yeah. Fair enough."

"Perhaps I should try again and introduce myself properly." Rogue breathed a small sight "My name is Rogue Cheney, the main reason I came here was to see for myself it the rumors I hears were true, about the return of Gajeel, my sworn older brother, and Luke, my former mentor, both of whom are my fellow Dragon Slayers."

"...Back up, WHAT?!"

"I see, so he never mentioned me. I shouldn't be surprised by that."

"Yeah I heard that you joined up with some minor guild that I had never heard of before, and that was the last I heard of you."

"The guild is known as Sabertooth, and I can understand that no one had ever heard of them, because I honestly hadn't either."

"So going to back to the whole thing about you and Gajeel being brothers." Bolt made his way up to them and let out a low whistle "Sounds to me like his dragon Metallicana has been one busy fucker."

"I said _sworn _brothers, I was taught my magic by Skiadrum, the Shadow dragon. Wait a second, is that you Bolt?"

"Sup ya Shikamaru reject, it's been awhile."

"I'm pretty sure that's Kageyama from Eisenwald you're thinking of." Luke told him dryly.

"I know what I say, so don't fuck with my style."

"...It would seem that you haven't changed a bit." Rogue noted dryly.

"You on the other hand, you're a different story."

"It has been almost 10 years since we last met, so it shouldn't be surprising."

"So what brings you over here to Fairy Tail anyway?" asked Luke.

"As I said, I wanted to see if the rumors about your return were true. However, if that did pan out then I would have a secondary purpose. I wanted to see what you and Gajeel were capable of in battle."

"So to put it simply, you want to fight the both of us?"

"In a word, yes."

"...Alright then, follow me. We'll do this out in the East Forest, we can't afford to blow this building to hell since we're kind of in a financial rut right now."

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Meanwhile, on the sidelines…

Lisanna glanced over to see Natsu brooding from his place on a stool at the bar "Hey what's the matter Natsu, you look kind of confused."

"I totally get it now." Natsu muttered "That dude is from the future, it makes perfect sense."

"I don't think you really get it at all."

"Even though we've been bringing this up constantly ever since we got back to the guild, it looks like somehow he forgot we spent 7 years stuck on Tenrou Island." Happy pointed out "So when you stop and think about it, it makes perfect sense that this other Rogue guy looks as big as the rest of us do, even if he is Gajeel's illegitimate younger brother." he was met with a dull and confused look from Natsu "Uh, did I break him?"

"No he'll be fine, it's just that his poor little brain can't handle all of this."

"Yeah that's true, his brain is a few sizes smaller than the average person, so it makes sense why he's so stupid."

"That might be a little bit too far in that case Happy."

"I'm just saying."

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Meanwhile, back with the main characters of this chapter…

So back with the main Dragon Slayers, Luke brought Rogue to the East Forest and removed his sword from his back "So you said you wanted to see what I'm capable of even after being sealed away for 7 years, you sure this will suffice?"

"From what I've heard you've defeated a horde of powerful foes one after another." Rogue then ripped off his cloak from his back and dropped into a stance "I have to admit, a small part of me has been looking forward to this moment for some time, now let's go." and he suddenly blitzed out of view in a black flash of energy.

'_He's faster than I thought.' _Luke was able to block Rogue's first attack, which resulted in him and Rogue trading a fierce barrage of punches and kicks, sending a number of shockwaves hurtling throughout the forest, before the two of them broke away from each other "Looks to me like you've gotten a lot faster than you used to be."

"I've had 7 years to hone my Dragon Slayer magic, but even despite that you're able to keep up with me so easily."

"I don't know if I would go that far, but you and I both know that you're still holding back a fair amount of your power."

"The same could be said for you, so I think it's about time the two of us got serious, because I want to see what you can really do. **Shadow Drive!" **his body was instantly engulfed in a black aura.

"If that's what you want then so be it. **Thunder Drive!" **Luke activated his Thunder Drive, his body surging with electricity "So you ready?"

"I've been ready for this for a long time." Rogue blitzed forward towards Luke and fired off a swift kick at his head.

Luke blocked the kick and dealt Rogue a swift palm strike to the chest, the force sending him skidding backwards "**Lightning Dragon ROAR!" **he let out a roar and with it a powerful blast of lightning.

"**Shadow Dragon ROAR!" **Rogue let out a roar of his own, the two roars colliding and sending a series of explosions throughout the forest.

Luke spiked his magic power slightly in order to clear away the flames and smoke, his body crackling with electricity "Alright listen up Ryos or Rogue, or whatever it is now, I don't want to risk poking the sleeping bear in the form of the moody healer of our guild, so I say we do one more attack from each of us."

"Fine by me." Rogue coated his fist in dark energy "Come at me with an attack of equal measure, I expect that much from you at least."

"Oh believe me, I can and I will. **Lightning Dragon… IRON FIST!"**

"**Shadow Dragon… CRUSHING FANG!" **the two attacks collided, resulting in an explosion, and when it cleared both of them had burn marks on their dominant arm "Pretty impressive, you really have come a long way over the years."

"To think that you're out of practce by 7 years, and yet you're able to do this much… I clearly underestimated you."

"So how about it then, are you satisfied?"

"No, not yet at least. This gave me a feel for the fact that we're equals, but I want to see what you're capable of at full power, both you and Gajeel."

"Uh huh. Okay here's the plan, give it a few days and then here's what we're gonna do. A one on one battle, you and me going at each other with everything we've got."

"Why wait a few days, why not now?"

"Because I've got other shit going on in my personal life, and frankly I don't like being interrupted when I'm in the middle of breakfast, lunch or anything in between."

"Oh. Sorry. So would tomorrow work then?"

"Tomorrow at noon, at the foot of Mount Hakobe. That's the big one covered in snow, it's about a day away on foot for either one of us."

"I'll be there, and I'll be ready."

"I don't doubt that."

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Meanwhile, back at the guild hall…

By this point, Natsu and the others were hearing about a certain guild "So who the hell are these Sabertooth guys again?"

"They're a guild that's incredibly strong, way more than you think." Romeo told him "These guys were able to surpass Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale awhile back, so now they're considered to be the strongest wizard guild in the entire kingdom."

"Kind of surprising, I had never heard of them until today."

"I don't blame you for that, around the time you guys left pretty much no one had ever heard of them."

"Then what happened?" asked Gray "Did they just start picking up new members and growing like crazy all of a sudden?"

"Not exactly, it all started once a new master took charge of the guild and after he took over, 5 incredibly strong wizards joined and apparently that was all it took."

"You expect me to believe that 5 wizards was all it took?"

"To which we counter with Luke, Erza, Laxus, Gildarts, the list goes on." Bolt told him, his tone as dry as ever.

"So what about us then?" asked Wendy "If they're the number one guild, then does that mean that Fairy Tail is the second best?"

"What the hell have you been smoking kid? Look around you, if we were anywhere near that then we wouldn't be stuck in a place like this. The fact is that only one really capable member, give you one guess who that is, won't be enough to save you from being dead last. You just had to ask it didn't you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry everyone."

"Forget it kid, it was bound to come up eventually."

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me, we're totally in last place?" Natsu just burst out laughing, which earned a number of WTF looks from everyone else "That's just fucking perfect, this is gonna be fun!"

"You wanna elaborate on that or do we have to send you to an insane asylum?"

"Just stop and think about it you guys, it's gonna be totally awesome clawing our way back up to the top all over again!"

"...Oh for fuck's sake, I can't believe I missed this part of the package deal."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Optimism and unyielding determination are one thing you idiot, but you forget that you guys are out of practice by about 7 years. You've got a metric fuckton of work ahead of you if you want to catch up."

"And we're pursuing initiatives in that regard." this was when Erza and Gray made their way onto the scene "I myself have already taken on a new job request, there are some bandits in the process of stealing gold and my objective to catch them and turn them in."

"I pray to the love of god that it's not the Jiggle Butt Gang again, and no you don't want to know who the fuck they are."

"Well whoever it is, we have to put a stop to them. Do you wish to join me?"

"Sorry but you're on your own for this one, I've got my own initiatives that I need to pursue and I've got blondie and Luke involved in it too, so chances are you two are on your own. Except for the Salamander here."

"Oh yeah I'm in, just one thing though." Natsu told him.

"What's that?"

"FIGHT ME!" Natsu pounced at Bolt, only to be hit with a surge of electricity and sent flying through the roof.

"Yeah you're on your own."

"So I can see." Erza noted dryly "What about Gray?"

"Last I heard he's brooding in the forest and hiding from Juvia somewhere. I'm just gonna go ahead and say it, if she was a dude then there was no way in hell the crap that she pulls would ever pass with anyone."

"I see. Well if that's the case, then we might as well be leaving now. After all, if I hurry then I might be able to make it back before nightfall, so I should get going while I can."

"Wreck some shit out there Titania."

"Believe me, I intend to." and on that note, Erza promptly took her leave of the guild hall.

"And there she goes. But speaking of Juvia, we all know that what I said is true, that kind of shit she pulls would never pass if she was a dude."

"None of us are objecting to that." Max pointed out.

"Then why the fuck do people keep ignoring it?" he was met with silence.

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Meanwhile, with Natsu…

After having Bolt send him flying, Natsu crash landed in the East Forest and found Happy sitting by a pond fishing by himself "Ow… Oh hey little buddy, you're fishing again? I don't know how you can manage that, it's so boring."

"Don't be like that Natsu, it's a matter of clutch or death here." Happy told him "I don't see how anyone can be bored by that. Pull up a rod and come join me."

"I'm making no such promise."

"...Yeah that's probably for the best, you'd probably fall asleep knowing what you're like."

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Meanwhile, in another part of the forest…

At the same time, Laxus was making his way through the woods of the East Forest, only to find himself attracting some unwanted attention "And what the hell do you want?"

As it turns out, a Gorian had been following him with a greedy look in his eyes and a smirk plastered across his face "I was just thinking about how much I want to settle the score with those losers from Fairy Tail, and all of a sudden one of them gives himself a death sentence by walking on my turf."

"So what, you monkeys have a bone to pick or something?"

"You could say that, I have to pick which one I want to snap like a twig! I think I'll start with your face!"

"Hate to break it to you furball, but you're in for the shock of your life." Laxus let out a surge of his lightning magic, which electrocuted the Gorian on the spot, something that attracted attention for miles around.

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Meanwhile, back with a certain Dragon Slayer…

Natsu's head snapped up at the sight of the surge of lightning magic "No doubt about it, I know what that means."

"What are you talking about?" asked Happy.

"That sort of thing is too flashy for Luke's taste, so it must mean that Laxus is here. Part of me was wondering where he had run off too, I guess he picked the wrong neighborhood."

"But the master didn't let him get back into the guild did he? I wonder what he's doing around here."

"The hell if I know, but I'm gonna find out." Natsu promptly took off running.

"Hey Natsu, wait for me!"

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Meanwhile, on another end of the forest…

From where he was training, Luke glanced up at the surge of lightning magic '_That magic power and the electricity, that's Laxus, no doubt about it. From what I can smell, Natsu and Gray are on their way.'_

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Meanwhile, with Natsu…

Soon enough, Natsu was running through the forest in search of Laxus, but then he quickly took notice of Gray running up alongside him "I thought you were hiding like a sucker again, so what the hell gives?"

"None of your business flame brain!" Gray barked at him.

"What, you going somewhere?"

"No, what about you?"

"I asked you first ice dick!"

"Yeah and your mistake was thinking I give a shit you flame hole!"

"You're not following me!"

"Who said I want to follow you, so do the world a favor and piss off!"

"Why don't you?!" the two of them stopped running and started butting heads.

"Hey would you two cut it out already?!" Happy tried to call them off "I thought we were gonna go and see what that random lightning strike was about!"

"What's there to see about it? I already told you that it was Laxus who did it, and now I'm gonna go give him the beating of a lifetime!"

"What the fuck have you been smoking?" Gray let out a scoff "Do you really think you have a chance in hell of taking him down on your own, or did you forget about what happened the last time we took him on? Face it you idiot, if it wasn't for Mystogan then he would've killed the both of us for sure, and he's not here to save your ass this time."

"You can mock me all you want you goddam stripper, but I didn't need your help then and I don't need it now! I'm gonna rip him a new one with my own two hands!"

"Not if I get my hands on him!"

"Listen you son of a-"

"Who's ripping who a new one exactly?" this was when Laxus himself showed up on the scene and interrupted their petty squabble.

"Laxus… so that lightning really was you after all."

"I should've thought that was obvious, Luke isn't known for being that flashy, at least not these days."

"Laxus!" this was when Freed and the rest of the Thunder Legion showed up on the scene "It would seem that you're not alone either, so what's going on exactly?"

"There isn't anything going on right now, especially not with these two."

"So what's the deal then?" asked Natsu "Have you been living out in the woods ever since we got back?"

"I've done a lot of travelling all over the continent since I got kicked out, but I've been here for a little while, since we got back at least."

"Then why not make it official." Gray told him "If you're this close then you might as well just come back to the guild already."

"Why's that, have the two of you been missing me?"

"I personally don't give a crap if you come back or not." Natsu gave a shrug "But since the two of us are here already, I say you and I should throw down and see which one of us comes out on top."

"Oh is that right?"

"It sounds pretty good to me." Gray was met with a loud scoff.

"You two dipshits really want me to take the bait don't you, you want to try and get me all riled up and ready to fight. Well I hate to break it to you, actually no I don't, but I have a lot of better things to do."

"Like what exactly, run away like a coward?" Natsu shot him a smirk.

"You wanna run that by me again?"

"You've never been the type of guy who backed down from a challenge, so what exactly are you scared of?"

'_...Every time I see him the little shit is just begging to get his ass kicked. _Alright fine, if that's the way you want to play it then I guess I might as well humor the two of you." he glanced back towards Freed and the others "No need to start preaching or anything like that, I fully intend to teach these assclowns a lesson all by myself."

"It sounds like a metrick fuckton of fun to me."

"Alright Natsu, I guess you're gonna be the first to get his ass handed to him." the two of them started spiking their respective magic powers, when…

"Hold on a second!" this was when Wendy showed up on the scene "If the two of you really want to go through with this then you have to make sure that it's a special occasion."

"I'm not following you kid, what the hell are you going on about?"

"I'm saying that the match is going to take place tomorrow at noon."

"...Yeah works for me."

"Alright, if you insist then have it your way." Natsu gave a shrug "I can wait one more day to give him the beating of a lifetime."

"Or continue living in a fantasy world as is the case with you. Meet me tomorrow under the big sola tree in South Gate park."

"Fine by me."

"And when he gets his ass handed to him, it's gonna be my turn." Gray told him.

"Sounds like a plan to me, see you two idiots then." and so Laxus promptly walked away, which caused Wendy to sigh in relief.

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Sunset came.

Luke and Bolt made their way to the South Gate Park of Magnolia, where he found Cana by herself standing underneath the tree "Hey where are the others? I thought you said this was a whole thing with the rest of the team."

"Yeah about that, I lied through my fucking teeth." Bolt shot him a smirk "The others aren't coming, and I'm gonna go binge Dragon Prince for the seventh time."

"You going to explain why?"

"It's not that complicated." his voice lowered "It's because they aren't in love with Cana, and neither am I."

"Believe me I know, you keep pining after the two main girls from Inuyasha."

"Kagome and Sango are best girls, plain and simple. I mean granted Cana's got her assets too, physical and mental and all of that good shit, but that's off topic, now go out there and try not to make a fool of yourself."

"What are you out of your mind? I can't do this, there's no way in hell that she's going to take me seriously. All I'm gonna do is end up making a fool of myself for her."

"Come on dude, you're not giving yourself anywhere near enough credit. Just show her the you that gives you such a fucking huge army of fangirls."

"Back up, what now?"

"Oh yeah right, I never actually told you about that army of fangirls that tried to rape you while you were asleep."

"Wait what?"

"Nevermind, I'll tell you about that later. Just show her the version of you that you've been showing her up till now."

"Which version is that?"

"The one who constantly mentions how he doesn't want to live in a Fairy Tail without her, so basically the insecure touchy feely she-male that sounds a metrick fuckton like Natsu whenever he's around Lisanna."

"And that's supposed to make me feel better because?"

"Because it's gotten him to the point where they're basically a married couple in their 90's. Is that good enough for you?"

"...Yeah that works, wish me luck."

"Good luck, you'll need it you poor clueless bastard." and so Bolt disappeared in a flash.

"The sad thing is, I think he's right?"

"Bolt driving you up the wall again?" this was when Cana made her way over to him, which caused him to freeze for a fraction of a second.

'_Okay man, keep your cool. You've been around her hundreds of times over the years and you haven't felt a thing, so now isn't the time to lose your shit. _So how are you holding up, you know with everything that happened?"

"Well aside from our little living arrangement, thanks again for that by the way, things have been pretty low key for me. Well aside from the fact that Papa Gildarts is pretty much driving me up the wall. What about you? You seem kind of fidgety lately."

"You think so?"

"Yeah I do, it's just that you seem kind of tense lately. You're still upset over finding out about what happened to Nab and the others aren't you?"

"...Well part of me is yeah, but I'm not going to dwell on it." Luke breathed a sigh "If there's one thing I've learned over the past two years, or nine years as it is now apparently, it's that it doesn't help to think about what might have happened. Maybe I could've stopped Ivan, maybe I might have ended up being killed alongside the others. I may not have been able to protect them, but I'm here now and I'm going to make the most of it."

"You… You've really come a long way haven't you?"

"I'd like to think so, both physically and mentally. I'm not the only one either, and frankly I'm relieved by it. You know what I'm talking about."

"You mean me confessing to my dad don't you?" Cana let out a sigh and gave a small smile "I have to admit, it does feel good to have that weight lifted off my chest."

"Not to mention that you don't have to follow that self imposed promise that you'd have to leave the guild, to which I say thank god." he suddenly pulled her into a hug "I've said it numerous times before and I'll say it again, I don't want to imagine life in Fairy Tail without you, or a world without you for that matter. I'm gonna make sure it stays that way too, that much I can promise you."

"Yeah, I know." Cana slowly returned the hug, but broke it off after a moment "I appreciate the thought, but don't think that I'm some defenseless damsel in distress or something. I'm not gonna sit around on my butt and let you do all the work." she held up her arm and pulled up her sleeve, revealing the Fairy Gliter mark "The First Master herself entrusted this power to me, so I might as well make use of it. Don't think I'm some pushover either, you know as well as I do that I have my own way of doing things."

"And that's exactly what I'm counting on." Luke breathed a sigh '_Well so far I haven't made a fool of myself, so I think that's a definite plus.'_

"So going back to the whole thing with Gildarts, do you have any idea where he is? I haven't seen him around all day, usually he'd be fawning all over me."

"Yeah I saw him earlier, he said something about him and master visiting the old guild hall together."

"Well that's kind of a relief to be honest, I need some space from him for crying out loud."

"Come on now, be fair about this. How would you have reacted if you found out that you had a long lost daughter you knew nothing about? Plus keep in mind, overbearing dad or not, he's still the most powerful wizard our guild has to offer."

"I'm not so sure about that, if I had to guess then I would say that you surpassed him by a fair amount when you tore into Hades with your Dual Element Dragon Force."

"Yeah but you know the major difference, he can tap into his full power without exploding in a fountain of blood. I've got a lot more work to do. There are a lot more challenges to come, I just hope that whatever happens you're there by my side. Along with the others of course."

"Trust me, I fully intend to be."

"And I'm glad to hear it." and on that note, they decided to change the topic "So I take it you heard about this showdown?"

"I can imagine people have heard about it all the way to Crocus, so add that to the comically long list of stupid choices made by Natsu."

"At the top of which is still, stealing an S-class quest without permission when you're nowhere near qualified."

"So did you know that Laxus was still in town? Apparently he's been living in the woods in the East Forest for the past few weeks."

"I caught his scent a few days after we got back, but knowing him I figured he just wanted to be left alone. He's been training hard over the year he was gone though, if I had to guess then him at full power is probably stronger than me in Dragon Force."

"If that is the case, then shouldn't anyone be concerned about Natsu and Gray getting hurt or something?"

"Oh they're gonna get hurt, Natsu in particular is about to get a major ass kicking. Gray on the other hand, well he's smart enough to know when to back off, but at the same time he can be just as stubborn and prideful as Natsu. So did everyone else hear about it yet?"

"Oh yeah, I stopped by the guild hall earlier and they were planning on some kind of party and they're inviting the entire city to get in on it. Macao even gave his stamp of approval as the fourth guild master."

"I still don't get how the hell he became the guild master."

"To be fair, it was either him or Bolt."

"...They made the right call."

"No kidding, he'd be a dictator."

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At the same time, it turns out that Makarov was showing Gildarts a secret passage in the old guild hall for Fairy Tail, which he revealed would lead to the greatest secret Fairy Tail had to offer, the true essence of the guild as Mavis Vermillion herself had spoken of: the Lumen Histoire.

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Nightfall came, with the stars shining brightly over the skies of Magnolia, and the festival was in full swing.

Rogue merely raised an eyebrow at the sight of the festivities, at least from his place atop a high branch hanging off of the park's tree '_Things are certainly more lively than anything I would ever see back at Sabertooth.'_

"Not a fan of crowds huh?"

Rogue glanced down to see Lucy looking up at him "That's one way of looking at it. I'm not used to lots of festivities like this." he lowered himself to the ground in order to meet her at eye level "What are all of the festivities about in the first place? It doesn't have anything to do with the fact that I'm going to be facing off with Luke tomorrow will it?"

"I'm pretty sure no one even knew about that, so no. Everyone decided to put all of this together when they heard that Natsu and Gray are going to be fighting against Laxus, so they decided that they might as well celebrate the occasion."

"I've never been a fan of crowds personally, or drinking for that matter. Whenever we do get involved in big parties or festivities like this, I usually end up having to play babysitter to my partner Sting."

"Oh, sorry to hear it."

"I'm used to it by now. That's one thing that's most likely never going to change."

"I know what you mean. If there's one thing that I've learned during my time as a member of Fairy Tail, and one thing that hasn't changed in the 7 years we've been gone, it's that the people of Magnolia sure as heck love to party." she let out a sigh as she looked around, her thoughts starting to drift "We missed so much since we've been gone, and we've lost 7 full years that we're never going to be able to get back."

"Perhaps, but it doesn't help to wonder what might have been. You're here now, and that's the most important thing."

"Yeah… You know Luke would probably say the same thing."

"I can imagine so, he always tries to be hopeful and optimistic."

"Yeah…" then a brief pause, and she let out an awkward cough "Well I'm sure I've kept you occupied long enough, so I'll leave you to your business, whatever that might be." and so she took her leave of the scene, her mind racing '_Why the hell did things get so awkward between me and him?' _then she noticed Levy sitting on a bench by herself, still looking downcast '_She's been so reclusive and sad ever since she learned about Jet, Droy and the others._

'_She seems so upbeat and cheerful just like the rest of them, but at the same time she holds what seems to be a lingering sadness. I notice a similar sensation from most of the other members that I've come across. Is this the Fairy Tail guild that Luke always spoke of so highly? If so… then I'm not sure what to think.'_

"I can hardly believe it, it's so cool!" at the same time on the stage attracting the attention of everyone else was none other than Jason, the blonde guy from Sorcerer Weekly "Ladies and gentlemen it's been far too long, but your favorite reporter Jason is back! It's the kind of reunion that's been a full 7 years in the making, and what a cool way to celebrate it, because this is gonna be the most insane awesome fight in the history of fighting!"

'_Well he deserves credit for one thing, he knows how to get the crowd excited.' _Rogue then glanced over to see Natsu sitting on the sidelines with what looked a t-shirt and a foam finger, each with a certain someone's face on it.

"And so without further ado, it's my great honor to announce the woman whose proven herself to be the very definition of beauty, the lovely and super talented Miss Lisanna Strauss!"

Sure enough, Lisanna stood on the stage for everyone to see, and she gave away her typical bright yet gentle smile "Hi everyone, thanks for coming out here tonight."

"FUCK YEAH!" that one came from Natsu and Happy simultaneously, which was echoed by pretty much every single guy in the crowd.

"Please refrain from strong language."

"Alright little sis!" Mira and Elfman started cheering for her "Light up the stage and show these idiots what you can do!"

"Well I hate to break it to you, but my poor throat has actually been feeling rather sore over the past few days. So instead allow me to introduce a certain performer whose got both soul and style going for him, a true one of a kind performer like you've never seen. Give it up for the main man himself, Gajeel!"

Sure enough, Gajeel sat on a stool on the stage "Thanks idiots, I totally appreciate all of you coming out to see me tonight."

"BLOW IT OUT YOUR ASS!" Natsu then started throwing stuff at him "I came out here so I could see Lisanna on stage, not your metal ass you hedgehog reject!" he was promptly hit in the face with with an iron club.

"Glad to see there are no objections from anyone whose opinion means anything to me. Now then, by special request I'd like to start with a little ditty I wrote myself. Okay maybe not request, but she's one of the few people whose opinions I give a shit about, which is the best you're getting out of me at the moment, so deal with it."

"You're telling me someone actually likes your singing?!" Natsu was met with a second iron club to the face.

"I call this Best Friend, so here we go."

"Don't you know any other songs?!"

"**You're sparking and colorful**

**Shoo-Bee-Doo-Ba**

**You caught my eye**

**Like a shiny piece of metal…"**

"Oh dear god…" Lucy let out a sigh and glanced over at Levy "I'm gonna go out on a whim and assume that you're one of the many people that doesn't exactly like this side of him. His singing is pretty terrible after all."

"I don't know, I mean it's kind of growing on me." Levy glanced over at Lucy, revealing that she had tears streaming down her face, but she quickly wiped them away and gave a smile "I think that in his own way, he's actually being kind of sweet. He's kind of a big lug now that I think about it."

"**SHOO-BEE-DOO-BA!" **Gajeel finished his song and let out a howl "Eat your fucking heart out Steven Tyler, and thank you Magnolia!"

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Meanwhile, with a certain Dragon Slayer…

'_Honestly, his voice is…' _Rogue cringed at the sound of Gajeel singing, then glanced over only to see Natsu stuffing his face at one of the various booths "It was my understanding that you had a battle coming tomorrow."

"Yeah, what's your point?" Natsu barely looked up from his food.

"Shouldn't you be making sure that you're properly prepared?"

"Yeah well I don't see the need for it, I was just planning on hitting the bastard hard with everything I've already got."

"So to put it simply, you don't have a strategy for your battle?"

"What's your point?"

"My point is simply this, what you're displaying goes beyond confidence in your abilities. What I see from you is simply arrogance, and that will undoubtedly be your undoing."

"Then all I have to do is hit him hard enough before he can get me."

"And I rest my case."

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Meanwhile, with the main character…

While all of the festivities were going on, Luke was alone in the East Forest going through various stances with his sword '_Dammit, what the hell is wrong with me? I feel so off.'_

"I can tell that you feel lost my boy." this was when Makarov made himself known standing before him.

"Yeah well, tell me something that I don't know."

"You're frustrated with yourself and you want to find a way to fix this problem, and yet you don't know how to go about it, so you only end up stuck in place, and that leads you to become even more frustrated. I can tell all of that simply because I notice the little hesitations that you fail to restrain in your movements and footwork."

"Yeah, I figured as much." Luke breathed a sigh "Before you ask, this isn't because I wasn't able to defeat Hades back on Tenrou Island, not on my own, but it actually does have something to do with that. Right when he was about to finish me with Grimoire Law, I saw my life flash before my eyes. Combine that with some life advice I got from Aftershock, and it led me to a life changing realization… that I'm in love with Cana. I know this should be a good thing, but now she's all I can think about. I can barely sleep or eat, and the worst part of it, aside from the constant fear of Gildarts ripping me a new one, I can't concentrate on my training."

"In the moments where we feel our life may be over, those are the moments we see what we truly believe is important to us."

"Yeah, but when life continues on past that point, what do you do with the newfound realization and categorize it with your priorities?"

"The answer to that is different based on each individual. Tell me my boy, what do you think the answer is to that?"

"Well you know what my highest priority is, protecting everyone in Fairy Tail. Even after we ended up getting Mira back during that whole thing in Edolas, that didn't change. Even though I know for certain how I feel about Cana, I still want to protect her, now more than I ever did before actually." he let out a sigh "I've gotta sleep on this."

"Do what you must my boy, but in the meantime I have some business to attend to myself."

"You had the talk with Gildarts about making him the new master?"

"Indeed I did, now he knows the burden that comes with being the master of this guild, of this family. What he chooses to do is up to him now."

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The next day came, and the crowd was still going wild.

It was only now that Laxus had made his way onto the scene and found all of the festivities going on "So what's the big occasion?"

"When the word got out about how you were gonna go at it with Natsu and Gray, the whole town decided to throw a big party." Bickslow told him "Even after all the crap back in the day, I guess you're still one hell of a big celebrity around here."

"What I see is that they're all still a bunch of idiots."

"You're a true legend of the Fairy Tail guild." Freed told him "So why don't you realize just how desperately we need you to be a part of it again?!"

"Dammit dude, why don't you get ahold of yourself already."

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Meanwhile, with Wendy…

Unlike the majority of the people of Magnolia and Fairy Tail, Wendy was more concerned about the fight than excited "This is horrible, I only reason I tried to get them to wait a day so that they would calm down a bit and call off the fight."

"I hate to break it to you child, but it seems that as well intentioned as your plan was, it may have backfired." Carla told her dryly.

"Yeah I know, so what are we going to do? I never thought it would turn into such a big deal like this."

"Is there something troubling you Wendy?" this was when Makarov came onto the scene before the two of them.

"Actually there is master, and I don't know what to do about it, so I was hoping you would be able to help."

"Of course my dear, is something the matter?"

"I think Natsu and Gray are going to end up in a lot of trouble, the both of them are about to have a fight against Laxus."

"...THEY'RE DOING WHAT?!"

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Meanwhile, with the fight…

"_COOL!"_ sure enough, the fight was about to begin any moment now, and Jason was reporting the entire event "_It's plain as day from here that Laxus is so calm and collected over the whole event it's terrifying! Sweet, Gray of the Ice Maker is totally prepared to throw down! The two heroes stare down their opponent, the tension is so thick you can cut right through it like a hot knife through butter! Natsu has arrived on the scene as well, and now all three warriors are in their places!"_

"Alright you guys, just stand back and enjoy the show." Natsu dropped into a stance with a smirk plastered across his face.

"_Laxus stands up and looks ready for a fight, it looks like Natsu is going to be the first one to get a crack at him."_

"Come on Laxus, if you're man enough."

"If that's what you need to tell yourself." Laxus promptly cracked his neck "Let's get this underway, but it's only fair for me to warn you that I'm not going to hold back."

"I wouldn't blame you."

"I don't think you get it, if you get barbecued to a crisp that's not going to be my fault."

"I can say the exact same thing for you you big blonde bastard." Natsu started summoning a massive amount of flames.

"And again I say, whatever you need to tell yourself." Laxus started flaring his magic power as his body surged with electricity "Come at me whenever you're ready."

"Oh trust me, that's exactly what I plan on!" Natsu summoned an even greater amount of flames all across his body.

'_Looks to me like he's really trying to get serious about this. One thing has to be taken into consideration though, and that's the fact that if he throws the first punch, then he's going to lose for sure.'_

Sure enough, with a primal roar Natsu burst forward and threw the first punch… only to be downed in less than three seconds by a single blow from Laxus.

"I think that might be a new record."

"_And that's a major TKO, and Natsu didn't even manage to land a single blow!"_

"I don't know about that, he hit the ground pretty hard."

"Yes, your magnificence has never faded!" Freed and the others didn't waste any time as they started praising and/or worshipping him, unaware of Gray sweating buckets over the sight of the downed form of Natsu "Even after all this time has passed, he had absolutely no chance of being able to defeat you!"

"Yeah well, training like that will do it to you. So what about you then, are you ready for the second round?" Laxus turned around to face Gray, only to find that he just disappeared "And he's gone apparently."

"_Woah now, from the looks of things I'd say Gray just ghosted on us!"_

"Points for the alliteration, not much else."

"You mean that lousy coward ran away on us?!" Macao and the rest of the guild members present promptly took off running in search of Gray "Come on you guys, let's track him down and drag him back by his underwear if we have to!"

'_Apparently self preservation won out with that one.'_

"STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" with her magic power surging with her comical rage, Juvia then blitzed in front of the crowd and engulfed all of them in a massive water sphere "I won't allow any of you to lay a single hand on my prince! I shall find him and protect him from all of your unjustified wrath!" and then she bolted off the scene.

Lisanna and Happy on the other hand, they were more concerned about Natsu's comically downed form on the ground "Are you gonna be okay Natsu? If you're in any form of pain that goes beyond being funny, just say the safe word." she was met with comical screaming "Okay good, that's nothing he isn't used to."

"And just like that, the relationship that you have with him unnerves me on a at least a few different levels." on that note, Laxus turned to see Makarov, with Wendy and Carla following right behind him, standing before him, the two of them eyeing each other in silence. After a moment passed filled with uncomfortable silence, he turned around and started to walk away from the scene.

Needless to say, Freed and the others weren't happy about this "You mean you're going to just leave again? Please Laxus, you have to come back to Laxus!" they received no reply, and so they turned their attention to Makarov "Please master, you have to be sensible about this! We've been without him for more than a year now, and 8 years in total now, so hasn't his expulsion from the guild lasted long enough already? Please take him back!" this pleading was met with only silence from both Makarov and Laxus, with the latter just quietly walking away.

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Meanwhile, at the base of Mount Hakobe…

Rogue sat at the bottom of the mountain, gazing out at the snowy landscape surrounding him, his mind drifting '_It's rather strange, the way Fairy Tail operates seems to be so different from anything I've seen during my time in Sabertooth.'_

"Sorry to keep you waiting." this was when Luke flashed onto the scene in front of him "I had some personal business to take care of."

"Do what you must, you're here now and that's the most important thing."

"You sure you still want to do this?"

"If nothing else, I wish to see how I can compare to you after all this time. The question is, are you able to fight to your fullest after being out of practive by so many years?"

"Probably not if I'm gonna be completely honest, but if it's all the same to you, I'll be damned if I don't try."

"I expected no less from you." Rogue's body started surging with dark magic energy as he activated his Shadow Drive "You claim that you even if you may not be able to fight to your fullest you would still rather try, so go ahead and power up already."

"Way ahead of you." **Thunder Drive!" **Luke then activated his Thunder Drive "I can tell just from that spar we went through yesterday that you've done a lot of improving since the last time we met, but if you want to see first hand what I can do when I get serious, then that's something you're going to have to earn."

'_He's so calm and focused, and his stance alone doesn't have any openings that one would be able to exploit. Judging by the first glance, I may very well have to use it against him. _So this is what you show me at first glance, what you're truly capable of in a battle when you actually decide to get serious?"

"To put it simply, yes but only at the moment. I learned a lot during my time training away from the guild, and in the time since we last met. I don't know what path you've chose for yourself, but I learned what mine is a long time ago. It's a lot more than just a path, it's my goal, my purpose and my destiny. I know that sounds like something out of Spider Man."

"I think it's quite fitting for you actually. You spent so long training for the purpose of protecting your guild, whereas I have yet to discover my purpose, and over the years I've simply been training and honing my Dragon Slayer magic in the hopes of finding it. Just when I had finally settled into what I believed was my purpose, you and Gajeel come out of the blue, and both of you are so different from what I remember you as. What my purpose is doesn't matter at this moment, all I wish to know is how far I've come in comparison to you!" and so Rogue charged forward and met Luke in an explosive collision, as well as an elbow to the face.

Luke dodged his next attack and began to launch a counterattack with a rapid barrage of punches and kicks, this resulting in the two of them trading even blows across the snow covered landscape until their fists collided in a blinding flash, lightning against shadows and darkness "**Lightning Dragon ROAR!" **the very instant they broke away from their collision he let out a powerful roar and with it a massive stream of lightning.

"**Shadow Dragon SWORD!" **Rogue quickly leapt out of the way of Luke's roar and thrusted forward a sword made of dark energy.

Luke was able to weave his way around the shadow sword, though he ended up taking a gash to the shoulder, drawing a small amount of blood "You're doing pretty well so far, but I think you and I both know that you're still holding back."

"Like you said, if one wishes to see his opponent's full power, then it's going to have to be earned." Rogue blitzed behind Luke and dealt him a sharp kick to the face, sending him crashing into the side of a snowy mountain "And now to show you what I can do. **Shadow Dragon ROAR!" **he let out a powerful roar, and with it a blast of dark energy.

"**Lightning Dragon ROAR!" **Luke was able to rebound in time to unleash his own Roar in order to counter that of Rogue, the force of his roar overpowering it and winning the clash in a brilliant display.

Rogue quickly blitzed out of the path of the spell, then blitzed over towards Luke and dealt him a solid blow to the chest while he was still preoccupied with the roar, and then he promptly began forcing Luke on the defensive with a rapid barrage of attacks.

'_So he's trying to force me on the defensive so I won't be able to attack.' _seeing what the strategy in play was and thinking quick, Luke dealt Rogue a lightning enhanced fist to the chest, followed by a Lightning Dragon Talon, the force of the lightning-enhanced kick sending him tumbling backwards a great distance across the snowly landscape.

Rogue was able to rebound from this attack nearly instantly as the two of them began blitzing along the side of the mountain, their different colored magic powers blending together, black against gold, in a brilliant display.

Luke took the chance to hit Rogue with a rapid barrage of attacks, dealing him a series of blows directly to his spine "I said that you would have to earn my full power in this fight, but who the hell said you were allowed to hold out on me?" the two of them started dealing each other a series of repeated blows to the face and torso, which ended with the both of them grappling with each other in a fierce power struggle "You said that you wanted me to take this seriously, so then why are you still holding out on me?" he gripped Rogue by the arm and threw him high into the air, his body surging with even more magic power as he did so "I know for a fact that you're still holding out on me, I told you that I wanted to see you show me everything you've got!"

"You wish to see my everything? If that's what you wish for then so be it, but keep in mind that you asked for this!" with a mighty roar, Rogue's body was covered in black dragon scales: the mark of him entering Dragon Force "Are you satisfied?"

"I said you for to give me everything you've got, but now that you are I want to see if it was worth it."

"Oh believe me, you will." Rogue blitzed forward towards Luke at full speed, far too fast for the ordinary untrained eye to keep track of, resulting in a blinding clash of their respective magic powers that came to an abrupt end when he buried his fist into Luke's gut with all of the force he was able to muster.

Quickly activating his own Dragon Force, his body being covered in dragon scales, Luke quickly recovered and then countered this by dealing Rogue a brutal fist to the gut, and then one to the face as well "Come on Ryos, you'd better come at me with everything you've got."

"The same could easily be said for you." Rogue let his magic power surge even higher "Now come on then Luke, I think it's about time for the two of us to end this."

"On that we can agree." Luke held out one arm as it started surging with electricity "One final attack, all or nothing, and we end this. Does that sound good?"

"As good as it could as far as I'm concerned." Rogue held out one arm himself as it was bathed in dark energy "**Dragon Slayer Secret Art…"**

"**Dragon Slayer Secret Art…"**

"**Lingering Malice…"**

"**Indra's Wrath…"**

"**SIN OF VENGEANCE!" **Rogue burst forward and unleashed all of the dark energy in his fist in an explosive display.

"**ROARING THUNDER!" **Luke burst forward and met Rogue's Sin of Vengeance with a Roaring Thunder blast, resulting in a blinding collision and powerful explosion that covered the entire mountain and surrounding area. When the blast subsided, Luke was revealed to have lost his Dragon Force and he fell to one knee "So how about it, you have enough yet?"

The smoke cleared to reveal that Rogue had been blown out of his Dragon Force as well, only he had been forced to both knees and coughed up a small amount of blood "Yes… I yield. On some level, I feel I should be disappointed with myself. Even after all this time, even with you out of practice by 7 years, I still ended up losing to you."

"Don't beat yourself up over it, regardless of what you believe I came a lot closer to losing to you than I would've liked. If there are even more people out there now that are as strong as you, then that just proves how much work I've got ahead of me."

"So that's how you see things then? You view a powerful opponent you face not just as an obstacle that you must overcome, but their power as a measure of what is possible?"

"That's one way of looking at it, and no offense man, but I think you're being somewhat too high strung about this. You'd better try to relax or you're gonna end up in a lot of trouble, maybe not now but I can guarantee it will cause problems for you in the long run. Take some time to stop and smell the roses. If you do then you'll be able to see things you couldn't see before, and hear things you were never able to hear. Life can turn out to be a lot of fun, all you have to do is give it a chance."

"...You know something Luke, the way that you look at life has always interested me. I suppose that even now, I have a lot to think about."

"So you heading out then? At least let Wendy use her Sky magic to heal you."

"I'll be fine, I've dealt with much worse." Rogue pulled himself back to his feet and wiped the snow away from his cloak as he put it back on "You should be warned though, our guilds might meet sooner than you think, especially if yours intends to participate in the games this year." and on that note, Rogue promptly disappeared in a flash of dark energy.

'_Games huh, I wonder what he means by that. Either way, I should probably head back to the city before Bolt or any of the others do anything stupid.' _and on that note, Luke disappeared from the scene as well.

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Meanwhile, with Rogue…

By this point, Rogue was making his way through the streets of Magnolia, on a path that led him out of the city '_I suppose I have a lot to think about.'_

"So you're leaving then?"

Rogue glanced back to see Lucy coming up alongside him "I have other business to attend to back in my guild, otherwise my partner Sting is bound to do something stupid."

"I know the feeling." Lucy let out a sigh "Almost in Fairy Tail is pretty crazy most of the time, but it's still a lot of fun."

"The past day has been entertaining if nothing else."

"That's usually where people start. Is something on your mind?"

"I'm simply thinking about Gajeel. It's rather strange, I had never been able to understand the reason why he had decided to join Fairy Tail in the first place. It took me a long time, but seeing him and everyone else now, I think I've finally come to understand it, or at least I'm starting to anyway."

"You want to talk about it?" she was met with a sigh

"I don't know if he actually remembers this or not, and I don't blame him because it was such a long time ago. I was just a kid back then, no older than that Dragon Slayer girl with the blue hair, I think her name was Wendy, but anyway I was just a kid who looked up to him former guild Phantom Lord, but more than anything I looked up to yohimu. As a kid, it was one of my biggest dreams in my life to become a member of that guild when the day came. Unfortunately I never got the chance to make that dream come true. Phantom Lord was forced to disband when they decided to challenge Fairy Tail and lost, and yet I wasn't surprised in the slightest when I had heard that Luke was the one who defeated their master Jose. And of all of the guilds Gajeel had the opportunity to join, him chose the one that had just defeated them. He joined Fairy Tail, and I was left devastated and heartbroken by such an act. The fact that he had chosen to become part of the guild that just ripped through his old one, it was something that I just wasn't able to wrap my head around. I was so confused, and deep down I knew there had to be a reason, but I wasn't able to figure it out for the life of me. That's part of the reason why I came here, to try and find what that reason is, and to see how different things are in this guild compared to Sabertooth. I guess that means I have a lot to think about. The games are in about three to four months, and I expect to see your guild there. Maybe then I'll be able to figure out what it is that made him join you, and why you're believed to be as powerful as you are." and with that, Rogue took his leave of the city, leaving Lucy alone and rather dumbstruck.

'_He seems pretty different compared to some of the other Dragon Slayers I've met, but he doesn't really seem like a bad guy either.'_

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Nightfall came, and the moon and stars were now shining brightly over the skies of Magnolia.

By this point, Luke had returned to his apartment and was talking with Bolt over the events of the day

"So, I take it Natsu got his ass handed to him?"

"In the way that only he can." Bolt told him dryly "Laxus took him down in one hit and left him in a squealing heap on the ground."

"Not that I should be surprised. Don't get me wrong, him and Gray taking Laxus down was pretty impressive, but you've gotta look at that realistically. Laxus was insanely powerful, but he was wasting magic power by using his Thunder Palace and the Fairy Law, so even with the power of Dragon Force on his side, he didn't have enough left in the metaphorical tank to take the two of them down. At the same time though, if he had been at full power, then they probably wouldn't have lasted a minute."

"Notice nobody disagreeing with you about that."

"Smart people then. But let's put that on the blackburn for now, what about Gray?"

"Apparently he took off from the scene when nobody was looking, Macao and the others went out looking for him, and Juvia went ahead of them to prevent them from dragging him back by his set of skimpies. Most likely so she would be able to do it herself."

"Well that sounds about right. I fought Rogue and I won, and then he went back to his own guild awhile ago."

"So should we expect him and his guild to try and attack us at some point?"

"I wouldn't worry about that, but if I had to guess then I'd say that he's got a lot of stuff to think about for the time being."

"He's not the only one either, what are you gonna do about Cana?"

"Well the way I see it, right now there's only one thing I can do. I can't waste all of my time just freaking out over it, so rather than panic over how I'm gonna handle it, I'm just gonna take that energy and channel it into my training."

"Is that really what you want to do?"

"It's really all I can do, at least at the moment."

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Another day came, and the sun was shining brightly over Magnolia.

Gildarts stood in the middle of the pathway to his house, the one leading over the river, his mind drifting over what Makarov had shown him before '_The Lumen Histoire… the essence of Fairy Tail, and on top of that, one of the heaviest burdens that comes with being guild master. I never once thought of myself as being guild master.'_

"I take it you've got something on your mind?"

Gildarts glanced over to see Luke coming up to him "You might say that."

"Let me take a wild guess, master talked to you about making you the new guild master?"

"He did more than just talk, he showed me something that's gonna be etched into my memory for as long as I live. Before you ask, it's a guild master secret."

"I wasn't going to pry, but I probably should apologize for that. Master had the talk with me about making me guild master awhile back, after Phantom Lord actually, and I flat out turned him down. For all we know, if I had said yes then I might be in your position right now. But still, I doubt I'd make a good master to be honest, and I told master that to his face. I said that I would rather than be a good man and wizard than a great master."

"Sounds to me like you made the right call. Speaking of which, when he actually does swear me in as master, I was hoping you could do me a small favor."

"I'm listening."

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Meanwhile, with two other Dragon Slayers…

Sting was sitting on top of a rock in the middle of a battlefield, when he glanced up at the sound of footsteps to see Rogue making his way onto the scene "So how did it go, you find what you were looking for?"

"You might say that." Rogue told him flatly.

"It sure as hell takes you back doesn't it? Think about it, the last time we saw them we only came up to about the kneecaps on Natsu and Gajeel. You were a pretty big fan of Gajeel's back then weren't you? I didn't care for him personally, he scared the crap out of me."

"It doesn't help to bring up the past when it doesn't even have any relevance. Keep in mind that we made the choice to follow a different path from the one they've travelled."

"Yeah I know."

"I found you sons of bitches, now take this!" this was when a lone archer rushed onto the scene and aimed a white colored arrow at the back of Rogue's head while his back was turned.

"That's a big fat NOPE. And so is this." Sting promptly caught the arrow with his bare hand and started eating it.

"You've gotta be kidding me, he's eating the arrow?!" and then the archer felt the horrifying realization kick in "No you've gotta be kidding me, don't tell me it's him!"

"Yep, it's me." Sting finished eating the white arrow and let out a quick roar, which actually ended up missing the archer but blew clear through the wall behind him "Aw dammit I missed, I guess I'm out of practice then. What other explanation would there be for his head to still be attached to his body?"

"I-I knew it, it really is you! You guys are the Twin Dragons of the Sabertooth guild in the very flesh, Sting the White Dragon and Rogue the Shadow Dragon, the Dragon Slayer duo!" and then he ran away screaming.

"What's your deal dude, you're just gonna leave your buddies behind?" Sting glanced back at all of the downed thugs lying on the ground behind him "Not gonna lie dude, that's pretty harsh."

"He's part of a dark guild." Rogue pointed out "You shouldn't have had very high expectations for him in the first place."

"Yeah I know, but still…"

"For crying out loud sting, you don't know when to hold back do you?"

Sting glanced over at the sound of a new voice and gave a smirk "Hey check it out, it's Lector and Frosch. I was wondering where you guys went."

"Oh you know, just doing some recon stuff." Lector and Frosch made their way towards the two Dragon Slayers, Lector being a red Exceed clad in a blue vest, and Frosch being a green Exceed clad in a pink frog suit "We thought we would try and track down the enemy before they were able to ambush us, but it looks like you were able to take care of them already, and that was well before Rogue even got back. Looks to me like they totally got what they deserve for messing with a kickass Dragon Slayer."

"You're damn straight, nobody can beat us." Sting caught Rogue in a little high five.

"Fro thinks so too, Rogue is bestest ever!" Frosch promptly sprouted a set of wings and flew straight into Rogue's chest "Fro missed Rogue, Fro was worried about Rogue being gone for so long!"

Rogue's eyes softened as he pulled Frosch into a gentle hug "I'm sorry Frosch, I didn't mean to make you worry like that. It was just something I had to do."

"Fro understands Rogue, Fro knows that Rogue is the best Dragon Slayer ever."

"Thanks Frosch, I appreciate that."

"You look more alive than that time we watched milady try to burn the creators of Teen Titans Go alive." Sting pointed out "Looks to me like you're feeling pretty good, and frankly I don't blame you. The way I see it, if we had the chance to go up against Natsu and Gajeel then we'd rip them a new one."

"I saw them in action to an extent, and frankly I wasn't impressed. Those two aren't worth any of my time. Luke however, he's a different matter."

"Yeah I know what you mean, a Dragon Slayer who took down a Wizard Saint and the master of Grimoire Heart. That's gonna be one hell of a fight."

"In regards to Luke, I actually agree with you. In regards to Natsu and Gajeel however, I think I'll pass, so thanks but no thanks."

"Fro thinks so too!" and then the four of them left the scene.

**A/V:**

**And with this chapter, after god only knows how many chapters of action and drama, albeit with some pretty good comedy sprinkled in, we get some much needed light relief in the form of anothe Omake chapter. This focuses on introducing one or two new characters that debut somewhat earlier than they did in canon, and giving them more spotlight and delving into their characters than they did in canon. In this case, I'm mainly talking about Sting and Rogue, the Third Generation White and Shadow Dragon Slayers of the Sabertooth guild, though focusing more on the latter in this case. To be completely honest, while I do like both of these characters, I prefer Rogue over Sting by miles without question. However, this chapter does have a secondary purpose, as in it involves Luke struggling over his newly discovered feelings for Cana, as well as a little bit of action with Laxus.**

**So yes, I'm introducing Rogue (along with Sting, Frosch and Lector) earlier than in canon for the sake of building some relationships between the two of them and certain members of Fairy Tail, most notably two of their fellow Dragon Slayers and a certain blond Celestial wizard. Yeah that's right, it's a Rogue x Lucy pairing for this story. I wasn't very sure about this pairing at first, but after reading a numer of fics that paired them together, it grew to be one of my favorites, and since this is not a NaLu story (I think I made that particularly clear with a certain scene back in the first chapter of the Tenrou Island arc), I need to pair Lucy with someone else. Also, I've always loved fics that feature bonding moments between Lucy and Frosch, which eventually lead into the pairing between Lucy and Rogue. The most notable fics in that regard are by the author Tiger Priestess. She's got really good work, so I totally recommend you go and check her out.**

**For those of you who noticed, I used elements of the Key of the Starry Sky arc in this chapter, most notably with the scenes introducing Rogue to the guild, and then the "rematch" between Natsu, Gray and Laxus. I didn't go into the arc in full because, to put it simply, it's filler, and more than 20 episodes of filler for that matter, and that's a big fat "nope" for me. Still though, it's good for some slice of life stuff.**

**So no, Luke and Cana aren't in an official relationship just yet, though they do know of the feelings they have for the other, they just don't know how the other one feels in return. As for Luke, his feelings are unchanged, but rather than continue fretting over it, he's taking those feelings and pouring them into his training. To be honest, this part was particularly hard for me to write out. I don't really know a lot about relationships, or anything really, since I've never actually been in a relationship myself, so if this turned out poorly in your eyes, then I apologize for that.**

**Just a heads up, as I've done twice now, I'm putting this story on hiatus for the time being, and for the same reason as the other times, that being that I want to work on my other stories. After all, my DBGT fic is almost done with, and I want to work on my Naruto and DBZ fics, and you guys are more than welcome to check out any of those if you like.**


	43. Grand Magic Games I

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I updated it, and for getting this story up over 53,000 views! Here's hoping for 55,000.**

**Donumah36: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. Yeah, Rogue is one of my favorite characters in all of Fairy Tail, and Frosch is my favorite Exceed out of the main five.

**Altajir95: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked the chapter.

**Ragnas Bredvolts: **Yeah well, Gajeel is Gajeel, and we love him for that. Yep, I'm going to be doing a Rogue x Lucy pairing, which I think will be very interesting. However, I think it's only fair to warn you. However, it's only fair to warn you that the Eclipse portion of the arc is going to be considerably different from canon. Whether or not you like it, well I guess there's only one way to find out. Rogue didn't show any Secret Arts of his own in canon, so I decided to come up with a few of my own. Lingering Malice was actually suggested to me by a friend of mine. As for that talk Luke is going to have with Gildarts, don't read too much into that. That's all I have to say for now, and you have a nice day as well my friend.

**Davidpa.0204: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you've taken such an interest in it.

**Guest: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. Rogue is one of my favorite characters in Fairy Tail, and I think he's criminally underrated, so I think it's only fair I give him at least a little bit of time to shine. As for him and Lucy, that's a pairing I've grown really fond of, and since this is NOT a Natsu x Lucy story, I figured why not go for it.

**Kpop1392as: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. The fight between Luke and Erza was something I enjoyed doing, mainly for two reasons. First, it pretty clearly established the different in power between the two of them. Second, it established the sort of relationship the two of them share.

**Hijack29: **A bit of a rocky start I admit, but give it time.

**Jaemos: **Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. No need to worry about how fast you review, any review is appreciated, no matter how long it may take.

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Things were quiet in the city of Magnolia, which never lasts longer than a few minutes, considering who we're talking about.

A well dressed woman found her husband staring out the window of their apartment through a pair of binoculars "Honey you're not even dressed, our reservation is in 15 minutes."

"Quiet!" the man hissed without even looking away from his binoculars, glaring down at the sight of Luke making his way down onto the sidewalk "There he is again, like always. Every single night at 7:00 pm, the young man with the glasses and the sword appears."

"My sister and her husband are going to be waiting."

"You don't understand! Every night he goes and does this, every single night! He steps out of his building, he walks exactly 7 paces, he stops and then he smiles."

"Honey I'm worried about you, this obsession of yours just isn't healthy."

"Is he trying to communicate with someone? Is he trying to communicate with _me_?! I just don't understand, why is he doing this?!"

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Now for the reason why he was doing this…

Things were quiet in front of the Fairy Tail tavern.

Bolt and Luke were in the middle of a typical sparring match with each other, Shatterstorm against the blade of Raiden "So aside from not being able to fart in the apartment, how are you holding up with our hole living arrangement with Cana?"

"Oh yeah it's great, living with the girl I'm secretly in love with is just one big fucking ball of sunshine!" with his frustration showing for a brief moment, Luke ducked underneath a quick slash from Bolt's axe and dealt him a sharp kick to the face, sending him crashing to the ground in a heap.

Bolt quickly pulled himself back to his feet, dematerialized Shatterstorm and flashed back into his cat form "So it's bad then."

"What the hell do you think? I can barely focus on anything."

"I thought you were going to take all of the energy you were focusing on struggling over your feelings for her and then pour them into training."

"Oh I did, and it was working for about a week and a half, and then it sort of shut off on me, and now I'm back to square one. I can barely eat or sleep, my training will probably start suffering any day now, and the fact that she walks around in a skimpy bikini top and ridiculously tight pants doesn't help that issue, like at all."

"Take a breather from training and get something to eat, enjoy the quiet while it lasts before someone goes and fucks it up, and I'll give you one guess as to who that's going to be.  
"Natsu?"

"Either him, Gray or Gajeel. I'm fucking calling it."

"Come on Bolt, they aren't that bad. On second thought, forget I ever said anything." he glanced over to see Natsu brooding while he was sweeping outside the tavern "Don't give him anything to get pissed off over and he'll be fine."

"Pretty much everything has pissed him off to a comical degree at some point."

"This is true."

"HEY!" this was when Natsu pretty much exploded at the sight of Happy sleeping on a nearby tree stump.

"And there's your proof."

"Hey Happy, NO SLACKING!"

"Fish?!" Happy bolted upright as his nose bubble popped "Oh wait no, it's just you."

"What the hell do you mean it's just me?!"

"Oh don't be so sensitive about it, I was just having this super amazing dream about this super humongous fish that went on for as far as the eye could see. I think I'm gonna go back to it for now." and he grew another nose bubble.

"NO WAY IN HELL!"

"Hey what's the big deal about it anyway?"

"The big deal is that you're supposed to be my partner!"

"Yeah I know, what's your point?"

"Well don't you see that I'm doing all of this yard work over here and not screwing around?"

"Well it is your turn, and why should I care?"

"You should care because your partner is working his ass off while you're dreaming about stuffing your face like a pig! That's so not cool!"

"Yeah well at least I know which way I'm supposed to hold the broom."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

"It means you're holding the thing upside down!"

"Whatever, I wouldn't make any mistakes like that if you were get off your lazy tail and help me out!"

"Well you're just as guilty!"

Luke and Bolt just shared an annoyed glance, and the former let out a sigh "Well the calm is official over now. Still though, at least when you and I go back and forth we make it funny by exchanging witty banter, like in Danny Phantom."

"We might be partners when we go out on jobs and stuff, but doing stupid stuff like yard work is a completely different thing."

"Wait what?!" Natsu continued rounding on Happy in a rage "What in the name of hell is the matter with you Happy, how can you be so cold to me?!"

"Oh come on don't be like that, we both know I'm not being cold because it's way too nice outside today. It's so warm and sunshiney out here!"

"That's not the point you little furball, I hatched you myself so you owe me!"

"You might have looked after my egg sure, but in case you forgot Lisanna was the one who actually worked to hatch me from my egg."

"Whatever, it still counts!"

"What's going on out here?" this was when Lisanna and a few others came out of the guild's tavern building "We could here you two arguing all the way from the inside, so what's the matter now? I heard something about us hatching him, so I know that it must be a bad one."

"He's being lazy and telling me that you did more to hatch you than I did, which totally isn't true by the way, and he's leaving me to do all of the cleaning and stuff by myself while he's snoozing and dreaming about stuffing his face." he pointed at Happy, or rather he pointed at the stump where Happy was supposed to be "What the fu- fudge?!"

"He's over there flirting with Carla." Lisanna pointed to where Happy was indeed in the process of flirting with Carla, or at least trying to.

"Hey what the hell Happy, you can't just walk away from me when I'm talking to you!"

"Well what do you know, the same old Natsu." this was when Max came out of the tavern with a smirk spreading across his face "7 years later, and he still acts like some brat on one hell of a sugar high. Not that I should be surprised though, you've basically been acting like that for all the time we've known you."

"Oh yeah and what Max, are you trying to say that you've changed? I mean obviously besides getting older and stuff, rocking the goatee and all that."

"Well sure I've gotten older on the outside, but I still feel pretty young on the inside. Keep in mind that I'm only 24."

"So what you're trying to tell us is that you're basically just an immature old fart? Yeah that sounds about right to me."

"What sounds about right is me showing you my new skills, so I say you're on."

"Fine by me you dusty old geezer, I say bring it!" Natsu threw away his broom and dropped into a stance "I say we throw down right here and right now!"

"I thought you'd never ask, make sure you don't hold back on me."

"I never did before, why would I start now?"

"Wait a second, you guys are going to fight right now?" asked Lisanna.

"I don't see why I shouldn't put him in his place, I say it's perfect whether for going up to a guy and ripping him a new one. Now I've got one hell of a fire in my belly, and it's just raging to get out of there!"

"Now let's rock." was all Max said as he dropped into a stance.

"Fine by me! **Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" **Natsu launched himself forward towards Max with a fire enhanced fist.

"Nope." Max cranked his neck to dodge the flames and dealt Natsu a swift kick to the chest, the force sending him skidding backwards and leaving him dumbstruck as a result.

"What the hell, are you kidding me?!"

"Oh come on man, did you seriously think that we just sat around and did nothing for 7 years while you were gone? The rest of us have had a lot of time to improve on our fighting skills, and now you're seeing the results first hand."

"Well it's not over yet you assclown!" Natsu pounced towards Max and started launching a furious barrage of attacks.

"It might not be over yet, but it might as well be! **Sand Rebellion!" **Max gave a wave of his hand and unleashed a wave of sand that sent Natsu flying.

"Now you're just pissing me off!"

"Not like it's that hard!"

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Meanwhile, on the sidelines…

Luke let out a low whistle at the sight of the battle unfolding "Not gonna lie, seeing Natsu get schooled by Max of all people was one thing I never thought I'd see."

"Oh get real you jackass." Bolt let out a loud snort "Did you seriously think that while you guys were gone, everyone else was just sitting on their asses doing nothing but brooding and feeling sorry for themselves? Well I mean some of them were, truth be told that after the whole thing with Ivan and his Elementors, moral took a nosedive about equivalent to what happened to the ratings of Doctor Who. Most of them just lost confidence in themselves after that, and combine that with the fact that two of the more competent wizards in our guild had a kid now, the only one aside from me who actually kept up with training was Max. We actually spar together on a pretty regular basis."

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Meanwhile, back withe the fight…

"**Fire Dragon BRILLIANT FLAME!" **now growing even more frustrated, Natsu launched himself forward and tried to attack Max with a powerful two-handed blast of flames.

"**Sand Rebellion!" **Max unleashed a second Sand Rebellion, the wave of sand easily cancelling out Natsu's attack and sent him flying backwards in a heap "I think it's pretty obvious that I'm a whole lot stronger now than I was before you guys left, if you think that I'm gonna go down without a fight then you're in for one hell of a reality check! _I was useless back when Ivan came with those elemental freaks, I couldn't do anything against any of them and if it wasn't for Bolt showing up at the last second, I would've been dead for sure. I couldn't do anything then, but I won't let myself be so useless again!'_

"**LIGHTNING FLAME DRAGON MODE!" **with his rage boiling over, Natsu subconsciously activated his dual element mode.

"Uh… _Okay, I wasn't expecting that. Can I defend against something like that? I guess there's only one way to find out.'_

"**Lightning Flame Dragon… ROAR!" **Natsu promptly let out a roar, and with it a massive stream of flames.

"**Sand WALL!" **thinking quick, Max rose a wall made of sand around his body a split second before the blast hit, resulting in a massive explosion that covered the area. When the blast subsided, Max was revealed to have been sent skidding backwards a great distance, but he wasn't damaged in the slightest.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me, I thought that would've blown you at least clear through a mountain or something!"

"When the hell did you learn how to do that?"

"Just now."

"Of course you did, that's plot armor if I've ever heard it. And now that I hear it out loud, I realize that I've been spending a lot more time around Bolt than what I would consider to be healthy. Either way it's done wonders though, if I can defend against an attack like that."

"So how about it then, you wanna go for another round?"

"Take my advice and call it quits, I've proven my point and I'm not in this to beat the crap out of people for shits and giggles."

"Oh no way in hell dude, I'm not stopping until I hear you say mercy!" and then he promptly fell over in a heap.

"Well it makes sense that an attack like that one would use up a lot of his power, you might want to practice a little bit more before you try and pull that one out in a real battle."

"Unfortunately it's not that simple." Luke told him flatly "The Dual Element mode isn't something you can go around using so recklessly, and reckless is pretty much Natsu's defining characteristic. No matter how much power you may be able to tap into in that form, it doesn't mean anything if you can't regulate the power output properly, otherwise it ends up doing a lot more harm than good. I've gotta give it to you though Max, you've improved a lot more than I was expecting."

"Thanks, truth be told it was your cat that had a pretty big hand in motivating me."

"There's one thing I don't get though, if the two of you have gotten that much stronger in the past few years then why the hell did you guys let Twilight Ogre screw you over so much until we got back."

"Well unfortunately it's a little bit more complicated than that, the problem was more with cash than anything else involving power. Did you seriously think that we could solve every single problem or debt that came our way using brute force?"

"That's how Makarov and the others settled it before."

"...That kind of slipped my mind."

"That's what I thought."

"About what the rest of us had expected too." this was Gray made himself known on the scene, with Lucy and Wendy right behind him "Listen up you guys, I'm afraid the guild has a serious problem on our hands at the moment."

"I know what you mean, we've still got powerhouses like Gildarts and Laxus who can take on a number of challenges at their current levels."

"Put aside your modesty, you're right up there with them, but the fact is that none of us have kept up with the others in terms of strength, not even Erza for that matter. Keep in mind that a lot of us were asleep for about 7 years, and everyone here was training, getting stronger and learning new stuff."

"Yeah that's true, Natsu was one of our strongest, maybe in the top 10 or so, and now he got shown up by Max of all people. No offense."

"None taken." Max waved it off.

"And still though, Bolt and I have been doing a lot of sparring lately and I find myself struggling to keep up at times. Sure some of our members have gotten a lot stronger but the rest of us are out of practice by about 7 years, so if anything big happened like a dark guild attacking us, we'd be caught off guard and totally unprepared."

"Yeah that's true." Happy frowned in thought "I wonder if anyone knows a way for us to give our magic power a super fast boost to make up for all of the lost time."

"Well if you want someone who could help you with that then I've got one idea for you, but whether or not she would agree is another matter entirely."

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So due to desperate to find a way to make up for lost time, Natsu, Happy, Gray, Lucy, Wendy and Carla all followed up on Luke's suggestion, which turned out to be going to the Fairy Tail guild's healer Porlyusica for help with their situation. Unfortunately for them, despite them pleading for her help, Porlyusica just responded by chasing the lot of them away with a broom. However, there was something about her that appeared to make Wendy uneasy.

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Meanwhile, back at the guild…

At the same time, Makarov had gathered everyone together for the sake of making an important announcement "The time has come my children, I know that I've done all I can in service to the Fairy Tail guild, and as such, allow me to introduce the next master of Fairy Tail."

"So you're really stepping down?" Cana muttered "Part of me always figured that this would happen some day, but now that it has…"

"I understand my dear, but believe me when I tell you that this is for the best. Now then, without further ado I'd like to introduce the newest master of Fairy Tail, Gildarts Clive!" he pointed to where Gildarts was supposed to be standing, but instead he was left jaw dropped, and everyone else pretty confused.

As it turns out, Luke was standing where Gildarts was supposed to be, and he let out a sheepish chuckle "Hey guys, sorry to disappoint."

"What the- Where in the name of hell is Gildarts?!"

"I'll give you one guess, but in case you don't get it he left a note." he pulled out the note in question and started reading it out loud "_To Makarov and all of my family in Fairy Tail: I'm really sorry about this, but being master of the guild just isn't my style._"

"What?!"

"Like you didn't see it coming."

"_But since I have the rare opportunity to be in charge for the time being, there are two things that I want to get done while I can. The first thing is that I hereby reinstate Laxus Dreyar as a member of Fairy Tail._" that caused a number of jaws to drop.

"That punk has some kind of nerve."

"Well it's what he wants so it can't be helped." Luke glanced over at Laxus and gave him a quick thumbs up "Well all I can really say is, welcome back to the guild big guy, and call it a hunch but I have a feeling that the Thunder Legion is gonna be back in this for the long haul."

"Yeah that's true, I guess." Laxus muttered.

"At least pretend you're happy about that, I mean Freed is already crying about it."

"Honestly, where does he get off…" Makarov let out a sigh filled with frustration "Well if that is what the master wants, then I suppose that's all there is to it."

"Hold up a second, there's more. _My second and final act is that I hereby appoint Makarov Dreyar as the Sixth Master of the Fairy Tail guild."_

"Wait what?! But I just retired!"

"And I think he just showed about how much he wants that to happen, which really goes with the rest of us too. Plus when you think about it, you could say that things are finally coming full circle for all of us. Anyway there's more, so listen up. _As for me, well the time has come for me to hit the road again. But you don't have to worry, I'll be sure to come back to the guild when you guys really need me, so take care everyone. Fairy Tail is always going to be my true home, that's one fact that's never going to change, and I firmly believe with all of my heart and soul that we will once again be the number one guild in all of the kingdom by the time I get back. But the task of getting us back on top isn't my responsibility, it's up to all of you. Makarov, that's going to be your final task as the master of Fairy Tail, and then and only then will you finally be allowed to retire. I'm counting on you to bring Fairy Tail back to its former glory. Gildarts Clive, Fifth Master._ And he left a few parting notes for some of us." he then pulled out a few letters and handed them to the people in question, one to Makarov, one to Cana, and one for himself, which he read in silence '_Luke, I know all too well how much you've turmoil you've been in since Tenrou Island, and I know the reason why too. You don't have to worry, if anyone in the guild has my permission to be with my daughter, it's you, because I know you'll do everything in your power to keep her safe and treat her right. _Well that's a load off my mind. _But for the record, if you fail in either of those then I won't hesitate to hunt you down like a dog and gut you like a fish.' _his expression of relief then dulled considerably "Yeah, that's to be expected."

Cana opened her letter, and read it to herself'_To my dearest Cana, I'm sure you probably think I'm being selfish by doing this, and you might be right about it. But even so, if you ever find yourself in a bind and need my help, just use this card to keep in touch, and I'll be sure to come running back as fast as I can. _Oh you've gotta be freaking kidding me." she looked down at the Call Gildarts card she found in the envelope, and she promptly ripped it in half.

"You sure you're okay with doing that?"

"Of course I am, I already told him that I was fine with the way that things were. Besides, we've already got one glutton for punishment hellbent on protecting us, and that's you."

"Nice to know that you have faith in me."

"What the hell does that worthless lumbering fool mean by my final task?!" Makarov pretty much exploded after taking a moment to process everything he heard "After that stupid stunt he pulled on all of us, there's no way in hell I'll let anyone else be master! I'll be the master of this damn guild until the day I die, now somebody pour me a drink and make it snappy! That's an order!"

"Yeah that's about what we expected." Luke promptly handed him a glass and gave him a small smile "And you know something master, I think I speak for everyone when I tell you that we wouldn't have it any other way. I can't imagine anyone else taking over the guild while you're still around."

"There isn't a single person I can trust to take over the guild who actually wants it, and I mean really wants it rather than just says they do."

"Which pretty much takes me out of the running."

"And many others." as he took a sip of his booze, Makarov looked down at the other letter in his hand '_To master Makarov, I still bear one responsibility from my time as guild master. I won't tell anyone about what's down in the basement. I give you my word. _You had better not you worthless moron."

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Back in the forest, Natsu and the others quickly got tired of running from Porlyusica, which led them to start complaining about her behavior towards humans. But this was when they suddenly noticed that Wendy was crying, and when they asked about it she explained that she had a familiar feeling about Porlyusica, like the one that she always felt back during the days when she was with Grandeeney, something that left all of them in shock.

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Meanwhile, back at the guild…

"You've gotta be kidding me." Warren let out a loud scoff at what he heard "Gildarts has to be out of his gourd, this is nuts even for him. He seriously thinks that we can be the number one guild in Fiore again? As far as most of us are concerned, it's gonna take some kind of miracle to make that happen."

"You say that like it's some kind of impossible challenge." Luke noted "Come on man, it's not like it's as strenuous as the whole 6 Saltines in a minute challenge. As far as I'm concerned, us rising to the challenge is an order from the master."

"It's a pretty tall order though." Max pointed out "I want to be as optimistic as the next guy, but things are pretty different from how they used to be. Sabertooth is going to be one really tough customer to beat, not to mention that even the likes of Lamia Scale and Blue Pegasus have gotten a lot more powerful in the time you've been gone."

"Yeah, all of them are super awesome!" Asuka cheered from her place in Bisca's arms.

"Yeah you heard the kid, they're pretty good, and me and Bolt have been struggling to keep up with them. We train until our bones crack sure, but they've got numbers on their sides too. We are a lot better off now that we've got you and the rest of our major players back in action sure, but the fact of the matter is that all of you guys are still out of practice by about 7 years, and no matter what type of magic or power ups you've got going for you, it's gonna take nothing short of a miracle to make up for that gap. Whether you're taking about your individual strength or the overall power of the guild, we've got a ways to go before we can make any substantial progress in that goal."

"Yeah, you do have a point there." Luke let out a sigh "Looks like it's gonna take a decent amount of time and training for us to make up for the time we lost and reclaim the standing we held before, but lucky for all of us, long periods of endless training and endurance are what I've got a fair amount of experience with."

"Yeah we know that genius, in case you forgot I was there with you for that year and a half you were gone." Bolt pointed out dryly "But in all seriousness we've been waiting for 7 years, there isn't a chance in hell we're waiting for some miracle to fix every problem we've got."

"Bolt take it easy." Macao tried to call him off, only to be ignored.

"But if we want a miracle then I've got just the thing in mind that can push us straight back up to the top in a flash, Max you and the others know exactly what I'm talking about."

"No way, not a chance in hell. I thought I made it clear to you and everyone else that we were never going to take part in that wretched thing again!"

"And what might this thing be exactly fourth master?" asked Makarov.

"I'd really appreciate it if you didn't call me that sixth master."

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In the forest, following Wendy's shocking revelation, the mages of Fairy Tail began discussing about Porlyusica and Grandeeney, with Lucy giving good reasons for the two of them not being one in the same. This was interrupted when Porlyusica arrived and explained that she was simply not Grandeeney and that she didn't know the location of any of the dragons. However, she also went on to reveal that she was from the alternate world of Edolas, and that she was actually the counterpart of Grandeeney, much to the surprise of everyone present. Natsu went on to ask if the other dragons had human counterparts somewhere in Edolas, and Porlyusica answered that she did not know, but she did talk to Grandeeney through telepathy, and she handed Wendy a book of spells written as she was instructed by Grandeeny, which led to Wendy thanking her, but she was left in tears as a result.

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By this point, an argument had broken out back at the guild tavern.

Bolt was facing off against Macao, and he showed no signs of backing down "Look we're gonna do it this time old man, that's all there is to it!"

"Not a chance, I absolutely forbid it!" unfortunately, Macao wasn't backing down either "I might not be master anymore but I still gave the order, so respect my authority!"

"That's where you're wrong Macao, I never respected your authority even back when you were the master of the guild!"

"I don't care what you say, there isn't a chance in hell of any of us getting involved in that thing again, you hear me?!"

"What the hell did I just say, your authority means nothing to me!"

"Which goes about the same as any level of authority." Luke noted dryly.

"Hey guys we're back." this was when Lucy and the others made their way in.

"Hey how did it go, you guys have any luck in your little excursion or find anything that could help you?"

"Well Wendy sure did, but the rest of us didn't have any luck. So what's going on with the rest of you?"

"Take a look and see for yourself."

Bolt still wasn't having any of it from Macao "You don't make the rules anymore so get the fuck off your high horse, it's up to Makarov, and even if he says no it's still happening so do the world a favor and get the fuck over it."

"It doesn't matter if I make the rules or not, I'm expressing myself as a fellow member of the guild." Macao told him flatly "I'm not alone in this either, I'm sure almost everyone else here agrees with me. All of those in favor?" he was met with various hands.

"Oh for fuck's sake!"

"Sorry about this Bolt, but he's right." Bisca told him "None of us want to go through any of that crap again, it has to be the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to any of us, you too for that matter."

"I went up against a bad opponent that I wasn't ready for, the same with Max, but we're both a lot stronger now than we used to be and we can handle it."

"Come on you guys, he's right about this." Romeo was quick to back him up "Besides we've got the Tenrou Team back with us now, Natsu and Gray, Luke and Erza."

"You heard the kid, just give them some time to power up and we're more than ready to raise some hell."

"I'd like to agree with you on that Bolt, but you guys are right when you say that the rest of us are out of practice by about 7 years." Luke pointed out "That and I still have absolutely no idea what the hell you're talking about. Seriously, exactly what is it you guys are going back and forth on doing or not doing in the first place?"

"About fucking time someone asked the big question. While you and the others were all stuck back on Tenrou Island for the past few years, they started holding a big tournament in order to determine the number one guild in Fiore."

"Big tournament between guilds us, sounds pretty interesting actually."

"Hell yeah, guilds from all over the country face off against each other in various magic based events, and they came to call it the Grand Magic Games. It's got a lot more variety than your typical anime tournament, it's kind of like a giant magic festival."

"So that's how it goes, and the reason Sabertooth is known as the top guild in Fiore these days is because they won the tournament last time."

"Yeah that's about right, but if we can find a way to beat them and win the games this time around, then we'll be able to claim the number one spot instead."

"Interesting… Alright I'm sold, count me in. Sounds like a lot of fun, but even so I'm not sure we'd be able to win since we're still out of practice by about 7 years."

"I think I've got a fix for that, but even so the guild that wins gets about 30 million Jewel in prize money."

"Well when you put it like that…"

"We're in!" was Makarov's immediate decision.

"But master, are you really sure about this?" asked Macao "It's going to be really hard, keep in mind that there are tons of powerful guilds competing in it, and don't forget that we've come in dead last every year we've entered."

"So I've heard."

"That was bad luck and bad timing." Bolt told him flatly "Most of these guys are out of practice or just lazy and lacking confidence, but Max and I have done pretty well for ourselves whenever we've entered the guild. The only reason we lost last year was because we got stuck with bad opponents. Long story short, Max ended up having to take on Jura so that's pretty much self explanatory, and I ended up losing out to the ace of the Mermaid Heel guild. Bitch is as tough as she is arrogant, and frankly she looks like she belongs in Akame Ga Kill, but I have no intention of losing to her again."

"So this year we'll just have to go up to those other guilds and beat them to a pulp."

"I like the way you think master."

"And I share his view." Luke promptly started stretching "Sabertooth sounds like they're going to be pretty tough, at least if Rogue is anything to go by. This won't be easy, but like a wise man once said, there's nothing worth having that's gained without effort. So tell m esomething, this tournament we're going to be taking part in, when is it going to go down?"

"It starts off at the beginning of July, so we've got about three months to prepare for it."

"Not a lot of time to catch up when we've been out of it for about 7 years, so if we're going to be training then we'll have to do it as hard as we can for as long as we can, and we'll have to start as soon as we can. We're going to be putting the Fairy Tail guild back on top, no matter who might try to get in our way. As long as we put our heads together as a guild and stand and fight as one, there's no way anyone is going to stop us."

"Sounds to me like someone has finally got his mojo back, this morning you were too busy moping about-" he was cut off by Luke slapping a hand over his mouth.

"Don't bring that up just yet, if all goes well then I say we do it after we win the games and we're back at the top, so that way everything comes full circle."

"I can't remember the last time I've seen you so cocky about this."

"I wouldn't say I'm cocky, but I have to admit I am pretty excited. I can't remember the last time I let myself get this pumped up."

"I can, it was back when you found out Avatar the Last Airbender was on Netflix."

"Yeah well that was a night to celebrate, just like it will be when we win."

"Sounds to me like Gildarts might get his wish sooner than he thinks." Cana noted, a smirk plastered across her face "We might be the top dogs in the kingdom again a lot sooner than any of us would've dreamed of."

"If all goes according to plan then yeah. _This is going to be great, we train until our bones crack for the next three months, we fight our way through the games and win, and during all of the inevitable festivities afterwards, I'll take Cana into my arms and tell her I love her. That's the long term goal, for the time being, Fairy Tail itself has to come first.'_

"I know what you're thinking of over there, and as optimistic as you can be it doesn't change the fact that this isn't your typical sort of fighting tournament." Max told him.

"What do you mean?"

"Like Bolt said, it's got a lot more variety going for it than any sort of anime tournament you're familiar with, or your basic fighting tournament."

"Well either way, we've all agreed to take part there's no need for any whining or brooding over what happened in the past, so let's not waste any more time. We've got a lot of work ahead of all of us, but we'll be sure to push past our limits and bring home the gold, the prize money and the title of the number one guild in the kingdom. Fairy Tail is going to be entering the Grand Magic Games, and we're aiming for the top, and we won't settle for anything less!" he was met with various cheers '_Yep, I've got a good feeling about this.'_

He had no idea the absolute hell he and the others were in for, but we'll get into that at a later point in the arc.

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Another day came, and the sun was shining brightly over the skies of Magnolia.

Luke stood in the living room of his apartment packing a bag, his mind drifting to the change in events as he did so '_So just to recap, in about three months we're going to be participating in a major event in the capital city of Crocus to determine which guild in the kingdom is the absolute strongest, and it's called the Grand Magic Games. From what I've heard so far, it's this major tournament that has a lot more variety than the typical one you'd see like a basic martial arts tournament, and it's got a lot of different magic competitions . Unfortunately, we've run into one major problem since we came back. As a result of us being stuck on Tenrou Island for 7 years, not only are we out of years' worth of practice, but the Fairy Tail guild went from being the absolute strongest in Fiore to the weakest guild. We decided that there was no way in hell that was going to fly, so we're going to enter the Grand Magic Games, but that's where the major problem lies with us being out of practice. Everyone else has gotten a lot stronger in the time we were gone, and as I am right now I don't have a chance in hell of competing with the bigger bads as I am right now. As a result of that, Erza decided to lead Natsu and the others to a training camp she's setting up on the beach. Other members have split up into groups to train themselves, like the three Strauss siblings and the Thunder Legion. Unfortunately, I can't waste any time on taking a vacation or anything of that sort. I have three months to get a hell of a lot stronger than I am right now, not just for the sake of the games, but for being able to protect everyone in case anything bad happens.'_

"So we're going on another training expedition?"

Luke glanced over to see Cana making her way into the living room "I don't know if I would call it an expedition, but I do have a lot of work to do and I know I can't do it here. I have only three months to catch up on 7 years worth of training, and there's only one person who can help me with that. Well I'm finished packing, all we have to do is wait for Bolt to get up and then we can be on our way."

"Actually he went out early while you were in the shower, he said something about wanting to recruit a few other groupies or something to come with us."

"Oh really, who?"

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Now for who that is…

As the sun was rising over Magnolia, Gajeel stood in front of a massive crater and various shattered boulders surrounding him, his magic power surging around his body, his teeth grinding furiously "Dual Element mode or Dragon Force or whatever, I don't need any of that bullshit going for me. Anyone who looks down on me is going to regret it! There's no fucking way I'm gonna fall behind Thunderclap or Salamander or any of them!"

"Nice to see you're taking it seriously."

Gajeel glanced over to see Bolt looking down on him from atop a nearby tree branch "So you're the cat that hangs around with Thunderclap right? What the fuck do you want?"

"Well aside from trying to get away from Luke griping over being a lovestruck idiot, I guess you could say I'm here to extend an invitation to you and Lily."

"What sort of invitation?"

"I'm going to be blunt, as much spirit as you have it doesn't change the fact that you guys have all missed out on 7 years worth of practice, and no matter how hard you train it's not going to be enough to prepare you for the games. But there is a way for you guys to make up for at least some of that time you lost, but you're gonna need some help. To that end, I'm calling in a favor from a few old friends of mine, ones that we've got quite the history with."

"And?"

"I've already put out the invitation, now I'm just waiting for a reply." this was followed by a spear made of rock blitzing past them and through several trees, before embedding itself in the side of a massive tree nearby. Once it stopped, Bolt untied the piece of paper tied onto the end of it and started reading it "_Listen up Thunderclap and friends, word is that you guys are back in town after 7 years on absence, and that you're entering the Grand Magic Games. As a way of returning a favor we owe you, meet us at the entrance to the Worth Woodsea today at noon, and we'll explain more there. _Alright then, we might as well get moving."

"Sounds more like a trap to me."

"Maybe but it's too obvious, you can tell from the first few words. They said Thunderclap instead of just calling him Luke, and there's only one guy I can think of who does that, not to mention that there's clear signs of using earth based magic. If it really is him, then things will be just fine."

"You'd better be right about this, if I die then I'm sure as hell blaming you." Gajeel glanced over and saw the earth spear embedded in the sight of an unusual looking tree "Is that supposed to be a tree or a house? Who the fuck would live in something like that?"

"...Oh fuck."

"HEY!" this when Porlyusica stormed out of the tree in question brandishing a broom "Who's the little smart ass that tried to skewer my house?! This is why I hate humans dammit!"

"Yeah… we should probably run like hell."

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Meanwhile, on Akane Beach…

Now that they had arrived and gotten all of the hijinks out of the way, training was in full swing for the canon heroes.

Clad in a bikini and with her hair tied back, Lucy sat on the ground in a meditative position, trying to compose herself '_I don't know if it's because of a coincidence or some kind of messed up twist of fate, but I always seem to run out of magic power at the worst time, so I want to learn how to do a better job of sustaining and regulating it, and in order to learn how to do that, I called upon the assistance of an expert.'_

As it turns out, the expert in question was none other than Capricorn "In order to sustain your magic power, you will first have to strengthen your mind, thereby enhancing the vessel that holds within it your magic power. You must feel the land, feel the wind, feel the air, focus on that familiar sensation. You have to control your breathing and try to become one with the nature surrounding you."

"Right." so Lucy took a deep breath and calmed herself, a small vortex of energy gathering around her body.

"There you go, that's the idea Lady Lucy. You're doing well so far. You must keep going, you need to release more magic power in order to complete your objective."

Lucy tried to do so, but she ended up collapsing flat on her back out of exhaustion, leaving her panting heavily "That's… That's a lot tougher than it looks."

"Nothing worth having is gained without putting forth a great deal of effort. This takes me back to the times I spent with your mother Lady Layla, I assisted with her training as well."

"Wow… Say tell me something Capricorn, have you ever heard of Primordial magic?"

"Indeed I have, it's the magic from which all others were created, the origin as you may decide to put it."

"I remember hearing Hades say something about wanting to get his hands on it, so I guess my mom must have left a few things out when she told me about it, back when I was a kid. She never even mentioned anything about Zeref or the Grand Magic World. As a matter of fact, she never brought up anything scary at all."

"What are you trying to say my lady?"

"It's kind of hard for me to explain, but if the Primordial Magic that my mom told me about when I was little is actually real, then it's not even something that Hades would ever be able to get his hands on, because it's not something anyone could get their hands on, as in it's not even tangible. From what I understand, it seems easy to get, but it's actually something that's very hard to obtain, and it's contradictory to itself because even though it's more powerful than really anything in this world, at the same time it can also be incredibly weak. My mother once told me that all forms of magic began with the power of love, so that's why I believe that Primordial Magic is actually just referring to love. If only Hades had been able to see it that way too, then maybe he could've saved himself from being sucked into the depths of darkness." she was met with a small smile from Capricorn.

"You know I like the way you think Lady Lucy, I believe you have the right idea. That is the exact answer that I wanted to hear, and that shows me that you're ready for it."

"Ready for what exactly?"

"For a power that few before you have been ready and worthy to utilize, the last of which before you was your mother, Lady Layla. If you succeeded in this training, then you will be able to tap into the power of your Celestial Spirits without even having to summon us."

"Will I really be able to do that?"

"I have the utmost faith in you my lady."

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Meanwhile, with Luke and his training group…

Noon was only a few moments away.

Luke stood at the entrance to the Worth Woodsea, with Bolt right by his side, and Cana, Gajeel and Lily following right behind him "So this is it, this is the place where these guys wanted us to meet them."

"Give them a few minutes, it's not exactly noon yet." Bolt told him flatly.

"Fair enough. So tell me something, how exactly are you connected to these people?"

"I wasn't going to tell you about this until the time is right, but that time came a hell of a lot sooner than I thought it would."

"You going to elaborate?"

"I might as well. I told you about how Ivan attacked the guild awhile back searching for something called the Lumen Histoire, and how I fought him with everything I had, but there was one thing that put me at a serious disadvantage. It turns out that when your opponent uses a type of magic that allows him to eat lightning, and most of the abilities you have actually require you to use lightning, you find yourself at a metric fuckton of a disadvantage."

"But you said that you were able to barely fend him off despite that."

"Yeah I did, but just having one form that uses wind and one that uses water still pretty much put me on the defensive. What I didn't tell you at the time was that I had help from a certain other wizard that had come out of hiding."

"And who would that be exactly?"

"It's gonna have to wait, we've got incoming." Bolt gestured ahead to where four cloaked figures were approaching them.

"Wait a second, I know that scent… Oh you've gotta be kidding me."

"See I told you guys they would show up, and like always he never disappoints, even after almost a decade." the first figure removed his hood, with the others all following.

"Even after 7 years you still have the same vibe to you, don't you Aftershock? Though I didn't expect the rest of you."

Sure enough, the cloaked figure in the front was revealed to be Noah himself, now sporting a goatee and shaggy brown hair, with a brown furred Exceed clinging onto his shoulder, as well as having three figures standing behind him in the form of Jellal, Ultear and Meldy "Looks like I'm not the only one who hasn't changed Thunderclap, though you have a good excuse for that since you've been taking a dirt nap for about 7 years."

"You might not have changed, but the same can't be said for your companion." he shot a glance over at Jellal.

"I shouldn't be surprised by that." Jellal let out a sigh "I take it that you heard about my prison break some time ago?"

"Erza heard about it and she told me."

"It's only right for me to tell you that I never intended to escape."

"He's not wrong." Ultear let out a chuckle "To be fair, Meldy, Noah and myself didn't really give him that a much of a choice in the matter."

"Hey come on Ultear that was all you, so don't bother lumping the two of us into your twisted criminal behavior." Meldy protested, but then she glanced over in Luke's direction and shot him a bright smile "So you must be this Thunderclap that Noah was going on about before, it's so nice to finally meet you."

"Yeah, you too." Luke gave her a nod, then turned over in Noah's direction "So this is the mystery woman you mentioned?"

"Pretty much yeah." Noah gave a shrug and gently took Meldy's hand in his "Truth be told, she was the only thing that made it bearable being part of Grimoire Heart."

"Speaking of which, part of me is a little bit concerned. I know you're not the enemy anymore, but Jellal and the others to have me a little bit concerned."

"Consideirng everything that's happened I can't and don't blame you, but I'm keeping all of them in line, so you don't have to worry."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, he's right about that." Ultear gave a simple nod "I can't and don't deny that I had once committed many sins as a member of Grimoire Heart, so many that I doubt I would ever be able to atone for all of them, so over the past 7 years I've decided to dedicate myself to trying to bring some measure of peace to at least a few of the people I've hurt, until the day comes when I finally die."

"You risked so much breaking Jellal out of prison."

"Part of the reason for that is because Jellal is one of those people I've hurt."

"I see."

"Please Ultear, you don't owe me anything." Jellal assured her "The fact is that both of us had both been consumed by darkness, but the past is in the past now."

"What about you then, would I be right to assume your memories have returned?"

"Indeed it has, every last bit of it, which includes all of the sins I've committed. For six long years I've been living with the guild of all of the things I've done, to you and Fairy Tail, and to everyone I've hurt. I know that words would ever be enough to erase all of that pain, for Erza or anyone else."

"I'm responsible for it myself." Ultear admitted "I was the one that was controlling Jellal during the incident at the Tower of Heaven all those years ago, the blame is mine so there's no need for you to punish him. Besides, I think he's already been through enough as it is."

"I could either spend the rest of my life rotting in a cell, or I could just lose my life and be done with it in an instant. Whatever would happen, at least then my penance would've finally been paid."

"But what would that solve?" asked Lily "Now that you've been freed from your imprisonment, you have a chance to find a productive and positive purpose in your life."

"Panther Lily, I can imagine how you must feel seeing me like this. Noah had informed me about the events that transpired in the world of Edolas, but the Jellal that you knew… He and I are not the same person."

"I'm well aware of that, you don't need to explain it to me."

"As for what else you said, I have found a purpose in my life, but I'm not sure that I would call it completely positive."

"To put it simply, the four of us-" Noah was cut off by the Exceed on his shoulder loudly clearing his throat "The five of us, aka the four of us and the whiny little bastard on my shoulder that wants attention- This is Rick by the way."

"Sup?" Rick gave a wave at Luke and the others, his voice comically deep. Think Kevin Michael Richardson's voice in the body of a cat.

"Anyway the lot of us formed our own guild a few years back, it's an independent guild that's not officially recognized or aligned with anyone. We're calling it Crime Sorciere, or Witch's Crime, named after the OG witch over there." Noah jerked a thumb back at Ultear.

"I see." Luke frowned in thought "So by independent guild, you mean you're not affiliated with any sort of alliance? What about you though, I mean the others I get but you've made it clear a number of times you don't have any blood on your hands."

"I personally don't, but I'm sticking with Meldy for as long as I can, and then there's that whole thing with Makarov's son."

"What do you mean? You were the one who helped Bolt fend him off before right? I figured that would've gotten you a few points."

"Well apparently that bastard still got the last laugh. After we ripped him a new one he went straight to the Magic Council and claimed that I was the one that did it, so I'm the one taking the blame while he gets off scott free, all on account of me formerly being a part of Grimoire Heart, so basically he's the Myne to my Naofumi."

"Huh. Nice reference."

"I do what I can. Anyway we've taken down at least a few dozen dark guilds over the span of the past few years, but there's one main goal we have we've been struggling with."

"Which would be what exactly?"

"What else, Zeref. In a way as sappy as Jellal would put it, any sort of dark guild or any sort of evil force in the world who would threaten the lives of innocents, we're gonna find them and rip them a new one, so that way the influence Zeref has won't fuck up the world any more than it already has."

"Sounds like it's pretty righteous to me." Cana noted "With all of the good you've done, it's kind of surprising that the Magic Counci won't accept you guys."

"It really shouldn't be, keep in mind that Jellal fucked up the council once before, and the rest of us were part of Grimoire Heart up until the whole thing on Tenrou Island. Besides being official would restrict our movements too much, we wouldn't be able to go up against dark guilds and take them out because of that treaty that bans any unnecessary conflict between guilds. The way we see it, we can be of a lot more use to everyone as we are right now. But anyway I think that's enough exposition on what we've been up to lately, we brought you here mainly because we need you for something."

"Which is what exactly?" asked Luke.

"Word going around is that your guild is going to be entering the Grand Magic Games in a few months, that true?"

"Yeah that's right, why do you ask?"

"The main problem is that we can't get near the colosseum without making everyone around us lose their shit, and since I know you'd be willing we've got something that we need you to do for us."

"Is it bad that you can read me a lot easier than most others can?"

"We're Dragon Slayers, it's pretty much what we do, but back to business. Every year we've been sensing some kind of unusual magic power during the Games, what we need you guys to do is find out what's behind it."

"You guys really sure about this?" asked Cana "Keep in mind that guilds from all over the kingdom are participating in the games, so of course it's going to be full of magic. You sure you're not just acting sort of paranoid?"

"I'm not an idiot, I wouldn't be bringing this up if I wasn't absolutely certain, and what makes it more concerning is that not only is this power we've been sensing evil in nature, but it's pretty reminiscent of Zeref himself."

"Are you sure it's him though?"

"I've seen what he can do with that power first hand, plus Jellal has this theory that the prior involvements we've had with him let us perceive any sort of trace of his power. Now do you see why it's so important we find out what the fuck is going on? If you can track down the source of this mysterious power then it might help us to track him down, and we'll make sure you guys are all compensated, so don't worry about that. Discretion is pretty important since we don't want the one responsible to know we're onto them, so we're gonna be watching you guys wreck some shit from behind the scenes."

"Sounds a little bit like we're gonna be sent on a wild goose chase, but I know that's not really your style, so we'll do what we can." Luke told him "It's not like we have a ton of choice about this either, guilds from all over the kingdom are going to be gathering around this power you guys are talking about, and it could turn out to be a lot of trouble for us too. You guys can count on us."

"I know I can, and if it makes you guys feel like whining less, we're gonna be paying all of you upfront."

"You guys have cash on hand?"

"I've made a few good investments, but that's not how we'll be paying you."

"So what then?"

"Nothing as material as money, I can tell you that much." this was when Ultear stepped up to the rest of them and materialized one of her crystal balls "I've had years to improve upon my Arc of Time magic, and I can use it in order to enhance your abilities. A power up of sorts, at least that's the most simple way to put it, though that's not an entirely accurate way to put it. You see, all wizards are in possession of something like an eternal container that determines how much magic power they're able to have, and while it's depleted with every spell you cast, your body naturally draws in ethernano from the surrounding atmosphere all on its own, and it continues to do so until the container within the user is full once again. However, recent research as of about a year ago has revealed that there is a part of the container in question and the magic that it holds within it that goes unused, a reservoir of dormant power. These hidden trobes of power have come to be known by many people, including myself, as the Second Origin."

"And you're going to release it for all of us?"

"Not only will my Arc of Time magic force your containers to grow, but I can also grant all of you access to your Second Origin. To put it quite simply, the five of you will not only be able to use more powerful magic at your disposal, you'll be able to continuously use it for even longer periods of time. Not only that, but it will also greatly accelerate the rate of any training you do for extended periods of time."

"Which is exactly what I need. The increased reserves of magic power will help me to solve the problem I have with regulating my Dragon Force and Dual Element mode, but the accelerated training will help to make up for all of the time we lost while we were on Tenrou Island. I mean granted it won't make for 7 years worth, but it's as great of a place as any to start."

"I should warn you though, the process of unlocking your Second Origin is going to involve unimaginable levels of pain and suffering."

"That's never stopped me before, why would it now?"

"I have a feeling you'll feel different when the process has actually started."

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Hours passed, and the process had long since started, at least for one of them.

Bolt, Lily and Cana watched as Gajeel was lying on the ground writing in agony "Okay then, so that's going on right about now… Any objections to me running off and getting some snacks while we wait?"

"Might as well, if we're gonna be spending a full day writing around in agony then we might as well not go hungry while it's happening." Cana told him dryly

Ultear just looked down at the pained form of Gajeel "You have to stay strong Gajeel, I know that this is tough now, but you still have a long way to go before it's over."

"Are you sure he's going to get through this without any permanent damage?" asked Lily "And for that matter, just what sort of pain is he in right now?"

"Well if you want, then I could sensory link you with him and find out." Meldy offered, earning a few odd looks.

"Why would I want to do that?"

"You asked what kind of pain he was feeling, I thought you would want to get a better feel for his pain."

"We're not that close. No one in this world should be that close."

"Oh come on big guy, don't be like that."

"Don't expect him to be the only one with that kind of reaction." Cana noted dryly "Well on one hand you've got a playful sense of humor, but on the other hand you're starting to come off as a complete and total sadist. Yeah that settles it, you're perfect for Noah."

"Well we've basically been together for years, we only decided to make it official about a year after we defected from Grimoire Heart. Besides, Noah might be snarky but he's really loyal and kind, and he always stands up for what he believes in and what he knows is right." she gave a small smile at the thought "It took me awhile to realize it, but before I knew it I had fallen in love with him." this earned a small smile from Cana in return.

"I kind of know the feeling."

"You're in love with Luke aren't you? I was kind of hoping that some kind of love would've blossomed from your guild by now. I kind of used my Sensory Link." she gestured to the pink mark down on Cana's arm "Guilty, sorry about that."

"Forget it, but you're right. I do love him."

"So why don't you tell him?"

"I will, but only after we win the Grand Magic Games. For the time being, the guild has to come first. Speaking of Luke, where is he anyway?"

"I think we went off with Jellal somewhere, and Noah went with him."

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Meanwhile, with the guys in question…

Luke stood at the edge of the forest gazing out at the sun shining above them, and he glanced up at Noah sitting on a tree branch above them, then down at where Jellal was crouching on the ground next to him "So you remember everything that happened with the Tower of Heaven?"

"I remember all of it." Jellal barely glanced up at him.

"Does that include what happened to your friend Simon?"

"Yes… he died by my hand, and then you avenged him. I actually still have the scar from where you stabbed me with your sword."

"What about the incident with Nirvana and the Oracion Seis?"

"I remember everything. I remember it as being trapped in a sort of fog of amnesia, it's a rather strange feeling and not easy to explain."

"So then would it be accurate to say that I'm speaking with the Jellal that Erza knew from their time in the Tower of Heaven… the one that she fell in love with?"

"I would rather appreciate if you saw me in that light, but given the various crimes I've previously committed over the years, I wouldn't blame you if you kept your distance. If you decide to finish the task of avenging Simon you took on back in the Tower of Heaven, then I wouldn't blame you or try to stop you. My life was forfeit a long time ago."

"Simon may have died by your hand, but Ultear was the one who spurred on your actions back then, and she was being manipulated by Hades, and I soundly defeated him. I mean granted, I wouldn't have survived that battle without Cana and the others, but still. Besides, do you honestly believe that Simon would want you to die, or Erza for that matter? What about the new guild you and all of the others formed, what about all of the good that you've done over the past few years? Why is it that dedicating your life to fighting the darkness be the way that you want to atone?"

"It's quite simple, I just don't think it will be enough. Don't get me wrong, when Noah and myself first decided to form Crime Sorciere, I had hoped that it would be able to bring me some measure of peace. However, the things that I did at the Tower of Heaven aren't something that can be made right that easily. I can't help but wonder, is there really a point to what I'm doing right now? Will these horrible thoughts ever go away? I feel so lost and confused, and I can't help but feel that it would be for the best if I did die." he was silenced by a fist being buried in his gut, courtesy of Luke.

"Would you really be satisfied with that? Suicide is the coward's way out."

"Perhaps it is, but I just don't see myself having the strength to overcome this, not like the sort of strength you or the others possess."

"Do you really think that you need to be strong in order to live? That couldn't be further from the truth. If there's one thing I've learned from my time in Fairy Tail, it's that life itself is what gives us strength. I don't see the Jellal before me, the one that Erza fell in love with, because from what she's told me, that man was full of life and he would never give up without a fight."

"Maybe that man is dead then."

"Dammit man, get ahold of yourself already."

"It's too late for me Luke."

"It's never too late Jellal." he dealt him another fist to the gut that brought him to his knees "It's never too late."

"You… You always know what to say don't you?"

"That's not true and you know it, I'm just the sort of guy who likes to go through life one day at a time, and whose devoted himself to protecting his guild, his friends, his family. But what I know for a fact is that if you have people that you care about, and I know you do so don't even bother lying to me about it, then you should live for their sake, with all of the strength that you have. Besides, you know how Erza feels about you and I know for a fact that you feel the same way about her."

"I… I can't deny that she's someone that I'll always care about, but there's another reason why I can't be with her. I have a fiancee."

"...What?"

"I just said, I have a fiancee."

"Yeah, and her name is Titania." this was when Noah finally dropped down to the ground and joined their conversation, earning a fist bump from Luke.

"Stop it Noah."

"Fuck no, this needs to be said, and if I don't say it them you can be sure as hell Thunderclap is going to. You live Titania-"

"Noah."

"Fine, you live your imaginary fiancee in the form of that Erza blowup doll that you keep stashed away in that Requip dimension, so live for it's- her sake. That's your purpose."

"...You swore you wouldn't tell anyone about that. But you're right, I can live for her sake if nothing else."

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The sun was now setting over the skies above the Worth Woodsea, though the calming sight of the setting sun was offset by the screams of agony filling the forest.

Bolt glanced down at the sight of Luke, Cana, Gajeel and Lily writing around in agony, then glanced over at Ultear and the rest of them "Looks to me like your magic is taking its toll on the rest of them."

"How are you not being affected by it?" asked Meldy.

"Didn't I tell you? I met up with Noah and Ultear about a month before Luke and the others came back and I had it unlocked then, I've been training with it ever since."

"So where do you and the others go from here?" asked Noah.

"Like you guys said, now that they'll have their Second Origins awakened it's going to accelerate their training big time, but they've still got a lot of work to do if they want to make up for the past 7 years in the next 3 months, and Luke knows as well as I do that there's only one person who can help him do that."

"We all wish you the best then." Jellal told him "I wish we could help you further, but I'm afraid we have to keep moving, so this is goodbye for the time being. If you find anything important then you know how to contact us, but in the meantime you do your best in the games."

"Believe me, they will, so you guys take care of yourself."

"You heard the cat, take care of yourself." Noah removed his cloak and stepped over to stand side by side with Bolt "I'm gonna stick with them for as long as they're training."

"You just want to fight Luke again don't you?" Meldy guessed dryly.

"I think you know the answer to that." he was promptly pulled into a heated kiss by Meldy.

"I'll be waiting for you, so you'd better come back to me stronger than ever."

"Believe me, I intend to."

"We'll be seeing you very soon Noah, and until we meet again Bolt." so on that note, Jellal and the other members of Crime Sorciere, with the exception of Noah.

"See ya soon handsome!" Meldy blew a kiss in Noah's direction and took her leave with the others.

Once they were gone, Bolt glanced over in Noah's direction "You know she's so sweet to you it's kind of sickening."

"What can I say, she's mellowed out." Noah gave a shrug "Truth be told she was always like this when we're alone, but now she's more open with it. So this power I mentioned earlier is kind of concerning, if it really is related to Zeref, then it could end up proving deadly to pretty much everyone, including you guys. I once saw what Zeref could do first hand, and I came a lot closer to being on the receiving then than I was comfortable with."

"You've seen what we can do first hand, we're gonna find some way to pull through this shit, and this time we won't need a metric fuckton of plot armor."

"...Are you breaking the fourth wall again?"

"Yep."

"Nice." the two of them fist bumped.

"So does Jellal really have a blowup doll of Erza?"

"No but that's the beauty of ridiculous levels of emphasis, it might be totally nonsensical, but it does a fine job of getting the point across."

"Fair enough. Speaking of lover boy, what's up with that line about his fiancee?"

"It's not that complicated, the bastard is a glutton for punishment and he's just punishing himself because he thinks he doesn't deserve Titania."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure punishment is the entire shtick of your guild."

"Yeah I know, he pretty much made the call for all of us that we can't fall for those who walk the path of light."

"And yet he uses light-based magic."

"Irony, thy name is Jellal. Anyway, as long as Titania is alive and happy then he claims that's enough for him."

"But it's not enough for him and anyone with half a brain cell knows it, and she won't be truly happy without him. But if it makes you feel any better, he's not the only powerful yet awkward as fuck lovestruck idiot you know."

"Well I know that you're not one of them, so then-" Noah paused, and then he broke out a massive shit eating grin "You've gotta be fucking kidding me."

"He realized it after he nearly got blown to hell by Hades, apparently his life flashed before his eyes."

"Just like me. He's fucked in every sense of the word."

"Wouldn't be surprised. So anyway, after the Second Origin thing is done with, my best guess is that Luke is gonna go to the one guy who can give him 7 years worth of training in the next three months."

"You gonna mention who that is?"

"You'll see soon enough."

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Word of Fairy Tail's decision to participate in the Grand Magic Games was now travelling all over the kingdom, even reaching guilds such as Lamia Scale, in which their master, Ooba Babasama, had ordered her strongest to participate, among them being Jura obviously.

Likewis in the Blue Pegasus guild, after Ichiya and Bob discuss Jura's intended participation in the games, Ichiya suggested that.

Unfortunately, the news also ended up reaching the "former" dark guild Raven Tail, which quickly got the attention of its master Ivan Dreyar, and he declared that the time had finally come for them to punish Fairy Tail.

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Meanwhile, with the one guy that can give Luke what he needs…

God Serena sat on a plateau overlooking the ocean, though his meditation was interrupted when he opened his eyes and found Luke, Bolt, Noah and Cana looking down at him "So it would seem that I was right after all, you came back alive even after a blast from Acnologia."

"We had some help with that, but it's in the past." Luke told him simply "The reason I came here is because of what's going on in the here and now."

"And yet you found me so easily."

"Your scent is practically oozing with the Dragon Slayer magic you have in you from those 8 lacrima implanted in your body."

"And you're here because you need something from me."

"Is that a no?"

"I never said that, this is something I've been anticipating. From the fire in your eyes and from the difference in your scent, I can tell you've awakened your Second Origin, but that won't be enough. Your guild is competing in the Grand Magic Games, and you only have three months to train and catch up with the rest of this new era we live in. I'm going to whip you into shape, so you had best be prepared."

"That's exactly what I've been counting on." God Serena quickly pulled himself back to his feet and looked up and down at Luke for a moment "Your Second Origin being released has increased your reserves of magic power, which helps with the biggest problem that you have going for you at the moment."

"Which is regulating my magic power in terms of whenever I use my Dragon Force and Dual Element mode."

"Yes and no, you're only half right about that. It makes it less of a problem sure, but it doesn't eliminate the problem altogether. Even if you can do a better job of regulating the power of your Dragon Force, the fact is that the transformation itself uses a considerable amount of magic power, the same problem appearing with your Dual Element mode as well, but Dragon Force should come first."

"I take it you have a plan then?"

"Indeed I do. From here on out, at least for the time being, I want you to try and maintain your Dragon Force continuously, keep it active at all times, with the only allowed exception being when you're sleeping. You need to make maintaining Dragon Force as natural as breathing for you, with as little effort as possible, so that you'll be able to use your magic power in a way that's much more efficient, and once you have that under control you'll do the same for your Dual Element mode. We'll keep your training at a moderate level until then, and after that we'll increase the difficulty beyond anything you've done before. The same with your Dragon Slayer companion back there."

"Right, I'm more than ready." Luke drew his sword and got into a stance, with Noah following his lead, and Bolt and Cana backing off "Let's do this."

"Believe me, I intend to. Now then…" and then he started posing dramatically "The time has come for us at last… Now let's. Get. STARTED!"

"...Was that really necessary?"

"Not in the slightest."

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Meanwhile, with the current top dog…

Outside of the hall of the Sabertooth guild, Sting and Rogue received the news in question from their Exceeds that left one of them particularly excited "So you're serious about this, Natsu and the others are entering the Grand Magic Games?"

"Hell to the yes, that's the rumor going around Magnolia anyway." Lector told him.

"Both of you heard this?" asked Rogue.

"Fro heard it with Fro's own ears."

"I see."

"Things just got a hell of a lot more interesting for us, this is going to be awesome."

"From a logical standpoint, you shouldn't be excited about having to deal with more competition when the time comes for the Games."

"If it was anyone else then maybe, but this is Natsu, Gajeel and Luke we're talking about. I can feel my blood pumping already."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The days passed, and training was getting more and more serious.

"**Dragon Sword Style: Thunderclap Strike!" **with his Dragon Force activated and surging with electricity, Luke pointed his sword forward and unleashed a blast of lightning from the blade.

"You think that's going to be enough?!" God Serena whipped out of the way of the blast with ease, then glanced over out of the corner of his eye and gave a smirk "So you're going with that one then?"

"**Mountain Dragon MOLTEN SPEARS!" **Noah slammed his hand into the ground and unleashed a barrage of spears made of molten rock.

"**Vapor Dragon SOLID FOG!" **God Serena exhaled a deep breath, and with that breath came a sizeable cloud of steam that engulfed the molten spears, causing them to melt "The power of the Vapor Dragon can melt even the strongest spells, whether they're offense or defense."

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean anything if you don't have time to use it! **Lightning Dragon CURRENT!" **Luke slammed one hand into the ground and sent a current of electricity running across the battlefield.

'_Shit!' _God Serena found himself being forced on the evasive as the current of electricity followed him '_I could just absorb it, but that would make it too easy, and I don't want to be too revealing about what I can do. Let's see… There, that should do it! _**Cavern Dragon Collapsing EARTH!" **he thrusted a fist into the ground and destroyed a large portion of the surrounding earth, disrupting the current in an explosion as a result.

'_Earth, water, fire, air and vapor, I've seen five of his elements so far, but I've never seen the other three before.'_

"**Thunder Dragon SURGE CANNON!" **God Serena thrusted forward a fist and unleashed a massive blast of blue-colored electricity.

'_So he can use lightning too? No matter, this should be easy enough.' _Luke held out both hands, and in a flash he absorbed the blast of electricity "Now then-"

"**Purgatory Dragon BLAZING INFERNO!" **God Serena didn't waste even a fraction of a second before unleashing a powerful blast of flames from one hand.

'_Shit, that first one was a set up!' _thinking quick, Luke tried to leap out of the way of the blast of fire, and he managed to do so for the most part, though his leg ended up being considerably scorched as a result, but that didn't deter him as he whipped out.

"**Blizzard Dragon CRYO SWORD!" **within a split second, God Serene held up a hand and formed a sword made of ice out of thin air, using it to stop Luke's sword in an instant "You're getting more agile."

"I do what I can, and I don't like to just sit around and do nothing when I've got a lot of time on my hands. **Lightning Dragon TALON!" **Luke aimed a lightning-enhanced kick at God Serena's head.

"Nope. **Sea King Dragon ROAR!" **God Serena unleashed a roar, and with it a large stream of water aimed at Luke, sending him tumbling backwards a fair distance and blowing his sword clear out of his grip "You're getting better, but even that's not enough to get me."

"Maybe not on his own, but he's not alone! **Mountain Dragon MOLTEN FIST!" **in was in this instance that Noah burst forth from within the rubble and encased one of his fists in molten rock, aiming it directly ahead of him.

"**Tempest Dragon SPIRAL CYCLONE!" **God Serena countered Noah's attack at the last second with a spiralling ball of wind in his hand, the force of the collision creating a deep crater surrounding them and blowing Noah backwards a great distance "I have to admit, I never imagined you'd progress so far in the past two weeks alone. I should warn you though, the next time may turn out to be very different." his body started surging with an even greater amount of magic power, the force of which shaking the entire battlefield "Now then, I've shown you seven of my eight forms of Dragon Slayer magic, which should leave only one left… Alright then, let's wrap things up for this one. **Desert Dragon TSUNAMI!" **he promptly slammed both of his hands together and summoned a large wave of sand hurtling forward.

"Shit, now what the fuck do we do?"

"I'll tell you what you do, get one of your molten spells ready to fire, and pray that you don't land face first!" Luke suddenly grabbed Noah by the arm and suddenly hurled him upwards towards the wave of sand "You're snarky but you're smart, use your head!"

"You'd better be right about this! **Mountain Dragon MOLTEN SPEARS!" **Noah slammed his hands together and summoned forth at least half a dozen molten spears, sending each of them hurtling towards the wave of sand, engulfing it in a series of fiery explosions, and when they all subsided, the entire wave of sand had been turned into glass, which promptly shattered almost instantly, while Noah himself had been sent tumbling to the ground in a heap as a result "Nice, looks like you've done your research."

"This isn't the first time I've used science against the enemy, so I know at least enough to know that if you heat sand to a certain degree, it turns to glass."

"Nice to know you actually bother to use your head."

"I could go into some epic speech about how it's just important to have brains in a fight as raw power, but I've still got a lot to focus on in the here and now." Luke's Dragon Force surged with magic power, but the greatest amount of power formed in his left hand "Come on, I think it's time we end this for today. One final strike, all or nothing."

"Fine by me, and I think I know just how to do it." God Serena gripped his right arm with his left hand, blue energy building in his palm "Come at me."

"That's my plan, trust me. **Dragon Slayer Secret Art…"**

"**Dragon Slayer Secret Art…"**

"**Indra's Wrath…"**

"**Spirit of Poseidon…"**

"**ROARING THUNDER!" **Luke burst forward towards God Serena and unleashed a powerful blast of lightning from one hand.

"**STORM TORRENT!" **God Serena met Luke's blast of lightning with a spiralling torrent of water from one hand, resulting in a powerful collision '_He's really grown…' _and then the explosion went off, engulfing the entire area.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nightfall came, and training had long since come to an end, so things had finally settled down for everyone present.

By this point, God Serena had built a campfire and looked around at the visibly wounded and exhausted forms of Luke, Noah, Bolt and Cana, and he gave a smirk "Looks to me like the last few weeks have been pretty tough on all of you, whether you're training with me or doing your own thing."

"Well we've got a lot of work to do, and not a lot of time to do it." Luke told him flatly, visibly cringing from the pain of the burns across his body "But this is going to do a lot of good for all of us in the long run, especially with Zeref and Acnologia still on the loose."

"That's a lot more true than you realize, and I would know."

"How do you figure?" asked Cana, which caused the mood to darken around the campsite.

"The simplest way I can put it is, because it's my entire purpose."

"I'm not sure we're following you."

"My childhood wasn't anything truly remarkable. I grew up as the youngest of six, my family was fairly poor, but we were still happy. All of them were descend and kind people, so I guess you could call it an ideal family. But that changed when I was 8, my village was destroyed by a pack of rogue bandits, along with everyone in it. I only survived by sheer luck, but even then I was all alone, with nothing but the memories, and this scar on my nose. I had lost everything in the span of a single day… but then fate threw me a metaphorical curveball. After wandering for days with no idea what I was going to do, I stumbled across something that would change my life forever. I discovered something hidden in a tree trunk… it was a Dragon Slayer Lacrima, one that had originally belonged to the Cavern Dragon. When I touched it, it merged with my body almost instantaneously, and not only did I find myself able to use Dragon Slayer magic, but I also saw a message that was embedded in the lacrima."

"What kind of message?" asked Luke.

"I don't know who it was from, even to this day, but the message said that the lacrima was part of a contingency plan with one purpose: creating a warrior capable of defeating Acnologia."

"Huh. That's convenient, or is it more like pure chance?"

"To this day I don't really know, but once I felt that lacrima merge with me, I could feel my self changing. I never understood how to explain it properly, but I felt as if there was a reason why I of all people had found them. The message did more than just explain the purpose of the lacrima, it actually implanted in my mind a sort of map, which would lead to the locations of the seven other lacrima. Over the next few years I searched all over the continent, and after half a decade of searching, I finally found the other 7 lacrima and began honing my new skills, during which time I came to be known as God Serena of the Eight Dragons, and in that time the Magic Council came to acknowledge my power and grant me the title of a Wizard Saint, eventually working my way to become number one. A few years after that happened, you ended up approaching me and asked me to train you."

"Even back then you were the most powerful mage on the continent, and you had eight different forms of Dragon Slayer magic at your disposal. I figured that if anyone could help me get strong enough to protect my guild, it was you."

"I sympathized with you, and you reminded me a great deal of the younger me, trying to push himself as high as he could go for as long as he could, for the sake of the purpose he entrusted upon himself. Plus I guess you could say that you're my contingency plan."

"As in the sort of contingency plan where, if you get killed before you can defeat Acnologia, then that means I take up that fight in your place?"

"You always were sharp. You're right about it though, if I do fail then someone else is going to have to take up the fight against Acnologia, and that someone is you. Remember this Luke, if only this: With the world and everything in it at stake, every single person you love and everything you hold dear, finding a way to defeat Acnologia is not only the most important goal, it's the only important goal, and your responsibility as a Dragon Slayer. Make sure you never forget that."

"Believe me, I won't. My purpose is to protect Fairy Tail and everyone in it, and as far as I'm concerned, defeating the likes of Zeref and Acnologia go hand in hand with that. But don't forget that as far as I'm concerned, protecting them comes first." he glanced over at Cana, and the two of them exchanged a small smile '_Of course, if certain other things come up and catch my attention in the meantime, then I think I can multitask.'_

**A/N:**

**And with this chapter, we see the return of my story after a few weeks, along with the start of what is my second favorite arc in all of Fairy Tail: the Grand Magic Games. This arc is beloved by many fans, and rightfully so. After all, if an anime is starting to get boring or stale, then what better way to spice it up than with a tournament arc, and this one is no exception. This isn't your typical tournament though, seeing how it has a lot more variety than most others in terms of events, and the twist about halfway through the arc was really awesome.**

**So yes, unlike the main team in the canon version, Luke and his team, which consists of Cana, Bolt, Gajeel and Lily, meet Crime Sorciere at the start of the three months of training, and they all get their Second Origins unlocked, which allows them to use more powerful magic, and to use it for longer periods of time. I think it's safe to say that Luke needs this especially, considering what happened at the end of his fight with Hades when he overused his Dual Element Dragon Force.**

**I'm going to be honest, seeing him after the time skip was what made Jellal into one of my favorite characters. What can I say, I'm a sucker for a few decent things in entertainment, one of them being a good redemption arc, and I think Jellal has that in spades.**

**So yes, Noah was apparently framed by Ivan for what happened to the members of Fairy Tail he killed, taking advantage of his status as a former member of Grimoire Heart. This might seem a bit odd, but it does have a pretty important purpose in its inclusion. Ivan and his men killed a number of Fairy Tail mages, which sure as hell would classify them as a dark guild, but it would prohibit them from taking part in the Grand Magic Games. Don't worry about Noah though, he'll be getting his revenge on Ivan at the end of the arc. You'll see what I mean by that soon enough, so don't worry.**

**The inclusion of God Serena in this chapter actually served a pretty important purpose, one that went beyond just training Luke and the others for when they would participate in the Grand Magic Games, and it accomplished two tasks that the original manga failed in. First, I delved into his backstory a little bit, something that I'll continue to expand on in a later chapter. Second, I elaborated on all eight types of Dragon Slayer Magic he uses: Cavern (earth), Sea King (water), Purgatory (fire), Tempest (wind), Thunder (Lightning), Blizzard (Ice), Desert (Sand) and Vapor (Steam). Five of these were already confirmed by the original manga and/ or anime, but the last three, those being Blizzard, Desert and Vapor. I struggled with creating these additional elements for him for a long time, but after bingewatching Avatar the Last Airbender again, something that I've been doing a lot since I've been in quarantine over the mast 3 to 4 months, and I felt the realization hit me: Use Avatar logic to create more elements for God Serena. You see going by Avatar rules, lightning is just a sub-element of fire, so I decided to create more sub-elements that are derived from the other main three. In this case, sand is a sub-element for earth and ice is a sub-element for water. The sub-element for air however, that was the hardest one to come up with, so I ended up turning to Naruto for wisdom in that regard, which led to me using Vapor as the final element. Vapor itself might not seem like much, but take a look at Mei Terumi, the fifth Mizukage, and her Vapor Style Kekkei Genkai, an ability that allowers her to release a cloud of vapor that also happened to have acidic properties to it.**

**Now let me just say this before I close out this chapter: I know that I said that this story was going on hiatus for a few weeks, and it more or less is. The main reason for that is because my next semester is about to start, and considering the courses I'm going to be taking, it will take up more of my time than I would've liked. To put it simply, updates will continue, but they'll be slowing down and not as regular as I would've liked. Thank you all for being so patient with me about this. I promise all of you that when I do update, the chapters will be up to the standards that you all deserve.**


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